The first steps towards personalized mechanistic-based pain medicine in osteoarthritis

Associate Professor Kristian Kjær Petersen, Department of Health Science and Technology, Aalborg University, defended his doctoral thesis within medical science in 2021. Prior to this, Kristian and his research team spent years of dedicated and hard work in the laboratories and at the hospital. One of the main results is that they have identified that some patients with osteoarthritis are pain sensitive. Therefore, the researchers have developed assessment tools to assess pain sensitivity. Additionally, they have found that assessments for pain sensitivity can be linked to the response to standard pain treatments for osteoarthritis such as anti-inflammatory pharmaceutical therapy and total joint replacement surgery. Furthermore, they have demonstrated that severely pain sensitive patients are less likely to benefit from these treatments.

 - We have identified a subset of patients who do not benefit from standard pain treatment, and we believe that better solutions could be offered to these patients – solutions that serve a better and more specific purpose for them. Our research findings, I believe, will pave the way for personalized mechanistic-based pain medicine within osteoarthritis in the future, Kristian Kjær Petersen, Associate Professor, Department of Health Science and Technology, Aalborg University explains.

Leading the research, Kristian Kjær Petersen has worked closely together with a team of both pain researchers from the Department of Health Science and Technology and clinicians from the Department of Clinical Medicine.

 - At The Faculty of Medicine, doctors and engineers work side by side in research projects. Finding solutions together across disciplines is one of our distinctive features. I am proud of the results accomplished by Kristian Kjær Petersen and the team, and I am confident that patients will benefit from this in the future, Lars Hvilsted Rasmussen, Dean, The Faculty of Medicine, Aalborg University states.

 - Together with Kristian Kjær Petersen and the team we have – with benefits for the patients – addressed pain problems within musculoskeletal pain. We are thrilled to continue the collaboration with the engineers to solve our clinical problems, and our collaboration with the pain researchers has been exceptional over the years, Sten Rasmussen, Head of Department of Clinical Medicine, Aalborg University adds.

Professor Lars Arendt-Nielsen, Department of Health Science and Technology, Aalborg University, who has been Kristian Kjær Petersen’s mentor, further states:

 - It has been a true pleasure working with and witnessing Kristian develop into a young international leading research talent, who travels the world as a keynote speaker at European and world congresses within the area of pain.

Kristian Kjær Petersen is a member of the Center for Neuroplasticity and Pain (CNAP), a center of excellence at the Department of Health Science and Technology.

 - Kristian’s work is exemplary of the CNAP approach: groundbreaking and interdisciplinary research, which will help transform pain management strategies, Professor Thomas Graven-Nielsen, Director of CNAP, underlines.

Contact information

Kristian Kjær Petersen, Associate Professor