Quell - A new pain-relief medical wearable to look out for

[Caedar]

I've been keeping my eye on this device called Quell for a little while now, and it was just unveiled today at the Consumer Electronics Show. It's an interesting concept: It's a type of TENS, but it seems to have many advantages:

• It doesn't require a bulky separate unit with leads that get snagged on clothing (like the one I'm using right now).
• It uses an algorithm that changes the pulse amplitude over time and (apparently) gives better pain relief than traditional TENS.
• They claim that it's much stronger than TENS, to the point where it can provide relief outside the site of the nerve stimulation. I'm taking this with a grain of salt, but I have seen some studies saying TENS might be able to do this.
• You can control the unit with your phone, which logs treatment data. For the quantitatively minded (like me), this could help you collect some anecdotal data about whether the treatment is reducing your pain levels over time or in certain patterns.

I'm personally excited for this because part of my CPPS is body-wide hyperalgesia and parasthesia, mostly in my thighs. I used to use TENS a lot when it was worse, but TENS can be super inconvenient. So, putting all the talk of this being better than TENS aside (which it just might?), this is a sleek alternative that looks much easier to use. No talk of cost yet, but I can't see it being more than a few hundred dollars; after all, even the best TENS units aren't more than ~$150.

What do you all think?

[webslave]

Interesting device. Do you find TENS units useful?

[Caedar]

I certainly do. It's mostly useful for extended periods of sitting (car rides, working at the computer, etc.), but it's a very useful tool. It's not a therapeutic tool, though, so it's definitely a small component of my overall plan.