Research
My research focuses on musculoskeletal complaints, in general and neck and low-back pain, in specific. My broad goals are to lessen the burden of neck and low back pain to society by providing high-quality scientific evidence. My current line of research focuses on optimizing health care.
Questions related to the safety and effectiveness of the manual therapies, specifically spinal manipulative therapy (SMT) for treatment and management of neck and low-back pain may be directed to me.
My passion lies with systematic reviews and meta-analysis as these types of overviews represent a crucial link in the practice of evidence-based health care.
Past projects include the PTED study, Warrior Trial, and the IPD-project IPD meta-analysis on spinal manipulative therapy.
Current projects include a large, international observational study in chiropractic care (BACE-C cohort study); a discrete choice experiment (or in other terms, choice design study) designed to examine the attributes in those that seek SMT for low back pain. This study will also allow us to determine the smallest worthwhile effect (SWE). Other projects include an examination of the cost-trajectories in elderly with LBP.
We are currently also updating an etiological review which examines the risk factors for cervical artery dissection (a rare form of stroke).
My work includes summaries of the evidence on low-back pain, including (updates of) Cochrane reviews (i.e. SMT, massage, traction, and aerobic exercise). Recently, we provided evidence to the WHO for development of a global guideline on chronic low-back pain in adults.
My research is embedded in Amsterdam Movement Sciences.
