Mirror therapy for the 21st century enabled by Prism Glasses.
About Us
The Inventors
Dr. Jonathan Bannister, a Consultant in Anaesthesia and Pain Management at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee (www.dundee.ac.uk/anaesthesia/bannister.html), together with his colleagues, help numerous patients overcome phantom limb pain and rehabilitates patients following a stroke.
As part of the rehabilitation treatment, mirror or image therapy is gaining a strong reputation as an effective tool for alleviating phantom limb pain and also helping rehabilitation of patients suffering from an inability or partial inability to move a limb following a stroke. Mirror therapy is often accomplished by using a mirror box. The mirror box has a number of disadvantages, among them the difficulty with treating conditions of the leg, and also the fact that it only allows restricted exercises and it is not easily portable. These limitations inspired Dr. Bannister and Dr. Glyn Walsh, an Optometrist and Senior Lecturer and Programme Leader in the Department of Vision Sciences at Glasgow Caledonian University, to create the prism glasses.
Glyn obtained his Ph.D. from Manchester University in 1986, having both designed and built the first successful objective aberrometer for use on the human eye. Since then he has continued to build upon his experience in optometry and has been closely involved in the development of many other optical devices. Glyn’s product portfolio consists of both specialised devices for use by individual patients and mass-market products. He has published over 100 scientific papers in the field. He currently teaches optical product design and lens optics at GCU and continues to practice as an Optometrist at GCU Eye clinic.
Together, Jonathan and Glyn analysed the limitations of the mirror box from a clinical and patient perspective. They then designed and manufactured an improved device for treating phantom limb pain and stroke; the Prism Glasses.
The Company
Jonathan and Glyn approached Scottish Health Innovations Limited, a company set up to “bring NHS Scotland ideas to life”. Dr. Nigel McLean, a Senior Programme Manager, and Alan Whiteside, a Business Development Manager at SHIL, worked with the group to protect the idea by filing for a patent application, source a manufacturer for the Prism Glasses and CE mark the medical device. Together the team set up a study of the device on patients suffering from PLP and stroke attending Ninewells Hospital.
The resulting Prism Glasses, by virtue of their size, realistic optical illusion and creativity, encourage more frequent therapy and a better chance of a speedy recovery to take place at home. The functions that can be performed are more natural, compared to the mirror box, and the Prism Glasses have applications in other neurological conditions such as stroke, chronic regional pain syndrome, and visual neglect syndrome.