Zan Gao, Ph.D., associate professor in the School of Kinesiology and director of the Physical Activity Epidemiology Laboratory (PAEL), is co-author on an article in the Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy titled “The Relationship Between Accelerometer-Determined Physical Activity and Clinical Low Back Pain Measures in Adolescents With Chronic or Sub-Acute Recurrent Low Back Pain.”  The study examined the relationship between objective physical activity measures assessed by accelerometers and standard clinical measures (pain intensity, disability, quality of life) in a sample of adolescents with recurrent or chronic low back pain (LBP). The study found that objectively measured physical activity was very weakly and not importantly associated with self-rated LBP intensity, disability, and quality of life.

Gao serves as corresponding author and first co-author on the article. He collaborated with doctoral advisees Zachary Pope and Nan Zeng, as well as colleagues Brent Leininger, DC, MS, Gert Bronfort, DC, PhD, and Roni Evans, DC, PhD, from the U of M’s Center for Spirituality and Healing, and Mitchell Haas, DC, MA, from the University of Western States.