Ottobock’s neuromodulation suit: treating muscle spasticity at home
How simple biological principles have been put together to create Exopulse Mollii Suit, the world’s first full-body wearable device to treat muscle spasticity.
In 2009, in Stockholm, a Swedish chiropractor named Frederik Lundqvist was trying to find a way to relieve the suffering of his friend Jurek, who had multiple sclerosis. During his studies, he had noticed a neurological reflex called the Mariefoix reflex, which in certain patients made it possible to bend a spastic leg with less resistance. Lundqvist wondered if he could control that reflex with an electrical impulse, creating the Exopulse Mollii Suit.
The idea took shape alongside physiotherapist Jörgen Sandell and fashion designer Andreas Halldén from H&M, a perfect match to create a wearable suit. The team drew inspiration from TENS therapy, extending its principle across the entire body. The device reached the European market as a medical device by 2012 as Exoneural Network, and it was acquired by Ottobock in 2021.
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The problem the suit addresses is muscle spasticity, a condition in which muscles remain involuntarily contracted, causing rigidity, pain, and motor difficulties. It is a symptom of many neurological conditions, including cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, and strokes. Traditional treatments include drugs and physiotherapy, with their limitations.
The Mollii Suit is an approved medical device in Europe and contains 58 embedded electrodes strategically distributed to stimulate 40 key muscle groups throughout the body. The mechanism exploits reciprocal inhibition: when a muscle contracts, its antagonist relaxes. The suit inverts this dynamic: by stimulating the antagonist of the spastic muscle, it induces relaxation in the contracted one.
The impulses generated by the suit have a customisable pulse, which is clinically calibrated based on the severity of the spasticity, the size of the muscle, and the patient’s body composition. It is not a crude stimulus, the suit is programmed by certified practitioners to adapt to each user.
From a design standpoint, the object consists of a jacket and trousers in breathable synthetic fabric, with a removable control unit that attaches magnetically to the suit. It is available in 37 sizes, from children to adults, in both men’s and women’s cuts. The standard protocol calls for 60-minute sessions every other day, which the user can carry out independently at home after an initial clinical assessment. The effects of each session can last up to 48 hours.
It is worth noting that what makes this device different is that it is not a TENS machine with a few extra electrodes; it is a system that intervenes simultaneously across the whole body, modulating the interaction between dozens of muscle groups rather than acting locally. Lundqvist describes it as a fusion of existing technologies rather than an invention from scratch: electrostimulation has existed for centuries, the principle of reciprocal inhibition is classical neurophysiology, but no one had previously tried to combine them in a wearable suit.
What Ottobock’s Exopulse Mollii Suit also allows is freedom of treatment. For decades, the tools available to treat spasticity have been either pharmaceutical, as in more invasive to the body, or institutional, something done to you by someone else, in a clinic. The suit moves the intervention into the home, into ordinary time, allowing patients to experience a more normal and tranquil life. The relocation changes the relationship between a person and their condition; the body becomes more manageable on its own terms.
