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Virtual Walking to Reduce Chronic Neuropathic Pain in Subjects With SCI

Key facts

Who runs it
Swiss Paraplegic Research, Nottwil
Where
Switzerland1 site in 1 countryChoose a country to see its sites
Trial code
Status
Recruiting
People taking part
40 people, planned
Started
20 Jan 2026
Expected to end
30 Nov 2027
Type of study
Interventional, 3 groupsOne group gets a sham (pretend) treatment, for comparison.
Treatments tested
  • Virtual Walking
  • Sham Virtual Walking
Record updated
21 January 2026

Who can take part

Age
18 years to 75 years
Sex
Women and men
Healthy volunteers
Cannot take part

The registry criteria, word for word

Show all 10 criteriaShow less

Who can take part

  • Sufficient knowledge of German language to understand the instructions, assessments and to fill in questionnaires
  • Age ≥ 18y, ≤ 75y
  • Chronic traumatic or non-traumatic SCI (>6 month after SCI) with an SCI severity grade AIS A, B, C or D
  • At or below level spinal cord injury neuropathic pain on trunk or lower extremities diagnosed by a neurologist following the ISCIP classification (Bryce et al., 2012) of at least 4/10 intensity on a NRS (Langford et al., 2023)
  • Ability to draw with a pen

Who cannot take part

  • - Serious psychiatric disorders, which are accompanied by imminent or current acute harm to oneself or others, or which require inpatient psychiatric treatment for other reasons, or other indications of a foreseeable, seriously harmful effect of participation in the study based on the clinical impression from the psychological screening interview
  • Known epilepsy
  • neurological disorders (multiple sclerosis, ALS, Guillan-Barré Syndrome, congenital disorders, polyneuropathy)
  • Pregnancy (anamnestic) in women of child-bearing age (18-49 years)
  • Participants with a walking ability more than 5 minutes without walking aids

Check if you might fit

Answer for yourself. This is not a decision: only the study team can say whether you can take part.

  • Are you between 18 and 75 years old?

This trial has no sites in United States.

It has sites in one country. Choose a country to see its sites.

About the trial

What the trial wants to find out

About 70% of people with a spinal cord injury in Switzerland have chronic pain that lasts more than 3 to 6 months. This pain can be caused by muscle or joint problems, or by nerve damage (neuropathic pain). Neuropathic pain is often hard to treat, and current treatments may cause side effects or not work well.

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This study will test whether virtual walking from different visual perspectives can reduce chronic neuropathic pain and improve quality of life after spinal cord injury. We will also compare which perspective works best.

To better understand how the training works, we will use two tests-quantitative sensory testing (QST) and contact heat-evoked potentials (CHEPs)-to measure changes in the pain and nerve systems.

The 3 groups in the trial

  • Group 1Treatment being tested

    Participants will receive virtual walking (VW) therapy with a personalized avatar. Using a green screen setup, a live video of the participant's upper body is combined with pre-recorded walking legs to create a full-body walking illusion, displayed on a large projection screen in a forest environment. The participant will be seated in a modified wheelchair that tilts 2° to each side to simulate pelvic movement during walking.

    Treatment: Virtual Walking

  • Group 2Sham treatment, for comparison

    Participants will receive virtual walking (VW) therapy without an avatar. The screen will display only a moving forest environment, and the wheelchair tilt will be omitted. This condition serves as a sham intervention, matching Group 1 in session number, duration, and procedure, but without the visual and vestibular walking components.

    Treatment: Sham Virtual Walking

  • Control GroupNo study treatment, for comparison

    Participants will receive standard medical pain management only. They will not take part in virtual walking therapy but will complete the pain diary and questionnaires at the scheduled assessment time points.

Questions to ask the study team

  1. How often do I need to come in, and for how long each time?
  2. Are travel costs paid?
  3. Can I keep my own doctor?
  4. What happens if I want to stop?

Contact the study team: see the registry record → Contacts and Locations

Print a page for my doctor

Data and sources

Registry record
Listed on ClinicalTrials.gov.
Official title
Virtual Walking With Habitual Feedback to Reduce Chronic Neuropathic Pain in Individuals With Spinal Cord Injury
Fit questions
Built from NCT07165353, who can take part
Record updated
21 January 2026