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This study aims to establish whether the online effects of tDCS on corticospinal excitability are: (1) influenced by tDCS intensity; (2) reliable within an individual between sessions; and (3) associated with the offline effects of tDCS on corticospinal excitability.

The after effect of tDCS is extremely variable both between and within individuals. To help to reduce the variability in after effect, we may need a greater understanding of the online effect of tDCS on corticospinal excitability.

We propose that something grossly ignored thus far in CRPS is the concept that the two sides of the brain are not communicating in the way they should. Control of movement and accurate processing of sensory information relies on functional pathways between the brain’s two hemispheres (Geffen, Jones et al. 1994, Seyal, Ro et al. 1995). We have compelling evidence from the CRPS literature to date, including important work of our own, to suggest that this chronic limb disorder – so characterised by neglect-like dysfunction in movement and sensation - usually on one side – can be explained by disruption in the delicate balance in and between sensory and motor systems. We propose to investigate interaction, specifically inhibition, between the hemispheres of the brain in CRPS for the first time.

Scoping review protocol retrieved from osf.io/2uqd3.

This project aims to investigate whether and to what extent body representation, specifically upper limb representation, is altered in people with fibromyalgia (FM) using three behavioural tasks. a. Hand laterality judgement task b. Body scale judgement task - ‘hand in hole’ c. Precision grip lift task

Background: Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is a non-invasive form of brain stimulation that induces a change in corticospinal excitability that lasts beyond the stimulation period, known as neural plasticity. Patterned rTMS protocols like paired pulse TMS (PPS) and quadripulse TMS (QPS) utilise bursts of two or four pulses at different ISIs to induce plasticity. While these paradigms have existed for over 15 years, there is currently only 1 review which has systematically assessed the efficacy of the PPS paradigm and none assessing QPS’s capacity to alter corticospinal excitability. Subsequently, it is paramount that a quantitative review is conducted to empirically determine the degree of both PPS and QPS efficacy to induce change in corticospinal excitability. This will be accomplished by conducting a meta-analysis. Objective: To provide a protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis on the effects of PPS and QPS on corticospinal excitability, as indexed by changes in motor evoked potential (MEP) amplitude. Methods: The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Protocols (PRISMA-P) will be used as a guideline for this protocol. Results: The systematic review will commence after registration of this protocol on Open Science Framework, where it will be locked and date stamped. Conclusions: rTMS paradigms such as PPS and QPS are considered promising protocols for inducing plasticity in the human motor cortex. The proposed systematic review and meta-analysis is being conducted to quantitatively determine the efficacy of these protocols for inducing plasticity and to assess how variability in protocol parameters effect plasticity outcome. Consequently, this review will provide a comprehensive overview of the magnitude of change in corticospinal excitability with PPS and QPS.

We aimed to investigate whether and to what extent body awareness and autonomic reactivity differed between three persistent pain states - fibromyalgia (FM), complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) and chronic musculoskeletal pain (CMP) - and healthy controls. Our secondary aim was to investigate the relationship between self-report measures of body awareness, and autonomic reactivity and pain.

This scoping review aims to explore the literature with respect to key concepts and evidence related to barriers and facilitators to the implementation of evidence-based physiotherapy management of chronic pain. Our goal is to map the diverse influences on this topic previously investigated, to expose any gaps in the knowledge, and understand the related interventions previously tested.

A systematic review protocol of the neurophysiological properties underlying HEPs in both diagnostic conditions and healthy controls.

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) is a non-invasive method of changing brain excitability which can outlast the period of stimulation. Almost all of the information about the mechanisms that underpin tDCS changes in excitability refer to changes in nerves or their chemistry. Despite this, it is plausible that other cells found in the brain such as the glial cells may contribute to the outcomes. This project will explore the contributions of glial cell activity to changes induced in brain excitability using magnetic resonance spectroscopy to directly measure glial cell density change following non-invasive brain stimulation.

Chronic pain is common in children and adolescents, and is costly. Multidisciplinary care is a key component in the management of chronic pain, but it can be difficult to access. The Comfort Ability Program is a one day, evidence based, workshop delivered in the hospital environment which delivers a brief, structured, skills based cognitive and biobehavioural training intervention. The Comfort Ability Program is conducted through the Women’s and Children’s Hospital Paediatric Chronic Pain Unit as a component of clinical care to empower adolescents and their parents/carers to make better choices for care and recovery. We propose to undertake a feasibility study to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of delivering the Comfort Ability Pain Management Workshop in the Women’s and Children’s Hospital setting.

A feasibility study to determine the feasibility and acceptability of delivering the ComfortAbility Program in Australia

A qualitative study of participants who attended a weekly exercise class for chronic lower back pain. Participants were randomised to an intervention or control. Individual interviews will aim to understand the experience of participating in the exercise program. We will examine whether they thought they were in the intervention or control (if blinding was effective), what they learnt from the program, if anything was incorporated into everyday activities and what they liked/disliked about the program.

Presented are remedial activities for use by the classroom teacher with learning disabled elementary school children in her regular class. An introductory section discusses specific learning deficits, general motor coordination deficits, and behavior manifestations. Offered are 15 generalizations about teaching the learning disabled child such as the importance of careful evaluation. Provided for each of 50 remedial areas is a definition of the desired skill, an example of a related disability, and five to 25 remedial suggestions. Teaching suggestions are given for the following gross motor skills: rolling, running, jumping, skipping, throwing, balance, posture, body movement, rhythm and muscle strength. Activities for visual-motor fine muscle coordination and handwriting are given in the category of fine motor skills. Suggestions are also given for the following perceptual-motor skills: body image, position in space, spatial relationships, directionality, laterality, tactile discrimination, and manual expression. Also provided are teaching suggestions for the following visual skills: visual coordination and pursuit, visual reception (decoding), visual memory, visual sequencing, visual-figure ground differentiation, visual form discrimination, visual closure; and the following auditory skills: auditory reception (decoding), auditory discrimination, auditory memory, auditory sequencing, auditory-vocal association, and sound blending. Conceptualization skills are divided into the areas of general information, vocabulary, comprehension, classification, vocal fluency and encoding, letter recognition, spelling grammatic closure, and arithmetic processes. A final section on disorders of behavior offers remedial suggestions for distractibility and perservation. (DB)