The Neuroscience powering Nettle™
Nettle’s non-invasive approach to menstrual well-being is the first of it’s kind, without side effects, drugs or hormones.
Nettle™ improves your brain's activity during your menstrual cycle
During your luteal phase, changes occur in your brain that cause low mood, anxiety, brain fog and cramps. For those suffering with PMDD, endometriosis, PCOS, and other conditions linked to menstrual pain and PMS symptoms, this can be a nearly impossible experience.
As we've learned about the brain's role in the menstrual cycle, it became clear that targeted stimulation could provide both emotional support and pain relief. Because much of nature runs on electricity and your brain uses electrical signals to communicate at a cellular level, safe and small pulses from Nettle™ improve cell communication.
This stimulation causes your brain to mimic follicular phase activity, empowering you to feel your best even during the premenstrual phase.
Read more about the science below.
Nettle™ uses tDCS to stimulate two areas of the brain and provide emotional regulation and pain relief.
Although tDCS has been been proven safe and effective for nearly 30 years, it’s only been available in clinic. As a result, awareness around tDCS (transcranial Direct Current Stimulation), remains limited among patients and healthcare practitioners alike.
Nettle's Front Band
Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex (DLPFC) stimulation for emotional regulation (PMS)
Nettle specifically targets the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), a region crucial for regulating emotions and cognitive functions. It plays a critical role in modulating responses to emotional stimuli and stress, essential for maintaining emotional stability. In individuals suffering from PMS, the DLPFC may be under active or functioning sub-optimally. By targeting and supporting this area, Nettle helps regulate the intense emotional responses often experienced by those with PMS.
Nettle's Back Band
Motor cortex stimulation for pain perception and pain relief
The motor cortex, specifically the primary motor cortex (M1), plays a role in the modulation of chronic pain, by indirectly modulating the activity of the posterior insula. Studies suggest that disruptions in the motor cortex can contribute to central sensitisation, a condition where the central nervous system is in a heightened state of reactivity, lowering the pain-perception threshold. By stimulating the motor cortex, Nettle can recalibrate the neural pathways that play a role in regulating the perception of chronic pain. This stimulation has shown to increase the pain-perception threshold.
A clinically validated solution
Neurotechnology research has been around for 30+ years. Yet, neuroscientists only started really investigating its potential for women's health in the last five. Our team will always bring you the most up to date research and clinical findings. Here is a selection of some that opened our minds:
- R Pegado et al., Effects of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation for Treatment of Primary Dysmenorrhea: Preliminary Results of a Randomized Sham-Controlled Trial, Pain Medicine (2020)
- L Dutra et al., Modulating Anxiety and Functional Capacity with Anodal tDCS Over the Left Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex in Primary Dysmenorrhea, International Journal of Women's Health (2020).
- E Radyte et al., Modelling and Preliminary Clinical Validation of Home-based Menstrual Neuromodulation Therapy, Medrxiv (2024).
- S Mechsner et al., Transcranial direct current stimulation to reduce chronic pelvic pain in endometriosis: Phase II Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial, Pain Medicine (2023)
- M Bikson et al., Safety of transcranial Direct Current Stimulation: Evidence Based Update 2016, Brain Stimulation (2016)
- E Radyte et al., Development and testing of a novel IoT consumer tDCS device for the treatment of primary dysmenorrhea, Brain Stimulation (2023)
- E Baehr et al., Premenstrual dysphoric disorder and changes in frontal alpha asymmetry, International Journal of Psychophysiology (2004)
- H Eccles et al., The association between premenstrual dysphoric disorder and depression: A systematic review, Journal of Affective Disorders Reports (2023)
- L Stiernam et al., Emotion-induced brain activation across the menstrual cycle in individuals with premenstrual dysphoric disorder and associations to serum levels of progesterone-derived neurosteroids, Translational Psychiatry (2023)
Our clinical trials always build on years of research by leading neuroscientists, psychiatrists, pain specialists and clinicians, which you can review on our academic research page. In our double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled trial, WIND, we focused on 3 core metrics:
- Reduction of perceived pain, measured using a visual analog scale (score from 0-100) on the most painful day of the menstrual cycle (day 1 or day 2);
- Improvement in low mood, measured using the PANAS negative scale, which assesses negative affect/emotion;
- Improvement in functionality, or the ability to perform everyday tasks, measured using the 6-minute walking test.
We chose these metrics because our users report that the pain, mood and functionality symptoms impact their wellbeing the most during PMS and menstruation.
We then recruited women with both menstrual pain and PMS symptoms, measured their symptoms for a baseline period, then measured their symptoms after using Nettle™ daily for 5 days prior to their next period, and then after a month, to see which effects persist due to neuroplasticity and which don’t. It’s also worth noting that 44% of participants had a diagnosis of PMDD, indicating severe mood symptoms.
Our study was able to show that, after a single month's use of Nettle™:
- 77% of users reported clinically significant pain relief, and the average pain symptoms reduced by 53%;
- 67% of users reported a clinically significant mood improvement, with average symptoms in the PMS period improving by 34%; and
- 50% of users reported a clinical significant improvement in their average functionality, or fitness status, which was improved by 11%.
Read more about our clinical trials results here.
Nettle™ is regulated and approved as a Class IIa medical device for the alleviation of pain and mood symptoms associated with the menstrual cycle in the United Kingdom and the European Union. Samphire Neuroscience is approved as its legal manufacturer with quality management procedures certified in compliance with ISO 13485 standards.