New Research Helps Back Pain Sufferers.
Interview with Kieran
O’Sullivan, Research Physiotherapist, Limerick University
Since I have
been working with the Back App chair I have wondered what research is currently
happening to help back sufferers. I decided that the best thing would be to ask
someone who is actively involved and currently doing research work.
I picked on
Kieran O’Sullivan who is a member of the Irish Society of Chartered
Physiotherapists, based at Limerick University and a well renowned back
researcher.
Kieran has
spent some time analysing the Back App chair with the independent eye of the
professional academic. The following interview Kieran touches on this, his
latest research publication and how he sees research developing in the field of
back pain.
Can you explain in the language of the layman what experiments
you did and what the findings were in this latest research?
Most people
try to sit up straight as soon as I tell them I am a back pain specialist.
Then, when asked why they don’t always sit like that, many tell me that sitting
upright is too hard. So we tested whether upright sitting could be made easier
by using the Back App chair. Our results demonstrated that The Back App chair
makes sitting upright easier.
Does this fit in with a ‘bigger question’ that your department
at Limerick University is working on?
I am
involved in several projects with a particular focus on how sitting relates to
back pain. This was the first of a series of studies we conducted using the
Back App chair. More recently we have shown that the Back App can help reduce
fatigue while carrying out office tasks such as typing.
What is the most surprising result from the work you are about
to publish?
Many people
would assume that sitting without a backrest would be hard. However, our work
shows that using the Back App means that you sit upright more easily. This is
probably because of the larger hip angle or the motion of the seat or both.
What are the big unanswered questions in the back pain field?
One of the
biggest questions is what emphasis should we put on physical factors (eg long
periods of sitting, poor posture or lifting etc) verses lifestyle and general
health factors (eg stress, anxiety, exercise, sleep, depression etc) in our
control of back pain. It is clear that addressing both sets of factors can help
back pain, but it is not clear how big a part each should play.
Are we really becoming a society of couch potatoes?
Yes.
However, even allowing for the increase in sedentary-type jobs and busy lives,
there should still be enough time to get some form of aerobic exercise (using
the stairs etc.) The data on the protective effects of exercise on health gets
more impressive all the time! Check out - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUaInS6HIGo
Do you suffer from back pain?
Only a tiny
bit from time to time. I had quite a lot of back pain several years ago, and
probably like a lot of health care professionals with back pain, I
over-analysed and over-complicated it! Now, I can manage to run marathons
(slowly!) and do as much (or as little!) physical work as I want.
What chair do you sit on when working at your desk?
I have 2
offices, and I vary between using a conventional office chair with a backrest
and a Back App chair.
After carrying out your latest study would you recommend the
Back App?
I would not
recommend any single device or chair as the solution to a broad problem like
back pain. However, if someone reports back pain while sitting which is eased
by standing and walking, and is comfortable when sitting without a backrest, I
would recommend the Back App.
What was on your to do list today?
I had to
revise an article that I was submitting for publication this morning. Then I
was scheduling some back pain patients for testing in the laboratory next week.
Finally, I treated some patients this afternoon and evening.Do you still see patients and is it important for researchers to keep their hand in?
Yes, I see
patients every week. And yes, I think treating patients is important. They
remind us of all the research that still need to be done to help back pain
sufferers.
Other therapists I have spoken with were drawn to their profession after being treated for a related problem. Was this your experience?
Like a lot
of physiotherapists, I was pretty interested in sports and came to it from that
perspective. I had a few injuries that required some treatment, so that was
where the initial interest came from.
Are you glad you became a physiotherapist and would you
recommend youngsters to follow your path?
Yes, and
yes. Of course it is not for everybody, but there is enough variety in
physiotherapy that there are several different options available.
Kieran’s
latest publication is ‘Can we reduce the effort of maintaining a neutral
sitting posture? A Pilot Study’
Kieran can be contacted via clinicaltherapies@ul.ie
No comments:
Post a Comment