Tom Butcher

Assistant Professor

Department: Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation

Tom is an Assistant Professor in Physiotherapy at Northumbria University. Having trained as a Physiotherapist at Brunel University London, Tom went on to work as a clinical Physiotherapist at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London gaining experience across a broad range of specialties including neurorehabilitation, oncology, orthopaedics, paediatrics, elderly care and respiratory/critical care. An opportunity to work as a Research Assistant in 2018 then led to a change in career from clinical work to an academic position at Brunel University London where Tom worked for 5 years before moving to Northumbria University, holding the positions of Senior Lecturer in Physiotherapy, Deputy Division Lead for Physiotherapy, and Associate Dean (student experience) for the College of Health Medicine and Life Sciences.

On the Physiotherapy Programmes at Northumbria University, Tom is the module lead for the PT4001 - Foundations of Physiotherapy Practice and PT4004 - Neurological Anatomy and Physiology, and contributes to the teaching on a range of further modules spanning both the BSc and MSc (pre-registration) programmes.

Tom is currently completing a PhD by publication in the area of emerging technologies (predominantly virtual reality) for neurorehabilitation, with projects to date focussing on gaming technologies for rehabilitation of the upper limb post stroke. Tom is also co-supervising a PhD project on the use of a virtual reality based cycling platform for home use in stroke and Parkinson's disease.

Email Tom

Key Publications

Rehabilitation using virtual gaming for Hospital and hOMe-Based training for the Upper limb in acute and subacute Stroke (RHOMBUS II): results of a feasibility randomised controlled trial, Butcher, T., Warland, A., Stewart, V., Aweid, B., Samiyappan, A., Kal, E., Ryan, J., Athanasiou, D., Baker, K., Singla-Buxarrais, G., Anokye, N., Pound, C., Gowing, F., Norris, M., Kilbride, C. 28 Jan 2025, In: BMJ Open
Rehabilitation Using Virtual Gaming For Hospital And Home Based Training For The Upper Limb In Acute And Subacute Stroke (Rhombus II): Results Of A Feasibility RCT, Butcher, T., Warland, A., Stewart, V., Aweid, B., Samiyappan, A., Kal, E., Ryan, J., Athanasiou, D., Baker, K., Singla-Buxarrais, G., Anokye, N., Pound, C., Gowing, F., Norris, M., Kilbride, C. Dec 2024, In: International Journal of Stroke
Rehabilitation via HOMe-Based gaming exercise for the Upper limb post Stroke (RHOMBUS): a qualitative analysis of participants’ experience, Kilbride, C., Butcher, T., Warland, A., Ryan, J., Scott, D., Cassidy, E., Athanasiou, D., Singla-Buxarrais, G., Baker, K., Norris, M. 19 Jan 2024, In: BMJ Open
Pre-registration physiotherapy education in the COVID-19 era: a comparison of module results between students receiving traditional face-to-face or online-only education, Butcher, T., Lewis, A. 1 Feb 2022, In: Physiotherapy
Rehabilitation using virtual gaming for Hospital and hOMe-Based training for the Upper limb post Stroke (RHOMBUS II): protocol of a feasibility randomised controlled trial, Kilbride, C., Warland, A., Stewart, V., Aweid, B., Samiyappan, A., Ryan, J., Butcher, T., Athanasiou, D., Baker, K., Singla-Buxarrais, G., Anokye, N., Pound, C., Gowing, F., Norris, M. 7 Jun 2022, In: BMJ Open
Safety, feasibility, acceptability and preliminary effects of the Neurofenix platform for Rehabilitation via HOMe Based gaming exercise for the Upper-limb post Stroke (RHOMBUS): results of a feasibility intervention study, Kilbride, C., Scott, D., Butcher, T., Norris, M., Warland, A., Anokye, N., Cassidy, E., Baker, K., Athanasiou, D., Singla-Buxarrais, G., Nowicky, A., Ryan, J. 28 Feb 2022, In: BMJ Open
Rehabilitation via HOMe Based gaming exercise for the Upper-limb post Stroke (RHOMBUS): protocol of an intervention feasibility trial, Kilbride, C., Scott, D., Butcher, T., Norris, M., Ryan, J., Anokye, N., Warland, A., Baker, K., Athanasiou, D., Singla-Buxarrais, G., Nowicky, A. 21 Nov 2018, In: BMJ Open

PGR Supervision

Carolyn Chambers Acceptability, feasibility and experience of Virtual Reality InDoor cycling for gamified Exercise in Stroke and Parkinson’s Disease (V-RIDE-SPD) Start Date: 01/10/2024