Saturday, May 26, 2012

Cleveland firm invents a patch that fights shoulder pain

The title is misleading, reducing pain is the side effect of direct eStim of the shoulder muscles.
http://www.cleveland.com/healthfit/index.ssf/2012/05/cleveland_firm_invents_a_patch.html
Shoulder pain after suffering a stroke is no small thing.
That pain -- the most common kind resulting from a stroke -- can prevent a patient from doing the rehabilitation they need to improve mobility. It also can be the beginning of a devastating downward spiral of incapacitation.
For such patients, a new device called the Smartpatch, created by Highland Heights-based SPR Therapeutics, might eventually be what turns that scenario around. The product will enter its third and final clinical trial within the next six months, before applying for FDA clearance. In Europe, the process is further along: approval for the Smartpatch is anticipated by this fall.
Maria Bennett, president and CEO of SPR, helped develop this innovation in pain treatment while working with her former adviser and mentor, Dr. John Chae. Chae is the director of rehabilitation research and stroke rehabilitation at the MetroHealth Rehabilitation Institute of Ohio.
Medical professionals have long used electrical stimulation in attempts to restore body function -- for example, in the case of spinal cord injuries, explains Bennett, 38, who has a master's degree in biomedical engineering from Case Western Reserve University. So initially, the thought was to create a device that stimulated muscles in a paralyzed shoulder.

The rest at the link.

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