Jordi-Stick Turns Children's Inhalers into Motion Controllers

The Jordi-Stick is an innovative therapy tool that connects children's inhalers with a range of fun video games, helping kids with cystic fibrosis stay motivated to sit still and inhale their medications by turning their inhalers into joysticks.

The Jordi-Stick by Jordi Airflow is an award-winning therapy device that connects children's inhalers to interactive video games, allowing kids to control the games with their breathing. Named after the inventor's son Jordi, diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at any early age, the device is a valuable therapy tool that can help children suffering from the disease by getting them to sit still for half an hour each day and breathe slowly and deeply into the inhaler. This can be a tall order with young children, who would rather spend their time playing games, and it poses a challenge for their parents as well, as they must not only persuade the kids to inhale their medications, but also keep motivating and monitoring them every step of the way.

The Jordi-Stick connects to a PC or laptop via USB, allowing children to use their inhalers as joysticks and control games with nothing but their breathing. The device effectively controls and optimizes the therapy process, letting kids inhale their medications while playing games and interacting with colourful virtual characters on the screen, getting them to float through space, dodge meteors or fly in a hot air balloon. Jordi Airflow technology measures both pressure and vacuum 150 times per second, enabling children to interact with in-game elements in real time.

Cystic fibrosis is an incurable disease that clogs lungs, causes breathing problems and infections, and shortens life expectancy. Treatments generally aim to ease symptoms and reduce long-term damage caused by frequent infections. Treatment options include antibiotics to treat infections, physical therapy exercises that help clear mucus from the lungs, medications that help expand the airways inside the lungs, and inhaled treatments that help clear mucus.

Jordi Airflow, the German company that developed the device, has won a number of awards for coming up with a relatively simple innovation that addresses a problem commonly faced by children suffering from the disease. Among other accolades, the device won an award at the 2012 International Exhibition of Inventions in Geneva and a Providers' Choice Award sponsored by HomeCare Magazine at the 2014 Medtrade show in Las Vegas.