About
Fellowship Experience: Dr. Lianne Wood
In the summer of 2019, I was hosted by Dr. Jill Hayden and the BACK Program team, during my PhD at Keele University which investigated the treatment targets and outcomes of exercise for low back pain. I found the experience invaluable, gaining insight and Jill's systematic review expertise into my preliminary PhD research. During my stay, I had the opportunity to present to the Department of Community Health and Epidemiology and collaborate with the team on two pieces of work: firstly, a consensus workshop at the Forum for Back and Neck Pain Research, and secondly, a small review of the included trials in the updated Cochrane review. The opportunity to spend three weeks with this dynamic and specialist team helped to shape my future research plans, and built relationships and collaborations for the future. To add to it, Halifax is a beautiful city ( I can highly recommend the weather in June!) and it was a pleasure to explore the city and sights. The Team's welcoming attitude made the visit incredibly personal.
What Are We Working on Now?
Primary Studies
We are completing several complementary projects related to prognosis and management of low back pain, currently focused on the emergency department setting, including prospective and retrospective data analyses, and qualitative study designs.
Active and upcoming projects include an assessment of the use of diagnostic imaging and opioids for low back pain in local Nova Scotian emergency departments.
Evidence Synthesis Studies
Our team members are actively involved in activities of the Cochrane Back and Neck Group.
We are currently completing an update with network meta-analysis of a large-scale Cochrane Review (2021) on the effectiveness of exercise as treatment for chronic low back pain. This review now includes more than 450 trials. The update of this review was conducted through a new model of systematic review production, called collaborative systematic review!
Our team completed one of the first prognostic factor systematic reviews within Cochrane! This review, examined the impact of patient expectations of recovery on low back pain prognosis.