Physio4FMD - new NIHR trial announced

Congratulations to Dr Jon Stone & Dr Alan Carson (both Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences) who have been awarded a National Institutes of Health Research (NIHR) grant. This is a £1,085,426.03 multicentre trial of specialist physiotherapy for functional motor disorders called 'Physio4FMD'.  The trial will be led by Glenn Nielsen, a physiotherapist at St George's, University of London. This landmark study plans to provide trial data five times larger than any previous trial in this area.

Functional motor disorders (FMD) are disorders affecting movement, most commonly weakness, walking, balance and shaking. The problem relates to a disturbance in how messages from the brain reach different parts of the body rather than being a neurological disease or damage. The diagnosis is made by a neurologist. The disorder causes high levels of patient distress, and often unemployment and receipt of disability benefits. Long term outcomes are not good and most patients continue to have disabling symptoms. In the past, FMD was considered a psychological problem, however the most recent research shows that, while psychological factors are important for many patients, not everyone with FMD has a psychological problem. This study (a randomised controlled trial - RCT) will test whether the specialist physiotherapy is better than standard care at reducing disability caused by FMD, in 263 patients , and whether the treatment could save the NHS money.

Congratulations to all involved!