World-first in neck care
The first device in the world allowing physiotherapists to both accurately assess and rehabilitate the specific neck muscles affecting people with neck pain and neck related headaches has been developed in Queensland.
The University of Queensland PhD student Shaun O’Leary developed the device in conjunction with Professor Gwendolen Jull and Dr Bill Vicenzino from the UQ Faculty of Health Sciences.
Shaun, a musculoskeletal physiotherapist with more than 10 years experience, said he designed the machine to help people recover from neck injuries faster and more fully.
“Retraining neck muscles, particularly the specialised cranio-cervical muscles that move the head on the neck, is a vital part of managing neck disorders but until now there hasn’t been a way to measure and therefore rehabilitate the muscle performance adequately,” Shaun said.
“Our device allows us to take accurate measurements of neck muscle performance to determine a patient’s level of impairment. The patient can then use the device at home to perform exercises at a specific intensity tailored to their capabilities to rehabilitate their neck muscles.”
The patented device has been licensed into Neckmetrix Pty Ltd, a start-up company formed by UQ’s main commercialisation company, UniQuest.
UniQuest Managing Director David Henderson said it was estimated more than 70 per cent of people experienced neck pain at some stage in their life and at any point in time, one in five people had neck pain, so the market for the Neckmetrix product was potentially large.
“Neckmetrix and UniQuest are actively seeking investors to further develop this device and speed up the entry of the product into the market place,” Mr Henderson said.
