Driving access and innovation to reduce the international burden of neck and back (spinal) pain
Large diverse datasets ("Big data") will dramatically improve our understanding of the massive global problem of spinal pain, disability, treatment methods, and recovery patterns. The unique SPINA rehabilitation registry stands to provide the most comprehensive, diverse, and inclusive data on spinal pain yet. This data-driven biopsychosocial approach will reveal how spine disorders impact health, mobility, and quality of life. Ultimately, the goal is to use these insights to inform prevention and treatment strategies that enhance patient outcomes and promote overall spinal health globally.
Co-PIs: David Walton and Ali Rushton
Stream 1: $50,000
To address the grand challenge of spinal pain, we will expand our Spinal Rehabilitation Registry (SPINA) by adding key biological markers related to pain and functional disability. SPINA, with its unique focus on people receiving spinal pain rehabilitation, was created with support from experts and partners including the Bone and Joint Institute's Common Spine Disorders Think Tank, CANSpine Patient Partner Advisory Group, and rehabilitation clinicians. This registry collects long-term data, crucial to understanding spinal pain, disability, treatment methods, and recovery patterns. However, SPINA currently lacks biological data, creating a gap in our biopsychosocial understandings of spinal pain.
New technologies reduce participant’s burden by enabling efficient, cost-effective collection of biological markers from various sources, such as blood, saliva, hair, sweat, or imaging. This funding will support easy and accessible biological data collection using a 'biobus'—a mobile research unit that visits participants, particularly those facing barriers to inclusion in research like low-income, under-housed, rural/remote, incarcerated, and immigrant communities, using trauma-informed and collaborative research practices.
Through collecting and analyzing biological samples and transdisciplinary collaboration, including patient partners and clinicians, the SPINA registry will provide the most comprehensive and inclusive data on spinal pain. This approach ensures research includes diverse identities and life experiences, making spinal pain research relevant and accessible to everyone.
