The role of sensory, fear-related, and inflammatory factors in the persistence of pregnancy-related lumbopelvic pain.

This PhD project involves conducting a prospective cohort study to identify novel predictors of pregnancy-related lumbopelvic pain during pregnancy and postpartum. Pregnant women will be followed during and after pregnancy. Several hospitals (including Ziekenhuis Oost-Limburg, Jessa Ziekenhuis, UZ Leuven) will be collaborated for this purpose. We will compare sensory, fear-related, and inflammatory factors between women with and without pregnancy-related lumbopelvic pain, and determine their predictive role in the occurrence and maintenance of pregnancy-related lumbopelvic pain.
The 2 PhD fellows within this vacancy frame the "PROFit primi" research project (referring to proprioception, fear and inflammation in primiparae) funded by the Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek - Vlaanderen (FWO). The project is supervised by several interuniversity and international partners and in collaboration with hospitals in Limburg and the Flemish part of Brabant. The supervising team consists of Prof Lotte Janssens, Prof Kenneth Verboven and Dr Nina Goossens (UHasselt), Prof Inge Geraerts, Prof Annick Bogaerts (KU/UZ Leuven), Prof Liesbet De Baets (Vrije Universiteit Brussel) and Prof Daniela Aldabe (Curtin University, Australia). One doctoral fellow is appointed to UHasselt and follows the Doctoral School of Health & Life Sciences programme (UHasselt). One doctoral fellow is appointed at KU Leuven and follows the Biomedical Doctoral School programme, option Exercise and Physical Activity in Health and Disease (KU Leuven). Both doctoral fellows are joint doctorates (joint-PhDs) between UHasselt (Faculty of Rehabilitation Sciences) and KU Leuven (Department of Rehabilitation Sciences and Physiotherapy).

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For more information please contact Prof. dr. Inge Geraerts, tel.: +32 16 32 91 20, mail: inge.geraerts@kuleuven.be.

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