A new wearable device which can help stroke survivors regain arm function through delivering tiny electrical pulses is to be developed by researchers in the UK in a groundbreaking project.
The new Sheffield Adaptative Patterned Electrical Stimulation (SHAPES) device, the function of which is likened to a highly advanced TENS machine, is to be built and tested following a £1.2m grant award from the National Institute for Health Research’s ‘Invention for Innovation’ programme.
Through a unique combination of electronic design and programming, the SHAPES technology is able to deliver continuous moving patterns of tiny electrical pulses to the arm to multiple areas at any given time.
The intensity, timings and combinations of pulse delivery can also be programmed to be automatically adjusted. Previous research suggests that this variability in sensations is important in improving recovery from the muscle stiffness caused by stroke.
The SHAPES technology will be tested on patients, recruited between two to 16 weeks post-stroke, in a clinical trial later this year. It is hoped that the technology will improve rehabilitative outcomes for stroke patients at an optimal point in their recovery and will be cost-effective for the NHS to use.
The project is scheduled to last 39 months, with trial results expected in spring 2024.
The new device builds on the expertise in electrical stimulation research of the clinical engineering team at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
The Trust is to work in partnership with the NIHR Devices for Dignity MedTech Co-operative, University of Sheffield’s School of Health and Related Research, Coventry University, Barnsley Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, and Medipex Limited during the three-year study.
Dr Siva Nair, consultant neurologist at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and lead for the clinical trial, says: “Our device is a significant technological advancement in the field of therapeutic electrical stimulators.
“Muscle stiffness in the arm is a major barrier to rehabilitation after stroke, so we are really pleased that we have received funding to test this innovative form of treatment. If our study is successful it will lead to a novel therapy for the rehabilitation of muscle stiffness after stroke.
“The technology also has the potential to be useful in the treatment of muscle stiffness in several other diseases of the brain and spinal cord, such as head injury and multiple sclerosis which could offer renewed hope to thousands of patients living with the consequences of debilitating neurological conditions.”
Professor Adewale O Adebajo, 63, had a life-threatening bleed on his brain in 2015 while working at Barnsley Hospital. He said the new technology is important in addressing an unmet need in stroke survivors.
“Excessive muscle stiffness in an arm is a really unpleasant and painful consequence of having a stroke. I was mainly wheelchair dependent following my stroke and I suffered a lot of weakness in my left side, but one of the things I wanted to do during my recovery was to use my left arm,” he says.
“I love playing table tennis, but I couldn’t do that, and when I would lift my arm up and let it go it was just like dead wood. It was very unpleasant.
“In my opinion Sheffield is a world leader in stroke research, so this new technology, if successful, could really help in reducing pain and symptoms and in restoring arm function.”
