Skip to main content

Thimble Bioelectronics developing wearable pain relief patch


Imagine if you could treat pain the same way you treat a cut: throw a bandage on it and let it heal. Thimble Bioelectronics is working on a patch based on Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS) that's designed to provide this type of portable pain relief.
TENS is a type of treatment that uses low voltage electrical stimulation to alleviate certain types of pain. The treatment is typically performed via a small machine, but Thimble Bioelectronics is busy designing a wearable application of the technology designed to adhere to the problem area and provide TENS treatment for the pain. Details of the exact form the TENS patch will take haven't yet been revealed, but the company says it will include integrated Bluetooth connectivity that works with an accompanying smartphone app for pain tracking and management.
As the saying goes, necessity is the mother of invention. Thimble Bioelelectrics CEO and primary founder Shaun Rahimi began work on the device when dealing with his own chronic back and arm pain. Tired of trying unsuccessfully to treat his pain with available methods that were costly, difficult or riddled with side effects, Rahimi, a medical device designer, decided to work on an alternative.
Thimble estimates that there are 1.5 billion people living with chronic pain around the world. While there are a host of other pain management products available, Thimble hopes its patch will be easier to use, without side effects and more affordable than existing alternatives.
The Thimble patch sounds quite convenient, but there is some controversy as to the efficacy of TENS, and research results have varied. The technology is also already available through other small and wearable devices, such as belts and handhelds. Alternatives like transcutaneous direct current stimulation (tDCS) also exist.
Thimble was founded last year and is working to get its patch ready for release later this year. It is currently looking for developers with iOS experience to help build its mobile app. The design was a finalist in the recent Wearable Technologies Innovation World Cup.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Nerf Vulcan Sentry Gun tracks targets and avoids friendly fire

Anyone who plays video games will know that few things protect an area like a well-placed sentry gun. In the real world, though, even a person's bedroom or office could use a little protection sometimes, which is why one designer has built the Nerf Vulcan Sentry Gun. Using a custom program and some servos, the sentry can automatically locate targets and unleash a stream of foam darts at over seven times the usual speed, while keeping its owner out of the crosshairs. Britt Liv Ulrike Michelsen, a chemical and biological engineering student from Germany, designed and constructed the sentry using mostly basic electronics and some plywood. This isn't the first time she's modified a Nerf gun, but building this robotic turret is arguably her most ambitious project to date. Luckily, the Nerf Vulcan already operates using an electric motor, so controlling the actual firing mechanism through a computer was just a matter of connecting it directly to an Arduino Uno and a laptop. ...

Students crash rockets to develop new asteroid sample collection technique

In what at first glance seems like a terrible sense of direction, in March students from the University of Washington fired rockets from kites and balloons at an altitude of 3,000 ft (914 m) straight into the ground at Black Rock, Nevada: a dry lake bed in the desert 100 mi (160 km) north of Reno. This may seem like the ultimate in larking about, but it's actually a serious effort to develop new ways of collecting samples from asteroids. The test was part of the “Sample Return Systems for Extreme Environments” project. The idea is to find cheaper, more efficient ways of collecting samples from asteroids and hazardous areas on Earth, such as volcanoes and nuclear disaster zones, by using penetrators instead of soft landers or ground crews to hammer out sample cores. According to the team, this would result in lower cost than soft landing techniques by reducing the velocity and vehicle mass needed to gather the sample, minimizing damage on impact, as well as being mechanically s...

Review: i-H2GO hydrogen-powered remote-control car

At the end of last month, Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies began shipments of its latest hydrogen fuel cell-powered remote-control toy car, the  i-H2GO . Like its predecessor, the  H2GO , it runs on hydrogen obtained from user-supplied water. The main thing that's new about the i-H2GO, however, is the fact that it is now controlled using a free app on the user's existing smartphone. I got my hands on an early production model, mainly just so that I could truthfully say "I've driven a fuel cell car." Like the H2GO, the new car comes with an included Refueling Station. The user pours purified water into that device, and it proceeds to electrolyze the H2O, separating it into H and O – hydrogen and oxygen. A plunger on the station rises as hydrogen fills its temporary holding compartment. The user then connects the car to the station using a built-in hose, and manually pumps the hydrogen from the station into the car. The car's fuel cell subsequently combines...