Clinical trials

This study explores how personalised music therapy can support children and their parents during repeated medical procedures, such as blood tests or injections. Many children find these procedures painful or frightening, and repeated experiences can lead to high anxiety and difficulty coping. Parents often feel distressed as well, which can affect how well they are able to support their child. Because children and parents regulate each other emotionally, helping both members of the pair is important for reducing distress. This study aims to explore how personalised music therapy-based procedural support (MTPS) influences the relational and emotional processes that help children and their parents cope, regulate, and build resilience during repeated medical procedures.

Knee osteoarthritis, a chronic musculoskeletal disease, is the most prevalent type of osteoarthritis and the leading cause of disability and major healthcare costs worldwide. The pathogenesis of the disease is not fully understood and there are few non-invasive disease-modifying therapies available to patients. Therefore, there is a critical need to enhance therapeutic interventions, which requires improvement of our understanding of knee osteoarthritis pathogenesis. Increasing evidence suggests that physical activity and exercise training are cost-effective and widely available interventions for the treatment of knee osteoarthritis, however, consideration of type of physical activity and optimal exercise modality are needed to reduce pain, improve gait, knee joint function, stiffness, and muscle weakness in individuals with knee osteoarthritis. The aim of this pilot clinical trial is to compare individuals with knee osteoarthritis who have not exercised with individuals that have performed retro walking exercise chosen from the systematic review and survey we have conducted previously to reduce pain and improve gait. Non-linear analyses will be performed to determine the effects of exercise intervention on gait biomechanics and stability of movement in these patients. These findings may form a basis for recommendations of exercise/physical activity interventions for the benefits of patients with knee osteoarthritis including pain reduction, mobility improvement and gait modification.

There is current research interest in the use of fruit and plant-based food products containing high levels of natural antioxidants and their impact on exercise, which may be particularly beneficial for recreationally or low-active populations. One such product is an olive extract drink (called OliPhenolia®) produced by Fattoria La Vialla (an organic farm based in Northern Italy) and commercially available for the general public. Whilst previous research from the investigators (at Anglia Ruskin University) using this product has demonstrated potential antioxidant benefits and reduced oxygen cost during aerobic exercise, there are to date no studies investigating whether the short-term consumption of OliPhenolia® can benefit fat oxidation during exercise or whether such effects can be further enhanced employing a pre workout caffeinated beverage. Therefore the aim of this study is two-fold: i) to assess the impact of short-term supplementation (8 days) of OliPhenolia® relative to body mass on fat oxidation during aerobic cycling exercise in comparison to placebo in healthy recreationally active volunteers; and ii) whether potential benefits of OliPhenolia® on fat oxidation are enhanced with a pre-workout caffeinated beverage in comparison to placebo in healthy recreationally active volunteers.

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is commonly treated with bright light therapy. Virtual reality (VR) is an immersive computer-generated environment, which has been used to treat mental health difficulties, such as depression, social anxiety and stress. This study aims to compare the use of VR with bright light therapy in treating SAD. Participants will be randomly allocated to either the VR condition or the light box condition and instructed to use the respective device every day for 14 days.

The aims of the study are to recruit five participants with stroke upper limb hemiparesis and determine the effects on neural reorganisation of a three-week music intervention using electroencephalogram measures. Secondly, the researchers will measure for changes in arm function before and after the three-week music intervention. This is a single-arm pre-/post experiment Primary research questions: What are the neuroplastic changes induced by Therapeutic Instrumental Music Performance (TIMP)? Secondary research questions What are the functional changes in hemiparetic arm and hand induced by TIMP? Participants will be recruited once they have completed their statutory community stroke rehabilitation. They will receive 15 X music therapy sessions in their home over three-weeks. Exercises will be delivered by trained clinicians, including music therapists and stroke rehabilitations specialists. Exercises will be facilitated for full range of arm movement, using a range of percussion instruments on stands and handheld, and iPad with touchscreen instruments, which include keyboards and string instruments that can be played using pinch-grip, holding a stylus/plectrum. Pre-/post intervention period EEG recordings will made. Stroke Specific Quality of Life (SSQoL), Action Research Arm Test and nine-hole-peg-test data will be collected from participants in their homes at weeks: 1, 4, 7 and 10.