Across a long human stretch of living with conditions that seize the body without asking permission, a small wrist device from a Nottingham laboratory now offers some children and young adults a moment of stillness. Its electrical pulses travel to the median nerve, and in quiet ways they appear to reshape the brain's movement signals, easing the tics that had come to govern daily life. The tools are promising but not yet sanctioned for the NHS, and the path toward wider public use runs through regulators and health economists who are still weighing what long-term good it does.
Wrist Device Developed in Nottingham Offers Tourette's Relief, With NHS Access Still Awaiting Approval
Young users Katie and Ollie endured constant tics that caused sleep and eating problems, missed school, sadness, and, for Ollie, a month largely housebound.
"It's like a light switch."
Mark
Katie says it changed things instantly. What is actually happening in the body?
Mimi
The device sends electrical pulses to the median nerve at the wrist. Trials suggest that changes activity in brain areas involved in movement control, and the rhythmic stimulation seems to reduce how often and how intensely tics occur.
Luke
Worth keeping the numbers straight, though. The 2023 trial of 121 people found an average 25% drop in tic frequency, on a prototype. Katie's and Ollie's accounts are vivid, but they are individual experiences, not trial results.
Mark
So an average of 25% sits alongside people describing a light switch.
Mimi
Yes, and that gap is part of the story. An average can hide people who respond strongly and people who respond little.
Luke
The source doesn't say how the response was distributed, so we can't say how typical Katie's reaction is.
Mark
Ollie was diagnosed with Functional Neurological Disorder, not Tourette's. Does that matter?
Mimi
It does. His family first thought it was Tourette's, and the device helped him anyway. He is an example of someone who felt a benefit.
Luke
But the reporting doesn't say the device is evidenced for FND. The approval question is specifically about Tourette's.
Mark
And that approval is still pending?
Mimi
Neupulse-M, the medical version, hasn't received regulatory approval. The consumer wellness version, Neupulse-C, is what people can buy now.
Luke
Also, Jackson's hope of NHS availability in the next year or so is a hope, not a timetable. NICE has asked for more long-term evidence and will meet again, with no date given.
Le Pouls
- Tics that began in childhood have turned ordinary days into exhausting struggles with sleep, food, school and friendship.
- A Nottingham-developed wrist device sends electrical pulses to the median nerve, and users report calm arriving almost at once when it is switched on.
- The device is sold now as a consumer wellness product, while its medical version still awaits UK regulatory approval for Tourette's.
- NICE wants more evidence of long-term benefit before the NHS can offer it, and researchers hope approval could arrive within about a year.
- The story is landing on a fragile hope: relief is real for many users, yet official recognition and wider access remain unfinished.
Across a long human stretch of living with conditions that seize the body without asking permission, a small wrist device from a Nottingham laboratory now offers some children and young adults a moment of stillness. Its electrical pulses travel to the median nerve, and in quiet ways they appear to reshape the brain's movement signals, easing the tics that had come to govern daily life. The tools are promising but not yet sanctioned for the NHS, and the path toward wider public use runs through regulators and health economists who are still weighing what long-term good it does.
Katie was seven when her tics began. By fifteen, she was living in a body that never stopped moving and a throat that never stopped making sounds. She snorted so constantly that she gave herself a sore throat and spent two weeks in bed. Her sleep and appetite suffered, she missed school, and classmates asked why she was doing it. "I think I became quite sad a lot of the time," she says. Her mother Julia remembers feeling helpless, not knowing where to turn.
Hope arrived through a wrist device developed at the University of Nottingham. Last December, Katie and Julia travelled there to try it. When it was switched on, Katie says, the calm was immediate, and she cried the whole way home because she wanted that relief right then. She calls that day the best of her life.
The device, Neupulse, sends electrical pulses to the median nerve at the wrist, and trials suggest this can change brain activity linked to movement. A 2023 UK trial of 121 people using a prototype found an average 25% drop in tic frequency. Its medical version still lacks regulatory approval for Tourette's, though thousands of consumer devices have been sold.
