Dr Nicola Clague-Baker PhD MPhil BA(hons) GraddipPhys PGCAPHE MCSP SFHEA

Personal Statement

Dr Clague-Baker has been qualified as a physiotherapist for 31 years. She has worked clinically in Manchester, Cardiff, Philadelphia (USA) and Leicester. For the last 17 years she has taught neurological physiotherapy and research at Coventry University, University of Leicester and University of Liverpool. She was funded by the Stroke Association to complete her PhD on the topic of cardiovascular fitness in people post-stroke. She has published and presented this work nationally and internationally. In 2021, she was funded by the ME Association to investigate the physiological effects of everyday activity for people with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (PwME). Also in 2021 she was funded by the University of Liverpool to explore the use of heart rate monitoring (HRM) in PwME using an international survey and international interview-based studies. In 2023 she was funded to conduct a pilot study to explore this approach with PwME. In addition, she has conducted an international survey and an international interview-based study of the use of transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (tVNS) and is planning a randomised controlled trial exploring the use of tVNS for PwME. Her ongoing research interests relate to neurological physiotherapy, in particular ME, LongCovid and stroke and in the areas of fatigue management, exercise-based rehabilitation, mental health and healthy lifestyles.