72 | Tees Business
FIT &
HEALTHY
How Teesside University
is helping to grow a
healthy economy
Members of the Teesside University and 2PD Knowledge Transfer Partnership: (L-R) Professor Denis
Martin, professor of rehabilitation; Jason Timms, managing director of 2PD; Dr Alasdair MacSween,
senior lecturer in Research Governance; Stuart Mead, chairman of 2PD; Sarah Oatway, KTP
associate; Geoff Archer, head of Knowledge Exchange, Teesside University; Dr Cormac Ryan, reader;
Eddie Dandy, director of 2PD.
T
he vitality of the Tees Valley economy
is in no small part due to the work of
the region’s health sector.
As well as being one of the region’s
biggest employers, the sector plays a vital
role in keeping the Tees Valley workforce fit
and healthy.
It is a constant source of innovation as
it strives to find new and better ways to
manage and treat illnesses.
Teesside University’s School of Health
& Social Care plays a major role in working
with partners in both public and private
healthcare to train staff, learn new skills and
encourage innovation in the sector.
Research partnership could help
treatment of phantom limb pain
Amputees who suffer from phantom
limb pain could have their suffering eased
thanks to a new device being pioneered by
researchers at Teesside University.
Researchers at the university are working
with start-up Teesside healthcare innovation
company 2PD, based at Fusion Hive in
Stockton, to develop and launch a sensory
discrimination training device which can
be self-administered by patients to help
overcome the condition.
Phantom limb pain is where people who
have undergone amputation experience
sensations that seem to be coming from
the amputated limb and, in some cases, can
be severely debilitating for the patient.
One treatment is sensory discrimination
training whereby patients receive stimuli to
various parts of their body from electrodes
and have to discriminate where the
sensations are coming from.
This has been shown to help the brain
re-wire its mental map, or blueprint, of the
amputated limb, which is associated with a
reduction in the phantom pain.
However, it can be a lengthy and
costly process involving several sessions
administered by medical or rehabilitation
professionals.
Working directly with the company
directors and key management personnel,
researchers at Teesside University have
entered into a Knowledge Transfer
Partnership (KTP) to bring a device to
market which automates the process,
meaning that a patient can self-administer
the training.
KTPs typically last for two to three years