INNOVATION FOR INDEPENDENCE
ISSUE 128 AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2019 £6.95
Research partnership could help phantom limb pain treatment AMPUTEES who suffer from phantom limb pain could have their suffering eased thanks to a new device being pioneered by researchers at Teesside University. Researchers at the University are working with start-up Teesside healthcare innovation company 2PD Ltd, to develop and launch a sensory discrimination training device which can be self-administered by patients to help overcome the condition. Phantom limb pain is where people who have undergone amputation experience sensations that seem to be coming from the amputated limb. One treatment for phantom limb pain is sensory discrimination training whereby patients receive stimuli to various parts of their body from electrodes and have to discriminate where the sensations are coming from. This has been shown to help the brain rewire its mental map, or blueprint, of the amputated limb, which is associated with a reduction in the phantom pain. However, it can be a lengthy and costly process involving several sessions administered by medical or rehabilitation professionals. Working directly with the company directors and key management personal, researchers at Teesside University have entered into a Knowledge Transfer Partnership to bring a device to market which automates the
process, meaning that a patient can selfadminister the training. KTPs typically last for two to three years and are a collaboration between a University and a company. They are part-funded by Innovate UK to help businesses embed innovations and improve productivity through the better use of knowledge, technology and skills being generated in UK universities. Over the course of the KTP, the Teesside University team and inventors Professor Denis Martin and Dr Cormac Ryan will carry out clinical evaluations and trials on the patent applied for device, before ultimately launching a device that is ready to be used on the open market. A KTP Associate, Sarah Oatway, a Teesside University BSc (Hons) Physiotherapy graduate, has also been appointed to assist with the research. Dr Ryan said: “Sensory discrimination training can be very effective at realigning the brain’s blueprint of the body. “However, the amount of clinical time that it takes up makes it a huge barrier to treatment. “By developing something that can be selfadministered we can make it a much more feasible proposition. At the end of the KTP we will have developed a product that has the potential to make a real impact on the quality of life for people who have undergone amputation surgery.”
Two Brighton-based designers have won a prestigious award for their invention designed to transform the lives of people living with disabilities. Friends and product designers Eli Heath, 24 and Pete Barr, 24 from Brighton and London respectively have been recognised with a Blackwood Design Award for creating the Enayball – a product that helps highly paralysed people create art. The Enayball is a device that attaches to wheelchairs and paints on the floor in front of you as you move. Brought to life when the pair were studying at Brighton University in 2015, the Enayball has now been recognised by leading care provider Blackwood for the way in which it allows people in wheelchairs to independently express themselves creatively.