If you or a loved one experiences neurological deficits, you or your medical provider might have considered many different devices as a part of your treatment strategy. Therapists have used vibration, electrical stimulation, and more for decades in rehabilitation.
But what is stochastic resonance (SR)? How does it differ from electrical stimulation? Today, the team at Accelera will help you explore these wearable medical device treatments.
Accelera is a groundbreaking rehabilitation technology company that produces the world’s first wearable SR technology: SR-100, an assistive device for cerebral palsy, Brain injury, post-chemo neuropathy, and other neurological deficits.
What is Stochastic Resonance?
Stochastic resonance (SR) is a technology that uses white noise to boost your body’s natural signals, with no contraindications.
Sensory signals are key to our everyday lives. They provide important information about the environment around us and our body’s position within it, relative to the brain.
People living with neurological deficits often struggle to process these signals. The signals might be too weak to be perceived, or they might be unclear. Signal processing issues can dramatically impact your body’s movement and function.
SR technology uses randomized frequencies and amplitudes to augment sensory signals, making it easier for the brain to pick up on them and process them.
Through gentle, random vibrations, SR technology engages your proprioceptors. This low-level electrical noise produces small changes to the receptor transmembrane potentials, which carry messages to and from the central nervous system.
When the stimuli used in SR are tuned to the right noise level, the membrane potential is enhanced. The neurons come closer to the threshold, making it easier for them to go into action, even with a weak signal.
When compared with traditional electrical stimulation, Accelera’s SR technology offers a wearable medical device that can provide more targeted assistance for patients with neurological deficits than electrical stimulation.
What is Electrical Stimulation?
Electrical stimulation, also known as e-stim, is a physical therapy treatment that applies electrical currents to the body. It is most often used when patients have trouble with movement due to pain, muscle weakness, poor motor control, or tendonitis.
A health care provider may recommend electrical stimulation to:
- Decrease inflammation
- Improve circulation
- Reduce pain
- Stop muscle spasms
- Strengthen weak muscles
- Improve muscular function
- Treat certain wounds
However, there is a lot of debate within the medical community surrounding electrical stimulation. Who can use it? Is it safe for my patient? Will it hurt them? While it can produce results, there are plenty of conflicting opinions about its safety.
Patients tend to improve when they are allowed to be active in their recovery, but electrical stimulation therapy can be a passive process for the patient when it cannot be timed with functional activities.
Accelera’s SR-100: The World’s First SR Wearable Medical Device
Physical and occupational therapists have often used vibration in therapy sessions over the years, especially since it is safe to use with anyone. Often it was through the use of a wand applied to one or more muscle groups as a preparatory step prior to an activity, much like you might stretch before exercising. In some cases, this vibration was applied through whole body vibration (WBV) platforms to access a greater number of muscles and/or to decrease tone and spasticity.
Accelera’s SR-100 takes SR technology and places it in a comfortable strap that can be worn on the arm or leg and controlled via a smartphone application, allowing it to be worn during active functional activities.
What makes us stand out among rehabilitation technology companies is the SR-100’s wearability! Accelera produces the world’s first wearable medical device that is safe, effective, and comfortable for both clinical and personal use.
Accelera’s patented technology has most recently been validated with a clinical trial by Virginia Commonwealth University as an assistive device for cerebral palsy and by a study on sensory issues due to aging by the Wyss Institute at Harvard University.
At Accelera, we are dedicated to making people’s lives better. We want to make it easier for those with neurological deficits due to a variety of conditions, including stroke and brain injury, to live their best lives.
Our SR-100 device empowers patients by making it easier to complete daily tasks and feel more confident and comfortable in their movements.
Contact us today for more information about using our SR-100 in both personal and clinical settings.