Another nerve zapper?
Jan. 11th, 2026 10:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elizillaRemember the nerve zapper I had, about ten years back? It was a cuff that fastened around my leg, that gave a tiny electric shock to a nerve that controlled the muscle that lifts the front of the foot, making that muscle fire. Because MS is a disease that damages neural pathways, and my gait troubles are due to my brain not being able to send impulses down specific neural paths, like that one.
That nerve zapper actually helped a lot with my walking. The problem was, the way it determined when to fire, was using a sensor in my shoe, which irritated the heck out of my foot. It was like having a rock under my heel. The spot where it had to be placed, got all inflamed. I was never able to devise an insole that allowed the thing to work, without irritating the skin on my foot. And it was a hassle working with their one representative, who made house calls across four states with her proprietary firmware editing machine that was needed for every tweak. I stopped using it.
I keep an eye on the new technology coming out, but these type of adaptive devices are always many thousands of dollars (nonrefundable) that insurance doesn’t cover, and knowing how small difficulties can make them useless, I haven’t been willing to roll the dice again.
Well, technology, fintech, and the disease have all marched on. I have multiple troublesome nerves now, but the worst are still in the left leg and foot. A device has come out that zaps multiple nerves to work multiple unresponsive muscles, and does not have the problematical shoe sensors. In our increasingly app-controlled and telemedicine and subscription world, they are promising more finely tuned control using a phone app, and more support (remote of course), and instead of paying thousands up front it is a couple hundred bucks a month for a subscription that includes the device, the supplies, service, and upgrades. No long term contract, cancel if it doesn’t work and the monthly payments stop.
I decided to try it. If it works well enough for long enough that I spend more on monthly fees than I spent up front for the last device, I will call that a win. If not, well, I won’t have to regret the massive sunk cost. There were a few hurdles but they weren’t too rough. No one had to come to my house from another state. I had to take my own measurements, send a video of my gait, and get my neurologist to sign a prescription.
I got email, my device has been programmed for me and will ship next week. Wish me luck!
(I wonder if the ultimate form this technology will take, is that it will get much tinier and be surgically implanted? I bet the zaps could be much smaller and less, well… shocking, if they were right on the nerve instead of having to pass through the skin. Maybe someday I will be a bionic woman, for real.)
That nerve zapper actually helped a lot with my walking. The problem was, the way it determined when to fire, was using a sensor in my shoe, which irritated the heck out of my foot. It was like having a rock under my heel. The spot where it had to be placed, got all inflamed. I was never able to devise an insole that allowed the thing to work, without irritating the skin on my foot. And it was a hassle working with their one representative, who made house calls across four states with her proprietary firmware editing machine that was needed for every tweak. I stopped using it.
I keep an eye on the new technology coming out, but these type of adaptive devices are always many thousands of dollars (nonrefundable) that insurance doesn’t cover, and knowing how small difficulties can make them useless, I haven’t been willing to roll the dice again.
Well, technology, fintech, and the disease have all marched on. I have multiple troublesome nerves now, but the worst are still in the left leg and foot. A device has come out that zaps multiple nerves to work multiple unresponsive muscles, and does not have the problematical shoe sensors. In our increasingly app-controlled and telemedicine and subscription world, they are promising more finely tuned control using a phone app, and more support (remote of course), and instead of paying thousands up front it is a couple hundred bucks a month for a subscription that includes the device, the supplies, service, and upgrades. No long term contract, cancel if it doesn’t work and the monthly payments stop.
I decided to try it. If it works well enough for long enough that I spend more on monthly fees than I spent up front for the last device, I will call that a win. If not, well, I won’t have to regret the massive sunk cost. There were a few hurdles but they weren’t too rough. No one had to come to my house from another state. I had to take my own measurements, send a video of my gait, and get my neurologist to sign a prescription.
I got email, my device has been programmed for me and will ship next week. Wish me luck!
(I wonder if the ultimate form this technology will take, is that it will get much tinier and be surgically implanted? I bet the zaps could be much smaller and less, well… shocking, if they were right on the nerve instead of having to pass through the skin. Maybe someday I will be a bionic woman, for real.)
