An interventional study of tDCS and bodily illusions in Spinal Cord Injuries and Neuropathic Pain, sponsored by University of Miami. Recruiting at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 70 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2025-11-21.
Sponsored by University of Miami · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment
The purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of bodily illusions combined with transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on neuropathic pain symptoms and sensory functions in participants with spinal cord injury (SCI) and neuropathic pain.
1,948 studies on the registry are indexed under Spinal Cord Injuries; 505 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 30 is above the median of 24 across 1,566 interventional studies indexed under Spinal Cord Injuries.
Browse Spinal Cord Injuries studies →University of Miami is the lead sponsor of 820 studies on the registry; 161 are open to participants now.
Of its 111 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 93 (84%) have results posted.
Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.
The study will be open to people of any ethnicity, racial background, and gender.
Inclusion criteria:
SCI with Pain:
Exclusion criteria:
Participants will be excluded if they have:
We will not include any special population like:
Adults unable to consent Individuals who are not yet adults (infants, children, teenagers) Pregnant women Prisoners
Participants will undergo 2-4 weeks of combined intervention including transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and bodily illusions (10 sessions total).
Other: tDCS and bodily illusions
Participants will be required to perform (in person) 10 interventions over a time frame of 2-4 weeks. They can perform this everyday or for a minimum of 2-3 times per week over 4 weeks. Two types of illusions will be used 15 min each, the rubber hand illusion and the walking illusion to target upper and lower limbs. These procedures will impact the body representation of the participants resulting in bodily illusions.
Change in neuropathic pain severity assessed by Neuropathic Pain Symptom Inventory (NPSI)
The NPSI is a self-reported, validated questionnaire that includes 10 items (on different pain sensations, e.g., burning, squeezing, electric-shock, etc.) used to evaluate the properties of neuropathic pain. Each item is scored on an 11-point NRS (0 meaning no symptom and 10 meaning worst symptom), with higher scores indicating more severe neuropathic pain symptoms.
Time frame: Baseline, up to 4 weeks
Change in neuropathic pain interference assessed by pain interference questionnaire.
The questionnaire consists in a numerical rating of pain interference ranging from 0= No Interference to 10=Extreme interference with activities, mood and sleep
Time frame: Baseline, up to 4 weeks
Changes associated with sensory function/dysfunction assessed by quantitative sensory testing
The sensory test assesses thermal thresholds and includes: cool detection threshold (CDT), warm detection threshold (WDT), cold pain threshold (CPT), hot pain threshold (HPT), all performed using the method of limits: 0 to 50 Celsius (ºC) all values will be reported in Celsius.
Time frame: Baseline, up to 4 weeks
Change in manageable pain assessed by days of manageable pain questionnaire.
This item specifies the total number of days with pain during the last 7 days, including today, and the response categories ranges from 0=none to 7=seven days.
Time frame: Baseline, up to 4 weeks
Changes of psychosocial assessed by Multidimensional Pain Inventory (pain severity subscale)
Multidimensional Pain Inventory assesses the psychosocial impact of pain. This scale consists of three questions: 1) pain at the present moment; 2) pain during the past week and 3) suffering because of pain. The range of the responses are from 0 (no pain or suffering) to 6 (extreme pain or suffering) and the scores of these three questions will be summed to obtain a composite pain severity score.
Time frame: Baseline, up to 4 weeks
Change in Global impression of changes by PGIC questionnaire
Patients' Global Impression of Changes (PGIC) assesses patients' perceptions of changes following treatment. It is a 7-point verbal scale, with the options ranging from "very much improved" (3), "much improved" (2), "minimally improved" (1), "no change" (0), "minimally worsened" (-1) "much worsened" (-2), and "very much worsened" (-3).
Time frame: Baseline, up to 4 weeks
Plan to share: No
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