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Relaxis Pad

Posted: Thu Oct 23, 2014 12:31 am
by CarolWR
The last issue of Nightwalkers introduced the Relaxis Pad,, a vibrating device made by Sensory Medical. Their website is myrelaxis.com, and it has the research to back up claims of real non-pharmacological nighttime relief. I'm not sure if it's out there for purchase yet. I'm wondering if anyone has any personal experience with it.

Another device I'm looking into in an LED pain reliever. It's supplied safe infrared heat to body parts, like legs. Does anyone know about this? It advertises for relief of pain, inflammation, and penetrates deeper than a traditional heating pad (which does help me).

Re: Relaxis Pad

Posted: Thu Oct 23, 2014 6:15 am
by ViewsAskew
Not a clue on either. I've seen the device - we talked about it a few weeks ago, if I remember correctly.

Re: Relaxis Pad

Posted: Sun Nov 02, 2014 4:11 am
by frhinck
I am interested in further information about the pad, also. Understand that it is not available yet.

Re: Relaxis Pad

Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2014 2:36 am
by Hopeful
I did some looking into the Relaxis pad a couple of months ago. I called the company, and was able to talk to a helpful woman on the phone. She explained that it would take awhile before the pad would have the proper documentation for insurance companies to cover it, and the retail cost was high (sorry I forgot the actual amount).
It seemed to me that the Relaxis pad is mainly a vibrating pad, so I bought a "Sunbeam" brand vibrating heating pad for $20 on Amazon. It did not help me at all, and it sounds like angry bees! My daughter and I could not stop laughing about it, which I guess made it a little easier to get over the disappointment of it not working. I am the kind of person who needs a quiet environment to sleep, and the vibrating was not something I'd be able to fall asleep to. I read the info about how the Relaxis pad helped people in their trials, and I am puzzled about how it could have helped. I truly do hope that some people find it helpful, but I am skeptical based on my experience with the Sunbeam vibrating pad. My greatest wish is for a non-medical treatment.

Re: Relaxis Pad

Posted: Fri Nov 07, 2014 2:02 am
by badnights
The other topic where this was discussed is at viewtopic.php?f=1&t=8851&hilit=relaxis&start=15 (check the beginning, as it wanders off-topic eventually). I wouldn't hold my breath for vibration to help. Pressure, maybe; heat, not by itself; vibration, no. But that's just me.

Re: Relaxis Pad

Posted: Tue Nov 18, 2014 4:03 pm
by bsquare
October Readers Digest has an article in the "News From The World of Medicine" which says;
Soothing Restless Legs
A new device offers a drug free treatment for RLS. Recently FDA-approved, the Relaxis foam pad gently vibrates under patients legs, soothing those annoying throbs. In studies, it improved sleep about as well as commonly prescribed RLS drugs, without side effects like nausea and dizziness. The pad will be ready this fall for about $750 with a prescription.

Re: Relaxis Pad

Posted: Sat Nov 22, 2014 8:18 pm
by Polar Bear
I think I'd like to see some research/reviews on this before handing over such a lot of money.
Sounds rather tens like.

Re: Relaxis Pad

Posted: Sun Nov 23, 2014 5:14 am
by badnights
Not TENS. Vibration, rather than electrical current. It sounds like it works for at least some people, but iirc there was a set of people for whom it made things worse.

Re: Relaxis Pad

Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2015 2:45 am
by Orrel
My family doctor gave me a copy of a publication on the latest thinking about RLS. It mentioned the Relaxis Pad. Citing lack of compelling evidence of benefit from two randomized
trials, the article suggested that RLS patients not use the device until further studies have been done and reported in peer-reviewed publications. Nine in the active
group and two in the control group experienced temporary worsening of RLS symptoms. Caveat emptor.

Re: Relaxis Pad

Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2015 6:41 am
by Yankiwi
It would be great if we could rent one to see if they work. In any case, they won't be available in New Zealand for several years after they are in the US. $750 is a lot of money, I wonder if it comes with a money-back guarantee?

Re: Relaxis Pad

Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2015 8:04 am
by ViewsAskew
Orrel wrote:My family doctor gave me a copy of a publication on the latest thinking about RLS. It mentioned the Relaxis Pad. Citing lack of compelling evidence of benefit from two randomized
trials, the article suggested that RLS patients not use the device until further studies have been done and reported in peer-reviewed publications. Nine in the active
group and two in the control group experienced temporary worsening of RLS symptoms. Caveat emptor.


