News

Immerse UK Awards University Tour

11th Interdisciplinary World Congress on Low Back and Pelvic Girdle Pain in Melbourne, Australia.  

Colleagues (past and present) from Cardiff University, Noudy Eleryan (Phd student), Dr Liba Sheeran and Dr Akushla Rathnayake (former Phd student at Cardiff, now based at Hertfordshire) recently attended the above event to present their work. Noudy Eleryan – The effect of self-management interventions on musculoskeletal disorders in musicians: A scoping review. Dr Akushla Rathnayake: Normalisation process theory (NPT) analysis of user experience of BACK-to-FITTM – A novel digital intervention to promote exercise self-management and physical activity in people with low back pain. Dr Liba Sheeran: Assessment of spinal and pelvic kinematics using inertial measurement units in people with persistent low back pain. Co-production of BACK-on-LINETM, a work-based digital self-management of low back pain, for implementation and scaleup the rail industry. Phenotyping low back pain from video capture using computer vision and machine learning.

International Spinal Cord Society Tour

Delegates of the 62nd annual meeting of the International Spinal Cord Society (ISCoS) held in Edinburgh, visited the Queen Elizabeth National Spinal Injuries Unit and the Scottish Centre for Innovation for Spinal Cord Injury in a pre-conference visit on 1st October 2023. Around 40 delegates from research centres all around the world and patient representatives of the ISCoS society had a chance to see how neurorehabilitation research has been embedded into clinics, in this UK unique setting. Dr Aleksandra Vuckovic alongside her PhD students Ioana Susnoschi Luca, Shamsul Arefin, Emily Nicol and Research Associate Dr Rab Nawaz demonstrated the ongoing research with cutting edge neurotechnology, including systems for neuromodulatory treatment of spasticity, long-term home-based brain monitoring in people with chronic pain and spinal cord stimulation for rehabilitation of arm and hand function. A hospital tour and a welcome speech by the Director of the Spinal Unit Dr Mariel Purcell were also included in the visit.

Pain Technology in Autism

CPNN+ mentorship programme (now closed)

Are you an early career researcher looking for a mentor? This programme has now closed due to the high number of applications received. We do however hope to re-open this again in the future. Please keep a lookout for upcoming details on our website.

Sign up for the neurotechnology course!

World Arthritis Day!

Our Co-Investigator, Val Sparkes (pictured) attended the inaugural Musculoskeletal (MSK) Innovations in Wales Conference on 12.10.23 on World Arthritis Day. In response to the significant number of people affected by MSK, the Welsh Government has co-produced the Quality Statement for MSK Health. The Quality Statement for MSK Health sets out the Welsh Government’s vision for the development of better MSK care throughout the life-course and across the whole of Wales. The aim of the conference was to gather key stakeholders, professionals, and organisations from the health and social care sector to address the challenges and opportunities in the field of MSK healthcare. The event welcomed keynote speeches from the Minister for Health and Social Services, the Chief Medical Officer for Wales and many others who showcased good practices and innovations in MSK healthcare across Wales.

Living with Persistent Pain

Our CPNN+ investigator (Val Sparkes) and CPNN+ partner (Sharmila Khot) attended the ‘Living with Persistent Pain in Wales’ conference on 18.09.2023. The event was held by the Welsh Government in Cardiff, with the afternoon session being opened by the Minister for Health and Social Services and addressed by the Deputy Chief Medical Officer. The aim of this event was to raise awareness and education around persistent pain conditions and the support that is available within pain management and service development.

Prizes at recent APDP annual conference

CPNN members Mohammed Alghamdi and Amanda Wall picked up prizes at this years APDP annual conference in Nottingham. The conference was the first major get together for the APDP community and brought together researchers, people with lived experience, and clinicians to map the way forward for UK pain research. Mohammed presented his poster ‘Measuring the effect of immersive virtual reality (VR) in people with persistent low back pain–what can quantitative sensory testing tell us?’ and Amanda her poster on ‘Experience of recruiting patients with rheumatoid arthritis versus fibromyalgia into longitudinal observational studies: a real world observation”