Utility of Multisensory Body-Representation in Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) With Pain

Mechanisms and Utility of Multisensory Body- Representation in SCI and SCI-Related Neuropathic Pain

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.

The study will be open to people of any ethnicity, racial background, and gender.

Inclusion criteria:

SCI with Pain:

1. Men or women
2. fluent in English
3. 18-70 years of age who have: (3a) Complete and incomplete SCI, level of injury (above L1); (3b) Persistent neuropathic pain started after the injury for a minimum of three months prior to entering the study that is at least moderate in severity, defined as ≥ 4 on a Numeric Rating Scale (NRS) ranging 0 to 10.

Exclusion criteria:

Participants will be excluded if they have:

1. Major psychiatric disease/disorder (self-reported);
2. a significant neurological trauma (self-reported) other than SCI;
3. a recent (one-year) history of alcohol or drug abuse assessed by the Drug Abuse Screening Test (DAST-10)
4. history of visual and hearing loss not corrected
5. history of epilepsy or seizures
6. any metal implants in the head, or implanted devices such as cochlea implants or cardiac pacemakers.

We will not include any special population like:

Adults unable to consent Individuals who are not yet adults (infants, children, teenagers) Pregnant women Prisoners