Mollii suit for spasticity

Patient organisation comments

The patient organisation Cerebra was asked to comment on this briefing. Cerebra asked the Peninsula Cerebra Research Unit (PenCRU) to provide comments, which are given here. These comments are those of PenCRU and do not represent the views of Cerebra.

PenCRU works with families of children with cerebral palsy but has not evaluated the Mollii suit before.

The Mollii suit is a novel approach to treating spasticity, far extending transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) applications.

However, there is a need for robust evidence to understand the effectiveness of TENS alone in reducing spasticity and improving function, in order to understand the comparative effectiveness of the Mollii suit.

Other whole-body garments made of Lycra, which have been used as orthoses, have been reported as hot, difficult to tolerate and can make going to the toilet difficult. It was also noted that it is likely that help would be needed with dressing.

The commentator remarked that a meaningful difference between standard care and the Mollii suit is yet to be determined. They believed a large effect on patient experience would need to be shown to alter therapy programmes. The patient experience would depend on whether any improved outcomes offset the burden of wearing the suit.

People using the Mollii suit would be likely to need special training, ongoing physiotherapy and monitoring by a paediatrician or clinician. Even if the effectiveness of Mollii suit was proven in research studies, there is large uncertainty that a reduction of cost would be realised.