The Research Group for Musculoskeletal Health, Sleep and Physical Activity is an interdisciplinary research group at NTNU in Trondheim. The group consists of over 25 employees (both PhD candidates, researchers, and professors) and has a high level of research and teaching activity. We work in several focus areas, including the development of more effective and innovative treatment methods for patients with pain and/or sleep problems and the prevention of ill health in the population. The group is responsible, among other things, for the objective sleep and activity measures that were carried out on tens of thousands of people in the HUNT study. We bring extensive experience in developing and evaluating digital tools for decision support and self-management of chronic musculoskeletal pain, sleep disturbances, and physical inactivity in daily life. This work is carried out through close collaboration with software companies and researchers specializing in artificial intelligence.

The research group also has a particular focus on the interaction between sleep, pain and physical activity, and how knowledge about this interaction can contribute to the development of preventive interventions and better treatment – with the goal of more people being able to maintain good health throughout their lives. We have a life-course perspective and focus our research on all age groups.

We have secured funding for several large projects through the EU, the Research Council of Norway, the Central Norway Regional Health Authority, the Dam Foundation, the Norwegian Fund for Post-Graduate Training in Physiotherapy, the Norwegian Women's Public Health Association, and other national and international sources, in collaboration with partners across multiple countries. Our research activities span basic science, epidemiological studies, methodological development, and both clinical and work-oriented intervention studies. We employ observational studies to explore risk factors, preventive measures, and prognostic indicators, while experimental studies are used to evaluate the effectiveness of various interventions in clinical settings and the general population

The group collaborates with many researchers locally, nationally and internationally. Several of the researchers have part-time positions at the hospital, the municipality, and/or collaborate closely with the field of practice. This ensures that the projects have a good clinical foundation in both the primary and specialist health services and contributes to the exchange of expertise between research and practice.

Our vision is to conduct research that benefits everyone, across communities and generations.

Current projects:

• The SupportPrim project will develop and evaluate decision support systems for personalized care in patients with common musculoskeletal complaints in primary health care. Case-based reasoning, an artificial intelligence approach, and risk-stratified care will be evaluated in physiotherapy and general practice. 
   
• SmaRTWork project - a digital system for personalized return to work recommendations for sick-listed with musculoskeletal disorders. 
  The decision support system will use "case-based reasoning" (CBR). The main principle of CBR is to use knowledge of previously successful "cases" to propose measures for new and similar "cases". The project is carried out in collaboration with the Department of Computer Technology and Informatics, and is financed by the Research Council of Norway. Project period 2021-2027. Contact: Lene Aasdahl
   
• Non-pharmacological treatment of sleep problems in primary care is a study investigating the effectiveness of the municipal sleep course Sleep well on insomnia severity and other sleep- and health-related outcomes among participants with insomnia symptoms. Contact: Researchers Maria Hrozanova, Ingebrigt Meisingset and Eivind Schjeldrup Skarpsno
   
• The DE-PASS project is financed via the EU's COST Action program and involves more than 70 partners. The aim is to identify and measure factors that influence physical activity in different age groups and arenas (school, work, leisure etc.) and use this knowledge to develop targeted interventions. Contact: Professor Paul J. Mork
   
• LABDA is a network project funded by the EU's Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme. The aim of the project is to develop advanced analysis methods of 24/7 data on physical activity and sleep. This knowledge is used in various models to study the connection between physical activity and sleep and to develop targeted interventions. Contact: Professor Paul J. Mork
   
• The physical activity behavior and sleep study is funded via NTNU Health - strategic programme, and is a collaboration with the Department of Computer Technology and Informatics. The project develops new analysis methods (machine learning) of sensor data on physical activity and sleep collected in HUNT4. The data is used, among other things, to study the connection between genetics and physical activity/sleep, as well as the connection between physical activity/sleep and various health outcomes. Contact: Professor Paul J. Mork
   
• Better health for people with musculoskeletal pain is funded by DAM and, as the title says, aims to improve health and prevent an unfavorable outcome for people with musculoskeletal pain. The project makes use of rich data from the Health Survey in Trøndelag (HUNT) and links to national registers for sickness absence, health service use, and use of painkillers to study whether long-term health conditions/diseases, socio-economic conditions, and familial pain conditions, in interaction with lifestyle factors, affect the course of musculoskeletal pain. See more information about the project. Contact: Anna Marcuzzi

Previous projects:

• The selfBACK project is an EU 2020 Horizon project coordinated by our group that aims to develop a decision support system for self-management of low back pain. Contact; Prof. Paul J. Mork
   
• Back-UP Project is a project funded by the Horizon 2020 Programme to develop a new health care platform with a prognostic model to support more effective and efficient management of neck and low back pain. Contact; Prof. Paul J. Mork
   
• In the HUNT4 study (2017-2019) the research group was responsible for detailed recordings of physical activity among 39 000 participants over one week. The unique data hold objective information about physical activity within daily life and will be used to study associations between physical activity, disease, and common disorders in the public. Contact; Prof. Paul J. Mork and Prof. Tom Ivar Lund Nilsen

The long-term goal for the research group is to provide better prevention, diagnostics, and treatment strategies for the targeted groups.