Current tools for monitoring CMT often require clinic consultations and struggle to detect meaningful short-term changes. This can delay treatment decisions and means that trials testing new therapies often need to run for multiple years before delivering results.

The EMPOWER study is testing a mobile phone-based assessment tool—MoveMed—that uses short interactive games and passive phone data to measure key symptoms such as walking difficulty, balance issues, hand weakness, and fatigue. These symptoms are commonly seen in both CMT and Degenerative Cervical Myelopathy (DCM), the condition the system was originally designed for—making it very likely, as confirmed by clinical experts, that the technology will translate well to CMT.

One of the main goals of this study is to bring the measurement of your condition into your own hands—giving you more insight into how your disease affects you, day to day. That’s the vision behind EMPOWER. By validating this approach in CMT, we hope to enable faster, more sensitive, and more accessible ways to monitor change—potentially allowing future trials to deliver answers in just a few months, not years.

About the Study

The Chief Investigator is Dr. Mark Kotter at the University of Cambridge. The study is being conducted with MoveMed, a company formed by the Cambridge research team. The study is entirely online and remote.

The aim of this study is to explore whether a mobile phone app can measure levels of function in people with CMT and related neurological diseases.

Who Can Participate

We are looking for adults (18+) who:

• Can read and understand English
• Have a confirmed genetic diagnosis CMT (any subtype – For example: CMT1A, CMT2A, CMT4J, etc.)
• Own and regularly use a smartphone
• Can stand and walk unaided (AFO use is acceptable)

How to Get Involved

To participate, please visit www.movemed.io/empower, read the study information (including the participant information sheet), and complete the registration form.

If you take part in the study, you will:

• Download the MoveMed app (available on iOS and Android)
• Complete short interactive tasks weekly (less than 10 minutes) for 12 weeks
• Fill in online questionnaires at the start, midpoint, and end of the study
• Receive a summary of your results at 12 weeks
• All data is securely encrypted and stored in the UK. No clinic visits or travel are required.

Contact

If you have any specific questions, you can contact the team directly at: empower@movemed.io