Bournemouth University and the Anglo European College of Chiropractic (AECC) are to fund a project to investigate chronic back pain.

Following a successful pilot study, the collaborative project will see both institutions joint-fund a PhD studentship to investigate the global problem of chronic back pain. Chronic back pain is a multifaceted condition for which there is no one cause or treatment.

The aim of this PhD studentship is to explore links between self-rated health, sensory perception and function – or how we perceive our pain and how our body responds to this perception.

Beliefs, memories and psychosocial factors relating to chronic back pain have previously been explored, but there is less evidence relating to the understanding of sensory perception (the way our brain interprets signals from our nervous system).

The project aims to influence future knowledge in preventing and managing back pain, resulting in improving outcomes for those with back pain and cost savings for health care, reducing time away from work.

Dr Carol Clark, Senior Lecturer in Physiotherapy at Bournemouth University and project lead, said, “We are excited to be continuing the collaboration between BU and AECC in the field of long term back pain. This project will provide insights into pain perception which will influence treatments in the future.”

As well as Dr Carol Clark, the project will include input from Dr Sharon Docherty (Biologist, AECC) and Dr Neil Osborne (Chiropractor, AECC).

Dr Sharon Docherty, Special Projects Coordinator at AECC, said, “We’re really excited about this opportunity to carry the project forward and we’re hoping it will unveil some interesting insights into chronic pain and how it affects people’s lives.”

If you are interested in finding out more about the PhD studentship, please contact Dr Carol Clark (cclark@bournemouth.ac.uk) or Dr Sharon Docherty (sdocherty@aecc.ac.uk).