"Gradually, with the effects of Parkinson's, my face began retreating to a passive, almost frozen disposition," Michael J Fox, Actor and Activist

Parkinson’s Disease is a progressive, neurodegenerative disease that impairs muscle movement.

An early symptom is Facial Masking or Hypomimia. Patients lose the ability to smile, laugh or look surprised. Their inability to express emotion severely impacts relationships, communication and quality of life.

“Studies show a connection between self-reported facial masking and negative social wellbeing, and between stigma and quality of life”

A daily 45-minute facial exercise routine can significantly improve symptoms, but only 3% of patients follow it. Not only is it tiring and frustrating, It’s tough to watch yourself in the mirror when your face no longer follows your heart.

We knew that if we could help people adopt the exercises, we could change the lives of patients and carers alike.

Worldwide, we spend 2.5 hours a day scrolling through our social feeds. What if we could convert down time to therapy time?

Scrolling Therapy is an innovative mobile application that uses facial recognition to browse the news feed. We identified patient’s most important facial therapy exercises-smiling, rising eyebrows, frowning-and converted them into commands for the newsfeed. Simply by moving their faces patients could like, play, scroll up and down and more.

The app provides real-time feedback, helping patients ensure they are performing the exercises correctly without having to confront their own struggles in the mirror; tackling both the practical and the painful emotional barriers to adopting the routine.

By seamlessly turning their scrolling habit into a life-changing routine, Scrolling Therapy is on a mission to improve the quality of life of over 8.5 million Parkinson’s patients around the world.

By 2040, the number of people living with Parkinson’s worldwide is predicted to double.

We knew that retaining control of the facial muscles and the ability to express emotion has a huge impact on patient’s quality of life. If we could overcome the barriers to adopting the exercises, we could make a real difference to patients, carers and families.

Leveraging insights from patients, neurologists and physical therapists we identified two key challenges:

Physically, it’s hard to find the time and energy for facial therapy amidst all the other daily challenges patients face.

Emotionally, it’s even harder- spending hours gazing into a mirror at a face you don’t quite recognize any more.

We knew that if we were to successfully drive adoption, we would need a solution that was not only convenient, but one that tracked progress in a new way, reducing the emotional burden for patients.

Scrolling Therapy captures and responds to patient’s expressions, using Google’s TensorFlow AI platform.

The AI interprets over 10,000 unique data points from 43 facial muscles, converting gestures into social media controls.

The most important facial therapy exercises were translated as follows:

-A Smile generates a Like

-A Surprised face prompts the app to scroll down, a Disgusted face to scroll back up

-A Sad expression causes a video to play, an Angry expression generates a swipe

Using a groundbreaking combination of mobile technology and social content, Scrolling Therapy combines the familiar and the new to make lasting change.

The app was launched through a targeted campaign in Latin America and has received official support from Brazil’s Parkinson’s Association and the American Parkinson Disease Association.

Most importantly, it’s available on the app stores to the 8.5 million+ Parkinson’s patients around the world.

Scrolling Therapy launched in April 2023. It’s early days for an app with a big ambition: to change the lives of all 8.5 million Parkinson’s patients worldwide by improving symptoms in 12 weeks of daily use.

The app launched in 3 languages and 10 countries simultaneously (Brazil, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, Argentina, Ecuador, Paraguay and Peru) with 45,128 doctors and the support of Brazil’s Parkinson’s Association (ABP) and the American Parkinson’s Disease Association (APDA). And we’re just getting started.

Scrolling Therapy generated over 1 billion impressions and an immediate response with patients, showing an 88% engagement rate with this life-changing routine. But the impact goes beyond Parkinson’s patients. Facial masking is one of the most emotionally distressing symptoms of Parkinson’s for families, friends, and caregivers. Helping 8.5 million patients retain the ability to express their emotions has a ripple effect beyond measure.