Exciting Research News from TA-funded Project!

Posted on 24 July 2018

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Professor Georgina Jackson from the University of Nottingham was this year awarded a research grant from Tourettes Action for a project looking at the efficacy and tolerability of peripheral nerve stimulation as a potential therapy for Tourette syndrome.

The researchers suggested that non-invasive brain stimulation (such as TMS) has been shown to alter motor excitability in the brain and reduce tics in TS, but so far these techniques are not suitable for treatment outside of the clinic, or for use with young children.

The researchers proposed to investigate whether safe and effective methods of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) on to someone’s skin- can be used to effectively to reduce tics in TS.

Preliminary results from pilot data indicates that TENS, delivered to the wrist (known as median nerve stimulation or MNS) can alter brain motor activity and potentially help suppress tics. This suggests that we can use MNS instead of TMS to entrain brain oscillations in young children with TS. If shown to be effective and well tolerated, the researchers suggest that this type of stimulation could be incorporated into a wristband/watch type device.

There will be research updates from this project and the other Tourettes Action-funded research projects in the TA newsletter and on the website.

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