Staff profile: Dr Gita Ramdharry
Position: Senior Lecturer
School: Rehabilitation Sciences
Telephone: +44 (0)20 8725 2471
Email: g.ramdharry@sgul.kingston.ac.uk
Biography
Gita completed a BSc (Hons) in Physiotherapy at the University of East London in 1995. She worked as a clinical physiotherapist at various London teaching hospitals, specialising in neurology in 1997. Gita completed an MSc in Physiotherapy at the University of Brighton in 2004 and went on to pursue a PhD in neurological studies at University College London that same year. She completed her thesis entitled 'Compensatory strategies while walking in people with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease: Impact and intervention' in 2008.
In 2007, Gita joined the Faculty of Health and Social Care Sciences as a senior lecturer in the School of Rehabilitation Sciences. While working in this role, Gita has maintained collaborations with UCL’s MRC Centre for Neurological Diseases and contributed to rehabilitation trials. She was awarded an NIHR post-doctoral clinical research fellowship in 2010 for research at the MRC centre and splits her time between the two institutions. Gita currently supervises MRes and MSc student research and co-supervises a PhD student at Kingston University.
Gita is the vice-chair of the executive committee of the Association of Chartered Physiotherapists in Neurology and is a hub facilitator for the London branch of the National Physiotherapy Research Network. She is also one of the professional advisors to the CMTUK patient support group, speaking regularly at conferences and meetings. Gita is a member of the Neuromuscular Physiotherapist Network. Gits is also a reviewer for the Cochrane Neuromuscular Disease Group, Physiotherapy Research International, American Journal of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and Multiple Sclerosis.
Interests
Management of neuromuscular diseases; orthotics in neurological conditions; multiple sclerosis; analysis of walking and running gait; functional and laboratory measurements of balance and postural stability; fatigue in long term conditions; activity, exercise and health in neurological conditions; activity monitoring and exercise testing.
Publications
Article
Ramdharry, Gita M., Pollard, Alexander J., Marsden, Jonathan F. and Reilly, Mary M. (2012) Comparing gait performance of people with charcot-marie-tooth disease who do and do not wear ankle foot orthoses. Physiotherapy Research International, ISSN (print) 1358-2267 (Epub Ahead of Print)
Marsden, Jon, Ramdharry, Gita, Stevenson, Valerie and Thompson, Alan (2012) Muscle paresis and passive stiffness: key determinants in limiting function in hereditary and sporadic spastic paraparesis. Gait & Posture, 35(2), pp. 266-271. ISSN (print) 0966-6362
Ramdharry, Gita M (2010) Rehabilitation in practice: management of lower motor neuron weakness. Clinical Rehabilitation, 24(5), pp. 387-397. ISSN (print) 0269-2155
Ramdharry, Gita M., Day, Brian L., Reilly, Mary M. and Marsden, Jonathan F. (2009) Hip flexor fatigue limits walking in Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease. Muscle & Nerve, 40(1), pp. 103-111. ISSN (print) 0148-639X
Ramdharry, Gita (2006) Case report: Physiotherapy cuts the dose of botulinum toxin. Physiotherapy Research International, 11(2), pp. 117-122. ISSN (print) 1358-2267
Ramdharry, GM, Marsden, JF, Day, BL and Thompson, AJ (2006) De-stabilising and training effects of foot orthoses in multiple sclerosis. Multiple Sclerosis, 12(2), pp. 219-226. ISSN (print) 1352-4585
Book Section
Ramdharry, Gita (2011) Polyneuropathies. In: Stokes, Maria and Stack, Emma, (eds.) Physical management for neurological conditions. 3rd ed. London, U.K. : Churchill Livingstone. pp. 189-208. ISBN 9780702047121
Conference or Workshop Item
Pollard, A, Ramdharry, GM, Moore, S, Hallsworth, K, Marsden, JF and Reilly, MM (2010) Comparing activity levels between people with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease and healthy controls: a pilot study. In: Joint Meeting of the Italian Peripheral Nerve Study Group and the British Peripheral Nerve Society; 08 - 10 Apr 2010, Trieste, Italy. ISSN (print) 1085-9489 (Unpublished)
Ramdharry, GM, Pollard, A, Marsden, JF and Reilly, MM (2010) Comparing gait performance of people with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease who do and do not wear ankle foot orthoses. In: Joint Meeting of the Italian Peripheral Nerve Study Group and the British Peripheral Nerve Society; 08 - 10 Apr 2010, Trieste, Italy. ISSN (print) 1085-9489 (Unpublished)
Ramdharry, G.M., Reilly, M.M. and Marsden, J.F. (2010) Exploring the experience of living with fatigue in people with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease. In: UK Neuromuscular Translational Research Conference; 25 - 26 Mar 2010, Oxford, U.K.. ISSN (print) 1873-2364 (Unpublished)
Marsden, Jon, Ramdharry, Gita, Wood, Nick and Thompson, Alan (2007) Factors affecting stiff-legged gait in hereditary and spontaneous spastic paraparesis. In: World Physical Therapy 2007; 2 - 6 Jun 2007, Vancouver, Canada. (Unpublished)
Ramdharry, GM, Day, BL, Reilly, MM and Marsden, JF (2007) Walking endurance and proximal compensation for distal weakness in Charcot Marie Tooth disease. In: 2007 Meeting of the Peripheral Nerve Society; 14-18 Jul 2007, Snowbird, Utah, US.
Ramdharry, Gita, Marsden, Jon, Day, Brian and Reilly, Mary (2007) Walking endurance and proximal compensation for distal weakness in Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease. In: World Physical Therapy 2007; 2 - 6 Jun 2007, Vancouver, Canada. (Unpublished)
Ramdharry, G.M. [Designer], Marsden, J.F. [Designer], Day, B.L. [Designer] and Thompson, A.J. [Designer] (2005) Custom made dynamic foot orthoses: an investigation into their effect on balance and gait in people with multiple sclerosis. In: XVIIth Conference of the International Society for Posture and Gait Research (ISPGR); 29 May - 02 Jun 2005, Marseille, France.
Thesis
Ramdharry, Gita Mary (2008) Compensatory strategies while walking in Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease: impact and intervention. (PhD thesis), University College London.
Ramdharry, Gita (2004) Custom made dynamic foot orthoses : an investigation into their effect on balance and gait in people with multiple sclerosis. (Other thesis), University of Brighton.
Grants
- 2008: £110K funded by the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign: Co-applicant for 2 year study, based at UCL, title: Strengthening Hip Flexors to Improve Walking Distance in People with Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease. Principal investigator: Dr Mary Reilly.
- 2008: £500 funded by CMTUK for analysis of a qualitative study: The experience of fatigue for people with Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease.
- £125K fellowship awarded by NIHR for the CAT Clinical Lectureship for nurses, midwives and AHPs. Five year, part time fellowship for study titled: Characterising the nature of falls and balance impairments in people with neuromuscular diseases.
