Show Notes
The personal, societal and economic costs of low back pain are enormous, and the likelihood of being disabled by back pain has worsened in recent decades. Prof Helena Lenihan, Chair of the UL Research Impact Committee is joined by Dr Kieran O’Sullivan, Senior Lecturer in Physiotherapy, School of Allied Health and winner of the President’s Research Excellence and Impact Early Career Award. Dr O’Sullivan’s research has shed new light on why back pain is such an ongoing challenge and the tendency for back pain to be treated as an almost entirely ‘physical’ issue – where we rely too much on tests such as MRI scans, at the expense of treating the whole human. His research has led to the development and testing of novel solutions for the treatment of back pain.
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Established in 2019 through funding received from the Health Research Institute in UL, the Physical Activity for Health Research Centre is, the first of its kind in Ireland, with a vision is to become “World Leaders in physical activity research that demonstrates real-world impact in policy and practice”. In this episode Professor Catherine Woods, Director of PAfH Research Centre, Health Research Institute, and the Department of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, Faculty of Education and Health Sciences, UL. Professor James Green, PAfH core member, School of Allied Health, Faculty of Education and Health Sciences, UL are joined by Michael Barry and Micheal Lynch, both who live locally and have been long time attendees of a community-based exercise programme for people living with a chronic condition run in UL. This programme, named ULMedX, was designed and is run by the Physical Activity for Health Research Centre. The Research centre is continuing to build an international hub of excellence in the area of physical activity and health research, key to this is a multidisciplinary approach that includes physiologists, sports and exercise scientists, physiotherapists, and health, sports and exercise psychologists.