Nottingham Wrist Device Brings Relief to Tourette's Patients

When Katie was a young girl, her tics were so severe that she would spend two weeks in bed with a raw, painful throat. The 15-year-old, from Hertfordshire, recalls how Tourette's syndrome disrupted her sleep, her eating, and her schooling. But a wrist-worn device developed by researchers at the University of Nottingham has changed everything for her.

Katie described the moment she first switched on the device as "absolutely life-changing" and "like the best day of my life." Her mother, Julia, had watched helplessly as her daughter struggled. "You feel helpless. You feel you don't know where to turn really," she said.

A Life-Changing Discovery

Katie's symptoms began at age seven. Constant movements and sounds drew unwanted attention. "I used to make snorting sounds, but it was constant all the time, so I'd give myself a really bad sore throat and then be in bed for two weeks," she recalled. "I think I became quite sad a lot of the time."

Julia read about the Neupulse device and travelled with Katie to Nottingham in December to try it before it was available to buy. Katie said the effect was instant. "And I remember on the drive home, I just cried the whole way home because I was like, 'I want it now,'" she said.

The device works by delivering electrical pulses to the median nerve at the wrist, which trials suggest can alter activity in the brain regions responsible for movement control. In 2023, a clinical trial involving 121 people in the UK found an average reduction in tic frequency of 25% while using a prototype.

From Celebrity Trials to Clinical Progress

Singer Lewis Capaldi, who has Tourette's, tested the device in 2023 before a gig in Nottingham and was reportedly impressed. The device was developed by the university and its spin-out company Neurotherapeutics Ltd, which secured £1 million in additional funding to commercialise it.

According to the charity Tourettes Action, two versions exist: Neupulse-C, available as a consumer wellness device, and Neupulse-M, intended as a medical device for treating tics and Tourette's syndrome. The latter is still awaiting regulatory approval. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has identified the technology as "promising" but has requested further evidence of long-term benefits before recommending it for NHS use.

Professor Stephen Jackson, who led the research, said seeing the impact on users has been "a dream come true." He hopes the device will be available on the NHS "in the next year or so." He added: "We are working diligently and as hard as we can to get regulatory approval for the Neupulse device as a treatment for Tourette's."

NICE said its committee will meet again to appraise the clinical and cost effectiveness of the technology and publish new guidance.

Stories of Hope

Ollie, 15, from Cheshire, began experiencing involuntary neck movements nearly two years ago. "It was incredibly sudden," he said. His father, Alex, described daily tasks becoming "incredibly difficult" and said they were "at a loss... just watching our son deteriorate." Ollie was later diagnosed with Functional Neurological Disorder (FND), a condition affecting how the brain and nervous system work.

After hearing about the device, the family was initially sceptical. But when Ollie switched it on, he called his parents in tears. "You could hear that he was crying on the telephone because it had worked and his neck movement had stopped," Alex said. Ollie described it as "like a light switch. I remember my hands were quite shaky when I was calling my parents because it's like getting part of your life back."

Mylo, 17, from Buckinghamshire, took part in the 2023 clinical trial when he was 13. Recently given a device as a gift, he said he "instantaneously" felt the need to suppress his facial tics "going." "As soon as it comes on, I can feel it," he said. "I feel different... I feel new almost, which is strange. It's going to be such a big difference."

Emma McNally, CEO of Tourettes Action, said users have given the device "nothing but praise." She added: "Some people have said it's helped them to go to places that they've not been for a long time, such as the cinema or a library. Other people have said it's helped them when they've been in a tic attack to help them come out of that to calm the tics and make them feel more relaxed."

The university said "thousands" of devices have been sold so far. Professor Jackson also noted that the device has recently been tested in early trials for people with Parkinson's to see if it can reduce tremors, and the university is looking to launch a UK-wide clinical trial for anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).

According to Tourettes Action, more than 300,000 people in the UK have the condition, which is incurable. For Katie, Ollie, Mylo, and countless others, the Neupulse device offers not just symptom relief but a return to the everyday moments that Tourette's had taken away.