Ollie, fifteen, from Cheshire, began ticking after cracking his neck, and within two days his movements never stopped. Eating, sleeping and drinking became almost impossible. He spent about a month largely housebound, lost touch with friends, and missed much of his schooling before his GCSEs. He was later diagnosed with Functional Neurological Disorder. Doubtful that anything would help, he eventually switched the device on, and his father says he could be heard crying because his neck had gone still. "It's like a light switch," Ollie says.
Researchers and charities report similar gains, from users getting through wedding vows to flying without ticcing. Yet NICE has asked for more long-term evidence, and NHS use must wait for regulatory approval, which may come within the year. For the families, the wait is measured not in data but in the days their children are still living inside their own bodies.
Katie was seven when the tics began. Now 15 and from Hertfordshire, she remembers a body that never stopped moving and a throat that never stopped making sounds. She snorted constantly, so often that she gave herself a sore throat that kept her in bed for two weeks. Tourette's also affected her sleep and appetite, and she missed school. Other children asked why she was doing it. "I think I became quite sad a lot of the time," she says.
Her mother, Julia, calls watching it heartbreaking. "You feel helpless," she says. "You feel you don't know where to turn really." Hope came when she read about a wrist device developed at the University of Nottingham. Last December, before it was on sale, she and Katie travelled to Nottingham to try it. Katie says that when it was switched on, the effect was instant and she felt really calm. She cried the whole drive home, she says, because she wanted it right then. She describes that first day as the best of her life.
The device is called Neupulse. It sends electrical pulses to the median nerve at the wrist, and trials have shown this can change activity in the parts of the brain that control movement. The researchers found that rhythmic stimulation can reduce both how often tics occur and how intense they are. In 2023, a UK clinical trial of 121 people using a prototype found an average 25% reduction in tic frequency. That year the singer Lewis Capaldi, who has Tourette's, also tested it before a gig in Nottingham; the university says he was impressed and keen to use it again.
It was developed by the university and its spin-out company, Neurotherapuetics Ltd, which has secured £1m in additional funding to commercialise it. According to the charity Tourettes Action, there are two versions. Neupulse-C is sold as a consumer wellness device. Neupulse-M is meant to be marketed as a medical device specifically for tics and Tourette's, but it has not yet received regulatory approval for that purpose. The university says thousands of devices have been sold so far.
Ollie, 15, from Cheshire, came to it by a different route. Nearly two years ago he cracked his neck, and within about 48 hours his neck movements were constant. Eating, drinking and sleeping became incredibly difficult, says his father, Alex, who describes he and Ollie's mother as at a loss, watching their son deteriorate. Ollie did not leave the house for about a month and stopped seeing friends. Reading and writing became hard, and he was out of school for six or seven months as GCSEs approached. The family first thought it was Tourette's, but he was later diagnosed with Functional Neurological Disorder, which affects how the brain and nervous system work. They had heard of the device through the film I Swear, a drama based on the life of Tourette's campaigner John Davidson.
Ollie nearly told his parents not to bother, doubting it would work. A few months ago he switched it on and phoned them. Alex says you could hear him crying because his neck movement had stopped. "It's like a light switch," Ollie says, adding that his hands shook as he called, because it felt like getting part of his life back.
Prof Stephen Jackson, who has led the research, calls the response "a dream come true". He says users have told him they got through wedding vows without ticcing, and managed airports and flights. Emma McNally, chief executive of Tourettes Action, says users she has spoken to have had nothing but praise, with some returning to places like cinemas or libraries, and others using it to ease out of a tic attack. The charity says more than 300,000 people in the UK have Tourette's, which is incurable.
The NHS question remains open. Tourettes Action says NICE has called the technology promising but asked for more evidence of long-term benefit before making recommendations. Jackson says NICE cannot recommend it for NHS use until regulatory approval is secured, and hopes that could come within the next year or so. In 2025 NICE said its committee would meet again to appraise clinical and cost effectiveness and publish new guidance. Meanwhile, the device has been tested in early Parkinson's trials for tremor, and the university wants a UK-wide trial on anxiety and OCD.
Citations marquantes
It was absolutely life-changing. It was like the best day of my life.— Katie, 15, on first trying the device
We are working diligently and as hard as we can to get regulatory approval for the Neupulse device as a treatment for Tourette's.— Prof Stephen Jackson, University of Nottingham
Envie de l'histoire complète ?
Lire l'original sur BBC ↗