In this episode, Dr. Meier discusses how people move differently in the presence of (or in anticipation of) pain. Changes in motor control may play an important role in musculoskeletal pain. His lab uses a cross-disciplinary approach that combines neuroscience and movement biomechanics to provide new insights into the role of potential interactions between movement behavior, psychological factors and supraspinal mechanisms in the development and maintenance of persistent low back pain. We’ll touch also on fear avoidance and pain related movement avoidance. Dr. Michael L. Meier is a senior pain researcher and group leader at the Department of Chiropractic Medicine at the University of Zurich. He received his master’s degree in neuropsychology and his doctorate in cognitive neuroscience from the University of Zurich, focusing on the processing of pain and nociception in the brain. In 2019, he received a grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF) to study the role of movement behavior and cortical processes in the development and persistence of low back pain. A hallmark of his work is linking research from different disciplines such as biomechanics, neuroscience, and psychology, shedding light on novel interacting pathomechanisms underlying persistent low back pain whose pathoanatomical cause is often unclear.
Please see Dr. Michael Meier’s research profile at researchgate.net. Further information and links to his research can be found at the Balgrist University Hospital website.
Below are the articles Dr. Michael Meier and I discuss in this episode:
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Fear-avoidance beliefs are associated with reduced lumbar spine flexion during object lifting in pain-free adults.
Pain. 2021 Jun 1;162(6):1621-1631. doi: 10.1097/j.pain.
PMID: 33323888 Free PMC article. |
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Neural responses of posterior to anterior movement on lumbar vertebrae: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study.
J Manipulative Physiol Ther. 2014 Jan;37(1):32-41. doi: 10.1016/j.jmpt.2013.09.004. Epub 2013 Nov 12.
PMID: 24229849 |
| 3. | Identifying Motor Control Strategies and Their Role in Low Back Pain: A Cross-Disciplinary Approach Bridging Neurosciences With Movement Biomechanics. Frontiers in Pain Research. 2021 Aug;(2):42. doi: 10.3389/fpain.2021.715219
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