Raymond Ostelo is professor of Evidence Based Physiotherapy. He is one of the program directors of the Amsterdam Movement Sciences (AMS) Research Institute and he is leading the musculoskeletal research section of the department of Health Sciences (VU University). Additionally he is visiting professor at the University of Bergen (Norway). As a clinical epidemiologist and physiotherapist he combines research and education in a range of multidisciplinary projects primarily focussing on low back pain, musculoskeletal conditions, epidemiology and measurement. He has published in high profile journals such as the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), British Medical Journal (BMJ), PAIN, Clinical Journal of Epidemiology and the Cochrane Library. He has also been involved in the development of multiple mono and multidisciplinary evidence-based clinical guidelines.

His current research work, funded through various grants, including Netherlands Organisation Scientific Research (NWO), Netherlands Organisation for Health Research & Development (ZonMw), Wetenschappelijk College Fysiotherapie/KNGF, Ned Ver Manuele Therapie, European Chiropractors’ Union and the National Health Care Institute (ZiN) include:

• effectiveness and cost-effectiveness studies on pre-surgical interventions and post-surgical rehabilitation programs in sciatica
• exploring the role of illness perception in musculoskeletal conditions
• stratified care for osteoarthritis, neck pain and low back pain
• effectiveness and cost-effectiveness studies for primary care intervention for low back pain and chronic pain conditions
• effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of extended scope physiotherapy
• effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of rehabilitation after trauma
• various studies in order to improve the measurement in musculoskeletal conditions