After the initial successes of the first tester, using Smooth Move to help with essential tremor, a second tester was recruited, a female, over 70 years old, who had a persistent neck / shoulder pain on the left side of the body. The problem had appeared without an evident cause, and common factors such as work stress or regular computer use were not involved.
The neck / shoulder pain was certainly having an effect on day to day life. At the times it was worse, it was a source for frequent comments that 'my shoulder hurts'. There were some types of movement such as raising the hand to head height at certain angles which were so painful as to not be practical possibilities. Sleeping could be affected when it wasn't comfortable to lay in certain positions or to move easily
Another challenge for Smooth Move. This was exactly the type of problem that the Smooth Move App was designed to tackle. Roughly eight months into working with the first tester, the app was now also in a more usable form.
After only one month of daily practice, the tester didn't report any particular change, but her partner had noticed that the frequency of comments about 'my shoulder's hurting' were reducing.
By the end of only the second month of using Smooth Move, the tester was reporting improvements. Initially that the shoulder was hurting a bit less, but soon being described as hurting much less. Something along the lines of 50% gone.
The first timescale after which Smooth Move is anticipated to have a significant impact is three months, and sure enough after around three months the tester started to report that the shoulder was hardly hurting at all, now 75% gone, and relegated to an occasional background discomfort.
To date the second tester has continued to use Smooth Move for eight months, and now reports no neck / shoulder pain at all. Also that there is no evident restrictions on the movement ranges in either shoulder.
The primary goal of Smooth Move had shown itself to be achievable, and with the additional contribution of a second dedicated tester, the app was being prepared for public launch.
The practice regime used was a single daily practice session, with the occasional breaks when a daily session wasn't easy to fit in.
As with the first tester, it can't be conclusive that Smooth Move was a key factor in the positive changes, but from no sign of any easing of the shoulder pain, the total reduction was achieved in a relatively small period of time of just a few months.
The Smooth Move development team are now hoping more people will try out Smooth Move for shoulder and neck pain related conditions.
The Smooth Move app is available free for Android smartphones from the Google play store. The development team can be contacted by email for further information.