Ulrik Röijezon

Ulrik Röijezon is Professor in physiotherapy. He is interested in anything that involves motor control, from altered movement in pain conditions to fear of falling, but also exceptionally well adapted movement behaviour as in musical performance and sports.

Link to the PhD-thesis: http://umu.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:217582/FULLTEXT01.pdf

Clinical and academic background

I received my physiotherapy degree at Lund University in 1996. Thereafter I worked as a physiotherapist in primary care, occupational health unit and a rehabilitation center. 2006 I signed in as a PhD- student and defended my PhD-thesis "Sensorimotor function in chronic neck pain - Objective assessments and a novel method for neck coordination exercise" in June 2009. After the defense, I lectured at various universities in Sweden, and since 2010 I am working at the Department of Health Sciences (HLV), LTU. My main clinical interest is in rehabilitation of musculoskeletal disorders, with a focus on motor control and learning.

My interest in musculoskeletal disorders and motor control and learning has led me to initiate research on musicians’ health and performance; a professional group with a high prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders, combined with exceptionally high demands on good motor control. My interest in motor control has also led me to research in sports science (fly casting) and balance control in older people with fear of falling and people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

I find it very stimulating to work at a technical university with both a philosophical and a technical faculty as this creates great opportunities for interdisciplinary collaborations within research, innovation and education. Together with colleagues I have contributed to the initiation of a Working Group on Motor Control and Biomechanics. Within the group, we collaborate across disciplines in various projects on, e.g., motion analysis, navigation, robotics and performing arts projects. I have also been initiator and responsible in building up and developing a motion laboratory, the "Human Health and Performance Lab - Movement Science", at HLV.

Research

My main interest areas of research:

• Development and evaluation of methods for assessment and rehabilitation of musculoskeletal disorders (including clinically applicable objective methods for motion analysis)
• Assessment and training of sensorimotor control
• Correlation between changes in sensorimotor function and self-perceived health and function in people with musculoskeletal disorders
• Neuromuscular mechanisms in neck co-ordination training
• Musculoskeletal disorders, stress and motor control among musicians
• Performance and motor control in sports, with a special focus on fly casting
• Motor control in the elderly with fear of falling
• Motor control in people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
• Navigational aids for persons with visual impairment
• Development of humanoid robot

Supervision

I supervise and examine physiotherapy students continuously at basic and advanced levels. I am co-supervisor for doctoral student Mascha Pauelsen and main supervisor for doctoral student Jimmy Falk who are physiotherapists and working at HLV. 

I was main supervisor for Viktor Strandkvist, physiotherapeut who defended his phd-thesis October 2019 and co-supervisor for Daniel Innala Ahlmark who is computer engineer and was PhD-student at the Department of Computer Science, Electrical and Space Engineering (SRT), LTU, until his defense June 10, 2016.

Teaching

My teaching areas involves mainly: functional anatomy, biomechanics, motor control and motor learning and clinical methods for assessment and treatment of musculoskeletal conditions of the extremities and the spine.

Other assignments

• Editor and author of several chapter for the text book Motor control and learning - With focus on musculoskeletal rehabilitation 2019. The book was published by Studentlitteratur. Read more about the book here: https://www.studentlitteratur.se/#9789144074177/Motorisk+kontroll+och+inl%C3%A4rning
• Head of the motion lab "Human Health and Performance Lab - Movement Scieince "at HLV, LTU (see link to the website about the motion lab http://www.ltu.se/research/subjects/fysioterapi/Laboratorium)
• Together with colleague George Nikolakopoulos at SRT responsible for the interdisciplinary "Working Group on Motor Control and Biomechanics" at the university (see link http://www.ltu.se/research/Working-groups/Motor-Control-and-Biomechanics/Arbetsgrupp-inom-motorisk-kontroll-och-biomekanik-1.112093)
• Project leader and chair of the conference in music medicine, "Musicians' Health and Performance. 1st Nordic Conference 2013” (MHPNC2013), arranged by LTU at Acusticum and the School of Music in Piteå June 2013. (Link to the conference web page http://www.ltu.se/research/subjects/fysioterapi/Konferenser?l=en and another link to an interview at Radio P4 Norrbotten http://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=98&artikel=5512558)
• Member of the Scientific Committee of the second Nordic conference on music medicine "Musicians' Health and Performance. 2nd Conference 2015 (MHPC2015) held in Odense, Denmark, June 2015. (Link to the conference web page http://www.mhpc2015.dk/)
• Peer-reviewer for several international scientific journals.

Other interests

I live in Piteå, Norrbotten, married to Louise and have three children, Teo, Tor and Freja.

Fly fishing and fly casting

I have been a fly fisher since my 12th birthday when I was given my first fly rod. Mostly I fish for trout, sea-trout and salmon, but also arctic char, grayling, rainbow trout and other species. My dedications to develop my skills as a fly fisher has led me to explicitly train and compete in fly casting. In fly casting I compete for Piteå Angling Club, and have since the World Championship 2010 (with exception for 2019 due to high work load and 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic) competed for the Swedish national team in fly casting. My greatest merits in fly casting are several gold medals in National Championships, gold at the Nordic Championship in 2011 & 2017, a bronze medal at the World Championships (WC) in 2014, a silver at the WC 2016 and a bronze at the WC 2018. At the Swedish Championship 2015 I took the world record in the event Trout Distance (floating long-belly line # 5, Rio Gold Tournament) with a 45.9 m long cast. This record was extended by me at the Swedish Championship 2017 with a cast of 46.3 m. I am also physiotherapist for the Swedish Elite Group in fly casting, perform research within fly casting and am a board member of the Swedish Casting Association.

For more information on casting and fly casting: www.casting.se

Music

I have a special affection for music influenced by jazz and funky grooves. Unchallenged on my top list are Steely Dan, and among the Swedish favorites are the excellent groove-generators Bo Kasper’s Orchestra and Movitz, both with connections to Norrbotten. As for the classical masters, I highly appreciate the tunes from Bach.

My general view is that music and music performance is one of the basic foundations of the society, and find it important to promote and work for musicians' health and performance.

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