Pulak Parikh
Assistant Professor
Paul Parikh is an early career researcher in the field of spinal pain focused to investigating neck and thoracic pain to improve patient management. Neck pain is a significant international problem contributing to economic burden through treatment costs and job-related issues including lost productivity, to have a major impact on an individual’s quality of life. Understanding of prevalence and burden of thoracic pain is less clear, with limited research focused to the thoracic region compared with the cervical and lumbar spine affecting our understanding of presentations of thoracic pain, their cause and burden. Paul’s research centres around better understanding of neck and thoracic pain to inform precision intervention and improved outcomes for patients.
Through the CANSpine laboratory at Victoria Hospital, the comprehensive 360° assessment of neck and thoracic pain, using patient reported (e.g., disability) and physical measures (e.g., daily activity) will help Paul identify factors important to patient outcomes. This information will be used to develop customized treatments for neck and thoracic problems to match people with treatments best suited to their needs, aiming to improve spinal pain care pathways and patient outcomes.
Recognizing the importance of collaborative research, Paul actively engages in interdisciplinary collaborations with experts from various fields related to spinal pain research. This collaboration has facilitated partnerships with treating clinicians, physical therapists, physicians, engineers, psychologists, and other researchers to investigate the multifaceted aspects of spinal pain.
