We launched our Long Covid Research Appeal in February 2021, with the aim of raising £50,000 for research into the longer-term effects of Covid-19.
Thanks to our supporters, our £50,000 target was reached in just six months, enabling researchers at Nottingham Hospitals to study the effects of – and possible treatments for – this debilitating condition.
Money raised through the appeal has been used to help fund a dedicated Long Covid Research Fellow, with access to state-of-the-art equipment.
The Long Covid studies taking place in Nottingham are focusing on muscle fatigue and breathlessness, two of the most common and debilitating symptoms of Long Covid. The research is looking at the effects of these symptoms and possible treatment options.
One study – the first of its kind in the UK – is using MRI technology, for which Nottingham is renowned after its invention locally by Sir Peter Mansfield, to help understand the effects of exercise on people with Long Covid.
The study involves patients with Long Covid being scanned not just while at rest, but - uniquely - also while exercising, using a specially-designed stepping machine that is compatible with the MRI scanner. Researchers hope this will offer some insight as to why day-to-day tasks, such as walking upstairs, can be so fatiguing for people with Long Covid.