Tourette's Tics Dropped 35% in a Nottingham Wristband Trial

Medical Integrity Checked by TWE Advisory Committee

ID: #2026-111 / Verified: September 11, 2026

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The Urge-to-Tic How It Works The Trial Data Where Things Stand What's Next

At a Glance

• A University of Nottingham spinout built a wrist-worn device that stimulates the median nerve, and a peer-reviewed trial found it eased both tic severity and frequency.
• It's not cleared as a medical treatment yet. Pre-orders are open for a general wellness version, while the tic-specific clinical version works through regulatory approval.
• UK regulators floated recommending it in 2024, then pulled back once the paperwork wasn't in place, a reminder of the gap between a promising trial and an approved treatment.

Teal is the color of Tourette syndrome awareness. Credit: Hassaan Here / Unsplash

Picture the feeling right before a sneeze, that pressure that just takes over your body. Now imagine it hitting dozens, sometimes hundreds, of times a day. Except instead of a sneeze, it's a shoulder jerk, a throat clear, a word you never meant to say. That's the urge-to-tic, and if you haven't lived with Tourette syndrome, it's genuinely hard to picture how tiring that gets.

We've been following a small UK wearable trying something different here. No sedation, no surgery, just a rhythm sent to the nervous system that the brain already seems to recognize. A peer-reviewed trial found that rhythm actually moved the needle. Here's what the science says, and what's still just a promise.

What Living With an Urge-to-Tic Really Feels Like

Tourette syndrome usually shows up between ages 8 and 12,[1] and it's a lot more common than most people think, affecting up to 2% of children worldwide.[2] It brings involuntary movements and sounds called tics, plus that telltale urge that builds right before one.

Right now, treatment mostly means medication or CBIT (Comprehensive Behavioral Intervention for Tics), a structured therapy that takes weeks of practice with a trained therapist. Both can help. Neither is easy to access everywhere, and medication has tradeoffs of its own. That's the gap a wearable is trying to fill.

How a Gentle Buzz at the Wrist Talks to the Brain

The wristband, developed at the University of Nottingham and now sold by the spinout Neupulse, works through median nerve stimulation. Press a button, and for about 15 minutes[1] it sends mild, rhythmic pulses (10 hertz) through the median nerve at your wrist, nudging the brain toward the kind of electrical activity tied to suppressing unwanted movement.[3] No wires to a lab, no clinic visit, just a quiet daily habit, not unlike checking your blood pressure at home.

🔍 The Research, Explained: Brains give off a rhythmic drumbeat of electrical activity, and a specific version of that beat tends to show up right when someone successfully holds back a tic. The idea behind this device is almost stubbornly simple. Nudge the nervous system into that same rhythm from the outside, and the brain might hold the suppression pattern a little longer on its own.[3]

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Median nerve stimulation is refreshingly low-tech compared to what's happening elsewhere in neurotechnology. We looked into a brain implant approved in China that lets paralyzed patients control a robotic hand with thought alone.

What the Trial Found

Researchers ran a double-blind, sham-controlled trial with 135 volunteers across the UK, split into three groups of 45. One got real stimulation, one got a sham device that looked and felt identical but did nothing, and one got no device at all and carried on with usual care.[3] Nobody, not even the people scoring the videos, knew who was in which group until the trial ended.

After a month of daily 15-minute sessions,[1] the active group's tic severity dropped by about 35%, a 7.1-point improvement, compared to roughly 2 points in the sham group. Tic frequency fell more than 25% too.[3]

Numbers are one thing. A 13-year-old participant named Mylo put it more simply. "The device definitely helped my tics," he said. "I still did the occasional tic when it was on but the need to do it was a lot less."[1]

⚠️ A Few Precautions: These are group averages from one trial, not a promise for any one person. Tics naturally wax and wane on their own, which is exactly why the sham comparison matters. Bring this up with a neurologist before swapping out anything in an existing treatment plan.

