Could migraine relief come from a connected armband?

Theranica’s Nerivio sends electrical signals to the brain to distract it from the real pain of a migraine. — AFP Relaxnews

Israeli startup Theranica has developed a connected armband capable of significantly reducing the pain caused by migraines. The product is now on sale in the United States, where a new study shows that it can have beneficial effects on certain side effects such as nausea.

The idea behind Nerivio is to relieve the effects of migraine as best as possible, by acting directly on the nervous system. To do this, the wearable device, which is attached to the arm, works on the principle of conditioned pain modulation (CPM), a pain inhibition mechanism produced by the brain when it is confronted with several ailments.

Here, Nerivio sends small targeted electrical signals, known as remote electrical neuromodulation, intended to “simulate” a new imaginary pain, in an attempt to alleviate all those related to the migraine. And it seems to work with symptoms like nausea or extreme sensitivity to light gradually disappearing for study participants.

While it seems promising on paper, its true efficacy needs to be gauged over a longer term. However a recent study published in Pain Reports and featured by Theranica appears to demonstrate the benefits of this product.

Of the 99 participants in this study, nearly 60% experienced real pain relief within two hours of treatment. More than 20% of participants even reported that their migraine was gone after two hours.

In other cases, improvement in nausea, photophobia and phonophobia was demonstrated. Just one case of undesirable effect linked to the device was noted. – AFP Relaxnews