Musculoskeletal and Neurological Rehabilitation

Research Group Leader

Professor Jim Woodburn
Professor of Rehabilitation Studies

Tel: +44(0)141 331 8483
Email: jim.woodburn@gcu.ac.uk

Jim Woodburn is Professor of Rehabilitation and an Honorary Podiatrist with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.  He is currently the Co-ordinator for the A-FOOTPRINT project, a €5.3million EU FP7 funded grant, and Principal Investigator on the FiJIA, TRAPP, PO4RA and other trial and cohort studies.  He has a strong interest in inflammatory joint disease across a number of conditions including rheumatoid, psoriatic and juvenile idiopathic arthritis.  His research investigates mechanisms of impairment and disability and the development and testing of novel interventions, in particular orthotic devices.  Professor Woodburn is on the Editorial Board for Clinical Biomechanics, Musculoskeletal Care, and the Journal of Foot and Ankle Research.  Professor Woodburn has contributed over 40 papers in field of rheumatology in such journals as Arthritis Rheumatism and the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.  He is past-president of the British Health Professionals in Rheumatology (BHPR) and in 2009 presented the BHPR Droitwich Lecture.

Deputy Research Group Leader

Professor Martijn Steultjens
Professor of Musculoskeletal Health

Tel: +44(0)141 331 8779
Email: martijn.steultjens@gcu.ac.uk

Martijn Steultjens is Professor of Musculoskeletal Health and has a background in human movement science and epidemiology.  The focus of his research is on degenerative and inflammatory joint diseases and other chronic musculoskeletal pain syndromes.  He acts as Principal Investigator in a wide array of scientific projects, including systematic reviews of literature; clinimetric evaluations of the measurement properties of health outcome measures; cross-sectional and longitudinal studies on biomechanical and psychological mechanisms leading to the development and progression of diseases and their associated symptoms; and evaluations of new allied health interventions through randomised controlled trials.  Martijn has published a large number of papers in leading journals in the fields of rheumatology, rehabilitation medicine and orthopaedic medicine. 

Deputy Research Group Leader

Dr Frederike van Wijck
Reader in Neurological Rehabilitation

Tel: +44(0)141 331 8967
Email: frederike.vanwijck@gcu.ac.uk

Frederike is interested in motor control and learning in the context of neurological rehabilitation.  She has experience in systematic reviews and the design and evaluation of evidence-based interventions, as well as using technology in outcome assessment.  Her current work concentrates on stroke, with one strand focusing on upper limb rehabilitation and the other on physical activity after stroke.  With regard to upper limb rehabilitation after stroke, Frederike is involved in investigating the effects of botulinum toxin Type-A for upper limb spasticity, bilateral simultaneous upper limb task practice, robotic devices, and skill acquisition techniques such as mental practice and visual feedback.  Two EU-funded projects focused on outcome assessment, i.e. spasticity measurement and the standardisation of upper limb outcomes.  The work on physical activity after stroke, developed by Dr. Gillian Mead at the University of Edinburgh and her team, comprises the design of the first Exercise and Fitness Training after Stroke specialist instructor course, the scoping of exercise after stroke services in Scotland, and the development and dissemination of best practice guidelines for exercise and fitness training after stroke.  Other work on this topic includes goal setting in the context of exercise after stroke, and the application of accelerometry to measure free-living activity in people with stroke.

Research Scope

The Musculoskeletal and Neurological Rehabilitation Research group is an interdisciplinary team of researchers including health professionals, bioengineers, and human movement scientists.  The group has a strong profile of external research funding and international collaborators in academia, SMEs and large industry.

In the musculoskeletal field we have an overarching theme of understanding the pathways that lead from primary disease mechanisms to impairment and disability across a range of rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases.  This includes inflammatory and degenerative joint and soft-tissue disease across adult and childhood forms of arthritis and regional musculoskeletal pain disorders.

In the neurological rehabilitation field, the aim is to improve functional outcomes for people with neurological conditions by designing and evaluating the clinical and cost effectiveness of a range of intervention strategies, and by exploring the processes mediating changes in outcome.  Conditions include: stroke, Multiple Sclerosis, Cerebral Palsy, spinal cord injury and Parkinson ’s disease.  A key driver in this portfolio of work is the relevance of outcomes to people with neurological conditions, hence evaluating personal goal attainment is an important part of the outcome assessment toolkit.

In the Musculoskeletal and Neurological Rehabilitation Research group, we undertake applied health research in highly focused patient studies and translate our knowledge and understanding into the development and testing of novel interventions through pre-clinical, proof-of-concept studies to definitive clinical trials.  We have expertise in enabling technologies in the areas of human performance measurement, for example gait, joint movement, free-living activity and muscle function; medical imaging, in particular diagnostic medical ultrasound; and computer-aided design (CAD) and manufacture (CAM) of assistive devices such as orthotics. Our goal is to develop interventions targeting the right treatment for the right patient at the right stage of their condition.

The team has a programme of systematic literature reviews, applied clinical, inception cohort, and intervention studies, as well as applied technology and outcome development projects.  In collaboration with orthopaedic, rheumatology and biomedical science colleagues we are attempting to unravel the role of joint structure and function (biomechanics) and degenerative changes to cartilage and inflammation in knee osteoarthritis.  This study will involve the use of advanced measurements of knee joint function and magnetic resonance imaging along with tissue sampling and identification of inflammatory and other biochemical markers of disease.