From University Lab to Everyday Life

Good research is only half the story. Neupulse raised £2.5 million, reported elsewhere as $3.2 million, in 2024,[4] money earmarked for finishing the prototype and opening regulatory applications across the UK, Europe, and the US.[5] Another £3 million followed in early 2026 from investors including Eos Advisory and the Midlands Engine Investment Fund II, this round earmarked for scaling sales and pushing toward a mid-2026 commercial launch.[2]

The regulatory story has a genuine twist. In November 2024, NICE floated draft guidance recommending two tic-disorder technologies, this wristband included.[6] The final guidance kept only the other one, an online program called ORBIT, because the wristband "does not have appropriate regulatory approval."[7] A strong trial and an approved device, it turns out, are two very different things.

So what can you actually buy right now? Neupulse opened UK pre-orders in October 2025, with delivery expected around June 2026.[8] The company's own site frames this first release as a general wellness product, about £500 plus £20 a month, kept separate from the tic-specific version still working through regulatory review.[9] The story also picked up some attention through the 2025 documentary "I Swear," about Tourette's advocate John Davidson MBE.[8]

What This Could Mean Beyond Tourette's

The bigger idea reaches past tics. Median nerve stimulation is a gentle way to nudge the brain's own rhythms, and if more research holds up, the same basic approach could eventually reach other movement-related conditions. One of Neupulse's own investors put it plainly. The technology, they said, could be "beneficial for many other neural conditions in the future."[4]

We like a device built around working with the nervous system rather than overriding it. But this is still an early chapter. The trial data is real, the regulatory road is still being paved, and the version you can pre-order today isn't quite the version that was tested. Worth remembering all three.

Frequently Asked Questions

• Q1. Is the Neupulse device available in the United States yet?

  Not as a cleared medical treatment. The wellness wristband ships in the UK first, and the tic-specific version still needs US regulatory approval before it can be marketed here as a treatment.[8]

• Q2. Will this get rid of tics completely?

  No, and nobody involved with the device claims it will. The best trial results showed about a 35% drop in tic severity and over 25% fewer tics, which is meaningful, but it's a reduction, not a cure.[3]

• Q3. Can adults use it, or is this just for kids?

  Tourette syndrome is often diagnosed young, but plenty of people carry tics into adulthood, and the published trial enrolled participants aged 12 and up, adults included. Still, it's worth talking to a neurologist first, since everyone's situation is different.[3]

• Q4. How is this different from tic medication or CBIT therapy?

  Medication works on brain chemistry, and CBIT takes weekly practice with a trained therapist. This wristband is a physical, at-home habit instead, which could help people who find one of the other two hard to access, though it's not marketed to replace either.[3]

Sources & References

• [1] University of Nottingham (2023). "Clinical trial shows wrist device significantly reduces tics in Tourette syndrome." University of Nottingham News.
• [2] MedPath Trial (2026). "Neupulse Secures £3 Million to Advance Tourette Syndrome Wearable Device Toward 2026 Launch." MedPath Trial.
• [3] Morera Maiquez, B., et al. (2023). "A double-blind, sham-controlled, trial of home-administered rhythmic 10-Hz median nerve stimulation for the reduction of tics, and suppression of the urge-to-tic, in individuals with Tourette syndrome and chronic tic disorder." Journal of Neuropsychology.
• [4] Garland, B. (2024). "Neupulse secures funding to advance world's first wearable device to tackle Tourettes Syndrome." Neupulse.
• [5] Barrie, R. (2024). "Developer behind wearable device for Tourettes syndrome secures $3.2m." Medical Device Network.
• [6] Digital Health (2024). "NICE recommends two technologies for tics and Tourette syndrome." Digital Health.
• [7] NICE (n.d.). "Technology for children and young people with chronic tic disorders and Tourette syndrome recommended." NICE News.
• [8] Johnson, O. (2025). "Neupulse announces official launch of wearable device for Tourette's." Med-Tech Insights.
• [9] Neupulse (n.d.). "Neupulse." Neupulse.

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