Trial reportJournal of clinical sleep medicine : JCSM : official publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine2021
Noninvasive neuromodulation reduces symptoms of restless legs syndrome.
Trial report in Journal of clinical sleep medicine : JCSM : official publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to 3 registered trials, which are not on this map. Cited by 14 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Chronic Efficacy and Usability of Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation in Subjects With Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS)
A Post-Market Observational Clinical Study to Determine the Long-Term Effectiveness and Safety of the Noctrix TOMAC (Tonic Motor Activation) System for the Treatment of Restless Legs Syndrome - The THRIVE Study
PENS-P: Peroneal Electrical Nerve Stimulation in Pregnancy for Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS)
Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 24 citations in OpenAlex.
- Neuromodulation for Restless Legs Syndrome: A Systematic Review and Mechanistic Considerations for Spinal Cord Stimulation.Sleep & breathing = Schlaf & Atmung · 2026Pooled it
- Treatment of restless legs syndrome and periodic limb movement disorder: an American Academy of Sleep Medicine systematic review, meta-analysis, and GRADE assessment.Journal of clinical sleep medicine : JCSM : official publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine · 2025Pooled it
- Efficacy and safety of TOMAC for treatment of medication-naïve and medication-refractory restless legs syndrome: A randomized clinical trial and meta-analysis.Sleep medicine · 2024Pooled it
- Adjunctive tonic motor activation enables opioid reduction for refractory restless legs syndrome: a prospective, open-label, single-arm clinical trial.BMC neurology · 2023Trial
- Trial
- Trial
- Observational
- Pathophysiology and pharmacological management for sleep problems in Parkinson's disease.Journal of Parkinson's disease · 2026Review
- Efficacy and Tolerability of Extended-Duration Tonic Motor Activation for Treatment of Restless Legs Syndrome with Awakenings During Sleep.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Article
- Acute effects of tonic motor activation (TOMAC) on sleep in adults with medication-refractory restless legs syndrome.Sleep advances : a journal of the Sleep Research Society · 2026Article
- Effect of Vibration, Electrical Stimulation and Other Non-Pharmacological Interventions on Restless Leg Syndrome Severity and Sleep Quality: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Annals of Indian Academy of Neurology · 2025Article
- Restless Legs Syndrome in Adult Primary Care.Cureus · 2025Review
- Sleep related movement disorders in the elderly: a review of recent literature.Frontiers in sleep · 2024Review
- Cost-Effectiveness of Tonic Motor Activation (TOMAC) Therapy for Patients with Restless Legs Syndrome: An Exploratory Analysis.Neurology and therapy · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
STUDY
objectivesRestless legs syndrome (RLS) is a common neurological disorder characterized by an uncontrollable nocturnal urge to move the legs and often associated with chronic sleep disturbances. The most common treatments for RLS are medications that can have debilitating side effects. Here, we evaluated a novel alternative modality of RLS treatment, noninvasive bilateral electrical stimulation of the common peroneal nerve.
methodsTo assess the impact of this noninvasive peripheral nerve stimulation (NPNS) approach to RLS symptomatology, we conducted a multisite randomized crossover study comparing NPNS to sham. RLS patients with moderate-to-severe RLS (n = 37) self-administered NPNS and sham nightly for 14 days per treatment in randomized order.
resultsNPNS resulted in a reduction in RLS severity of 6.81 points on the International RLS Rating Scale relative to 3.38 for sham (
conclusionsThese results suggest that NPNS could be a promising alternative to pharmacological therapies for RLS and could provide a solution for medication-resistant RLS patients and for medication-naïve RLS patients who are unwilling or unable to take medication. CLINICAL
trial registrationRegistry: ClinicalTrials.gov; Name: Noninvasive Peripheral Nerve Stimulation for Restless Legs Syndrome; URL: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04700683; Identifier: NCT04700683. CITATION: Buchfuhrer MJ, Baker FC, Haramandeep S, et al. Noninvasive neuromodulation reduces symptoms of restless legs syndrome.
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Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.