The PACE MSK study aims to help people recover from musculoskeletal conditions, in particular low back pain, neck pain, whiplash and knee osteoarthritis. Musculoskeletal conditions are a major concern not only for individuals, but for the community as a whole. Over the last several years, our research team has been working hard to understand recovery from musculoskeletal conditions to help develop more effective treatments. The PACE MSK study will implement an innovative approach that guides health professionals in helping people with musculoskeletal pain based on their likely recovery pathway, or prognosis.
Is an initiative funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) of Australia. It will involve:
Over 60 specialist musculoskeletal clinicians Australia-wide
The team involved in this study are clinical and research experts in musculoskeletal conditions. They have expertise across pain conditions including low back pain, neck pain/ whiplash and knee osteoarthritis.
Our team also have professional expertise in general practice, physiotherapy, rehabilitation medicine, psychology, health care policy, e-health and health economics.
Finally our clinical consultants advising our study are clinical specialists in exercise and sports medicine, orthopaedic surgery, neurosurgery and rheumatology.
Meet our Research Team Leads
Trudy is an Associate Professor at the University of Sydney, Faculty of Medicine and Health (0.6FTE). She runs a programme of research in implementation of best practice for musculoskeletal disorders, and discovery of new mechanisms underlying headache. She has been awarded >$7m in competitive grants, has > 50 peer reviewed publications with a h-index of 18 (>1500 citations). In addition, she is a specialist musculoskeletal physiotherapist with an area of clinical expertise in the management of whiplash, neck pain, headache and dizziness. She is the co-director of Sydney Specialist Physiotherapy Centre and Australian Specialist Physiotherapy Education (specialistphysioeducation.net.au). Trudy holds appointments as a training facilitator and examiner for the Australian College of Physiotherapists (ACP) and a Medical Assessor for the State Insurance Regulatory Authority (SIRA), Dispute Resolution Service (DRS). Trudy has been an invited speaker at many national and international conferences and workshops in the area of whiplash, headache and dizziness.
Paulo Ferreira is a researcher with interests in low back pain management, particularly the psychosocial aspects involved in the patient-therapist interaction, lifestyle factors and the prevalence of back pain, as well as spinal biomechanics. His research interests are in the epidemiology and management of low back pain particularly with the use of twins. He has been a lecturer at The University of Alberta, Canada and Head of school at the Federal University of Brazil where he also coordinated the Brazilian Centre for Evidence Based Practice. Paulo’s research has been incorporated into international clinical guidelines such as the European and the American College of Physicians guidelines for low back pain. He has Prbeen awarded A$2.5M in funding from NHMRC to establish the first Centre of Research Excellence in Twin Research He has received awards for best research from the International Society of Physiotherapy Journal Editors and the World Confederation for Physiotherapy.
Dr Milena Simic is a research physiotherapist, Senior Lecturer in physiotherapy and Director of the Sydney Performance Laboratory at The University of Sydney. She leads research, predominantly focused on improving osteoarthritis and musculoskeletal health, with a particular emphasis on conservative interventions, as well as utilising delivery through e-health. Dr Simic has attracted over $1.9 million of funding and is a leading researcher in her field. She completed her PhD degree in the area of biomechanics in knee osteoarthritis, from The University of Melbourne and has been an academic at The University of Sydney since 2012. Clinically, she has experience working in a variety of settings for musculoskeletal health, including acute hospital, community, private practice and sporting fields. Academically, she teaches across a variety of units and supervises research students. She is the Postgraduate Coordinator for the Musculoskeletal Health Research Theme at the Faculty of Health Sciences.
