diff --git a/fsl/data/imagewrapper.py b/fsl/data/imagewrapper.py
index add862f5eb9ed4fa2ef6be1b8eb6a34fb61d93ee..ab8362985b2ac73705e82d73da415c999ba8ccf0 100644
--- a/fsl/data/imagewrapper.py
+++ b/fsl/data/imagewrapper.py
@@ -187,6 +187,11 @@ class ImageWrapper(notifier.Notifier):
             if d == 1: self.__numRealDims -= 1
             else:      break
 
+        # Degenerate case - if every
+        # dimension has length 1
+        if self.__numRealDims == 0:
+            self.__numRealDims = len(image.shape)
+
         # And save the number of
         # 'padding' dimensions too.
         self.__numPadDims = len(image.shape) - self.__numRealDims