The traditional method of controlling positional obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), the so-called “tennis ball technique” in which the patient uses a physical device to avoid the supine posture during sleep, is inexpensive, easy to implement, and effective in the short term. But its compliance and effectiveness drop in the long term.
As it has in other areas of sleep medicine, technology is offering solutions to improving compliance for treatments of positional OSA by making treatment easier, less invasive, and more data driven.
Several devices are currently on the market in the United States and abroad that researchers are finding to be even more effective, and more importantly, they improve compliance over longer stretches of time.