Neurofeedback for Nociplastic Pain in Rheumatoid Arthritis (NECTAR)

To be part of this study, you need to have been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis by specific medical guidelines. You also need to experience widespread, long-lasting pain, meeting another set of medical criteria, and your rheumatoid arthritis needs to be stable, meaning your swelling and inflammation levels are low.

There are also some other requirements. You should have normal or corrected vision and hearing, be right-handed, and experience pain that is at least a 4 out of 10 on a pain scale. Participants must be between 18 and 75 years old.

You won't be able to join if you have certain neurological conditions like MS or Parkinson's, or any major mental health conditions that would make taking part difficult. The study also cannot accept you if you're currently receiving intensive pain management from a specialist team, or are involved in other research studies that might interfere with this one.

If you decide to take part in this study, the whole process will last about 11 to 13 weeks. Before starting, you'll record your pain, sleep, and tiredness for one week. Then, you'll have 10 neurofeedback sessions, usually 2 to 3 times a week. Each session involves having sensors placed on your head to measure brain activity; this takes about 5 to 10 minutes to set up. You'll then sit comfortably and watch a screen that shows your brain activity as coloured bars. Your task will be to try and change these bars by learning to control certain brainwaves, aiming to decrease some and increase others. Each training period lasts 30 minutes. After your 10 sessions, there will be a final in-person assessment, and then a follow-up chat over the phone or online one month later.

If you have a short-term illness like a cold, flu, or COVID-19, your sessions can be delayed for up to a week. However, if you miss more than two sessions in total, you might need to leave the study.