Motive Health launches on Monday with one goal in mind: treating knee pain. The brand’s FDA-cleared device uses muscle stimulation to strengthen quadricep muscles and relieve knee pain.

The technology is analogous to that of cosmetic treatments like Emsculpt, which uses high-intensity electromagnetic therapy to tone and tighten muscles and skin. Motive Health employs neuromuscular electrical stimulation, which boosts muscle activation. Electromagnetic therapy employs electromagnetic fields, while electrical stimulation uses electric current through electrodes, in keeping with the Blue Cross.

The concept for the brand got here about 14 years ago, in keeping with Motive cofounder, Hospital for Special Surgery orthopedic surgeon and Recent York Mets team physician Dr. Struan Coleman.

“All of the muscles which might be above the kneecap, every time you could have a knee injury or any sort of knee surgery, all those quadricep muscles immediately shut down,” Coleman said. “That was the issue, and the answer was pretty straightforward, which was let’s take electrodes that stimulate each the nerve and the muscle and let’s put them right into a normal knee brace in order that whether you could have some early arthritis, otherwise you’re having ACL surgery, or you could have meniscus surgery or any sort of knee injury, you’ll be able to have your procedure after which start the following day to stimulate that quadricep muscle in order that it comes back as fast as possible.” 

From there, the electrode-based muscle stimulation wrap was created. Within the early days, it was used on patients who underwent ACL surgery but progressively was used to treat those experiencing general knee pain. So far, the device has been used on a prescription-basis for 1000’s of patients but will now be available direct-to-consumer on the Motive Health website for $399. Manufacturers advise the device be worn half-hour a day for the very best results. It might even be used along with a smartphone to regulate levels and track usage.

Making a product that didn’t require a prescription and was accessible to a mass audience was key for the brand, because it is reporting 40 million Americans have some kind of knee pain. 

The brand is launching entirely direct-to-consumer but plans to look into other marketplace channels like Amazon and extra retailers in the long run.

“We’re going to begin with the Motive Health site after which we’re going to construct from there,” Coleman explained.

Moreover, the brand is planning to make use of its technology to expand its product offerings in the long run to treat other conditions and areas of pain.

“We’ve discovered this neuromuscular stimulation, which is simple to make use of and painless,” Coleman said. “We’re going to breed that exact thing to treat low back pain, to construct your abdominal muscles.…We’ve already designed something for the shoulder. We’ve designed something for the neck, for the foot, ankle, really anywhere within the body since the principles are really the identical.”

Ahead of the launch, the brand declined to share projected sales figures. The device is now available on the Motive Health website.