Ideas That Work: A Vibrating Pad Helps Us Avoid General Anesthesia in Restless Legs Syndrome Patients

GOOD VIBRATIONS The Relaxis stimulation pad quells twitching legs during cataract surgery.

A Vibrating Pad Helps Us Avoid General Anesthesia in Restless Legs Syndrome Patients

We were forced to perform cataract cases under general anesthesia on a growing number of patients who presented to our surgical center with restless legs syndrome (RLS), a neurological disorder characterized by frequent episodes of leg discomfort and the uncontrollable need to move and reposition the limbs, especially when recumbent. This condition is hardly conducive to surgical procedures, even short ones.

We may have found a solution: the Relaxis stimulation pad. We place the FDA-approved sleep aid (myrelaxis.com) beneath the calves of our restless-leg cataract patients, where it generates adjustable therapeutic vibrations that counteract the discomfort of RLS through distraction. The results from our recent Relaxis trial were impressive. Before admission, we identified 15 consecutive patients with RLS symptoms and administered Relaxis treatment beginning in pre-op. Of those, only 1 required intraoperative conversion to general anesthesia due to insufficient control of the leg movements.

Anthony Mannarino, MD
Pamela Ledger, MSN, RN, CNE
The Ambulatory Surgery Center at St. Mary
Langhorne, Pa.
[email protected]