A Christmas update from Physios for ME

Before we take a short break over the holidays, we thought we’d share a few updates on our work over the last few months.

Research

This remains one of our main focuses and there’s a lot going on, driven by our research lead Dr Nicola Clague-Baker.

In October we had another publication success with “Pacing with a heart rate monitor for people with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome and long COVID: a feasibility study” which is available as open access here

A survey on the experiences of health professionals with ME/CFS or Long Covid is still open until the end of December. We’ve had over 160 responses so far, and Nikki has interviewed 20 respondents for more in-depth information.

In  November Nikki presented three projects to the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy annual conference: “Measuring lactate in healthy participants during everyday activity - a feasibility study”, “Experiences of pacing with a heart rate monitor for people with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis” and “Experiences of transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation for people with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis.” It’s great to be getting this research in front of physiotherapists from all disciplines.

Write-ups continue for a number of completed projects (lactate levels and interviews on the experiences of vagus nerve stimulation) and Nikki has some Masters level physiotherapy students working on the analysis and write-up of a survey into athletes with ME or Long Covid and our second survey into the use of vagus nerve stimulation.

There are new surveys planned for next year, and ethical approval granted for a number of projects looking more closely at metabolic testing in healthy people so we can establish some baselines from which to further analyse our results on people with ME. These projects are also being led by Masters level students – Nikki is ensuring the next generation of physiotherapists are developing a keen interest in ME!

Finally, Karen is continuing with her PhD project on the feasibility of studying the effects of transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation on people with ME. The feasibility trial is now complete, with follow-up interviews underway and due for completion by February. Analysis and write-up will be next on her very long to do list!

Other news

Natalie Hilliard was featured in an article on Chronic Living Therapy, sharing her experiences as a physiotherapist who works with people with ME and Long Covid. It’ll be a two-part piece, with part two due in 2026.

We’ve continued to be a part of the department of health working groups during the delivery plan, and have valued discussions and collaborations with the brilliant There for ME, Science for ME and ME Local Network UK. There’s some other hopeful successes in the pipeline for the new year which we can’t share just yet.

Christmas wishes

We’ll be taking a break over Christmas (well, probably…) and hope everyone has as restful and peaceful a time as possible.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, from Nikki, Natalie, Karen & Michelle.