Technology and Pain

Pain relief without the help of medication may sound too good to be true, but a new startup says it has created a wearable that does just that. Medication can cause so many different and horrible side effects. A new device called Cur — created by a San Francisco-based startup of the same name — aims to provide an alternative to pain medication for people with chronic pain, such as carpal tunnel syndrome and fibromyalgia. The device is a version of the TENS unit which works by sending electrical currents to the brain which will minimize the pain signals and in turn the amount of pain that you feel. One of the best things about this device is that it does not have wires so it will be more convenient on the go. Central to the wireless functionality is the device's sensors, which measure individual muscle vibrations. These vibrations inform how much current the device delivers at any give time, though users can manually adjust the output if they wish. It could even be later programmed to be controlled by mobile applications.