Norman Doidge's new book "The Brain's Way of Healing" presents a number of alternative neurological treatments, including CN-NINM. The treatment device is inserted in the mouth to contact the tongue - PoNS Stimulator is the device, now made by Helius Medical Technologies, Inc. The action is by low voltage fairly high frequency stimulation of the tongue, conveyed to the brain via the cranial nerve.

The claims for the device are close to frighteningly good. Does anyone have more knowledge about it? I could find only an army/VA contract about to go into effect and one study from the device developers claiming significant improvements.

Welcome to the NeuroTalk Support Groups.

I don't usually post on PD forum, but I saw the title of your thread.

There is a thread on Traumatic Brain Injury Forum about this device.

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/sh...ons+stimulator

Thanks for the cross-link. The video is pretty impressive, though not statistically significant I realize. I guess we just have to wait for more general availability - late 2016 says the video.

aengineer, welcome to this forum.

From what I can gather from a quick Google is that PoNS is rather like having a TENS electrode in the mouth.

Liegl et al. write [1]:

"The PoNS™ device uses an unbalanced biphasic waveform designed to ensure net zero current ... to reduce the chance of tissue irritation and has 19 V max and 6mA operational limits. Pulses are delivered to the tongue in triplets of pulses at 5 ms intervals every 20 ms."

This approach adds to the growing genre of stimulatory approaches that may or may not offer therapeutic benefit to PwP. Devices range from mechanical vibrations to pulsing magnetic fields, from constant electrical current to 1000hz, from the deep brain to the skin, from the non-invasive beat of a metronome to brain surgery.

As far as I know the only one that is in common use for PD is DBS - the one that ticks all the wrong boxes except one: it appears to benefit some people. As to the others, I can't explain why none is in general use for PD. I would expect some of them to give benefit.

Reference:

[1] "Portable Neuromodulation Stimulator (Pons™) Device And Effects On Balance And Gait For Individuals With Traumatic Brain Injuries"
Kati P. Liegl, Kathy L. Rust, Roger O. Smith, 2013
http://www.resna.org/sites/default/f...mes/Liegl.html

John