The innovators: the cloth cap that treats the brain | The Guardian

Neuroelectrics founder Ana Maiques . Photograph: Handout

Neuroelectrics founder Ana Maiques . Photograph: Handout

Treatment is achieved by sending a low electrical current to the area of the brain in question via the electrodes for about 20 minutes, repeated over a number of sessions. Apart from a 15-second itching sensation, Maiques says that patients do not feel anything during the process. By exciting the neurons with the current, it has a positive effect on the rehabilitation of people with strokes in combination with physical therapy.

“You are artificially helping the brain to get more excited and more dynamic doing that task,” Maiques says. “Studies show that if you do this in combination with other therapies you have more of an effect. In a sense you are teaching the brain to behave in a different way. And then it is learning that behaviour.”

Source: The innovators: the cloth cap that treats the brain
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