From Micro to Macro: How Sleep, Perception, and Relationships Shape Pain

Erin MacIntyre is a clinician-researcher in the final year of her PhD at the Persistent Pain Research Group based at the University of South Australia. Her work explores the links between pain, movement, and visuospatial perception in people with knee osteoarthritis. Her research also focuses on the development and clinical implementation of new technology (e.g., virtual reality) that exploits these links between pain and visual perception to reduce pain and improve exercise engagement. 

Nils Runge is a doctoral researcher affiliated with Vrije Universiteit Brussel and KU Leuven. He investigates the connection between sleep disturbances and chronic musculoskeletal pain. More specifically, his research examines the consistency of terminology and definitions used to describe sleep issues in this context, the relationships between subjective and objective sleep parameters and pain, and the effects of sleep interventions on pain management.

Mark Vorensky is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Rehabilitation and Movement Sciences at the Rutgers University School of Health Professions. He received his Doctor of Physical Therapy from Ithaca College and his PhD in Rehabilitation Sciences from New York University. His research examines how social and contextual factors influence persistent musculoskeletal pain. He also examines physical therapists’ decision-making when working with individuals with persistent widespread pain.

Anabela G. Silva is a Professor at the School of Health, University of Aveiro, Portugal. Her main research interests relate to low back and neck pain prevention and management from a biopsychosocial perspective and pain in older adults.  Her team is also involved in the conception of digital health interventions (definition of functional requirements), co-creation, and testing with end users.