AH! Well, that tells me quite a bit.

Re: Relaxis Pad

Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2015 4:21 pm
by badnights
They mentioned this on their website, that it's not appropriate for everyone, hence their return policy:
http://relaxispad.com/ wrote:Because the Relaxis Pad may not suit everybody, Sensory Medical have stipulated that they require distributors of the Relaxis Pad to provide a two week trial period(rental period) to enable patients to decide if the Relaxis Pad is right for them. After the trial period the patient will have 30 days in which they can obtain a full refund, if they are not fully satisfied with the product.


The results of the clinical trials are harder to find but they're at http://sensorymedical.com/physicians-2/, which summarizes plus has links to the actual studies, published in an open-access online journal. The excerpts below are from the summary.
AE= adverse effect
In the first study, 5 subjects out of 39 experienced worsened RLS/WED:
sensorymedical.com wrote:Subjects were adults with moderate-to-severe primary RLS involving only the legs..... Patients with secondary RLS, other sleep disorders, disorders involving the legs (e.g., cellulitis or deep vein thrombosis) or taking unapproved medications to treat their RLS were excluded......A total of 77 subjects were enrolled in the study at a 1:1 ratio (39 used [the real] device], 38 used the sham device). ..There were no statistically significant differences between active and sham groups for ...IRLS score, [but] there were statistically significant improvements in the mean MOS-I scores ... and MOS-II scores..... The most common AE was worsening of RLS symptoms, which occurred in four subjects with the [real] device (10.3%) and one subject with the sham device (2.6%). Worsening of RLS symptoms resolved within three weeks of discontinuation of device use without additional intervention. Other device-related AEs reported in the [real-device] group included non-RLS leg cramps (2 AEs, 5.1%) and leg soreness (1 AE, 2.6%).


In the second study, five subjects out of 52 experienced worsened RLS/WED:
sensorymedical.com wrote:A total of 81 subjects were enrolled in the study at a 2:1 ratio (52 used [the real] device, 29 used the sham device).....[Again, there were no statistically significant differences between active and sham groups for IRLS score, but there were statistically significant improvements in the mean MOS-I scores and MOS-II scores].... There were five AEs in the active group (9.6%) and two in the sham group (6.9%) that were at least possibly device-related. All device-related AEs in the [real-device] group were categorized as worsening of RLS symptoms .... One of these AEs was graded as moderate and the remaining four were graded as mild.


In both studies, a couple of people in the control group also developed worsened symptoms, which means either that the sham device can worsen RLS/WED, or that a certain number of people are going to experience worsened WED no matter what. The implication of the second line of reasoning is that some of the five who apparently worsened due to the device would have worsened no matter what.

LED laser light therapy - did not work

Posted: Sun Jan 04, 2015 6:57 am
by gretakmac
I have had some experience with the LED laser light therapy, at a cost of $4,000.
Bottom line, it did not work. I eventually recuperated $900.
I do not recommend it as there are no guarantees.

Re: Relaxis Pad

Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2015 10:21 pm
by Joanie60
The person answering the phone at Relaxis was quite helpful. Insurance should cover the $750 cost by December 2015. The 2 week trial period is at discretion of the distributor, Relaxis can only suggest it. I suggested they give the moderators here on the forum a unit to test...told the customer service rep it would be best form of advertising EVER!!! I'm not a moderator, but haven't heard any of you guys mention it. Oh well, I tried!!

Re: Relaxis Pad

Posted: Sun Jan 11, 2015 8:15 am
by ViewsAskew
Can't say they contacted me, lol.

BUT - I did something crazy last night. Knowing that they supposedly used vibration successfully, I decided to use a small personal vibrator in between my thighs (where my symptoms are worst) last night when I had breakthrough and did not want to get up. Well, I need to try it many more times, but it worked. Could be chance, could be the vibration noise, could be distraction, could be the counterstimulation. At any rate, I fell back to sleep! So, when I woke up an hour later with a bit stronger symptoms, I tried again. It didn't work that time - I had to get up and move around. Of course, one small personal vibrator isn't likely close to the level of vibration of this pad.