Rodrigo Rizzo
RESEARCHER PROFILE
PhD Candidate
Rodrigo Rizzo is a Doctoral Candidate at Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA) and University of New South Wales (UNSW). He is a physiotherapist who has worked in the management of chronic pain for over 15 years. Rod became interested in understanding the effect of clinical hypnosis for chronic pain, and in 2018, he published the first randomised controlled trial combining clinical hypnosis with pain neuroscience education.
Supervised by Prof James McAuley and A/Prof Sylvia Gustin, Rod is using quantitative and qualitative methods to investigate mechanisms of interventions for treating back pain. Using qualitative research, he wants to understand people’s beliefs about treatments that target the brain for the management of back pain. Using quantitative analysis, he investigates whether and how interventions designed to change the nervous system work in patients with pain. Rod’s current projects include:
- The reporting of mediation analysis in recently published observational studies: a systematic review
- The mediating effect of pain catastrophizing on pain intensity: the influence of the timing of assessments
- How do people with chronic low back pain perceive interventions that target the brain to reduce pain and disability?
- Efficacy and safety of medicines targeting neurotrophic factors in the management of low back pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Follow Rod’s research below and here: Google Scholar and ORCID.
Rod is a member of the Centre for Pain IMPACT (investigating mechanisms of pain to advance clinical translation), which is a collaboration of pain researchers at NeuRA, who have a focus on encompassing basic science through to clinical and translational research. Rod was also the lead organiser for this group from 2019-2020.
Projects Rodrigo Rizzo is currently involved with
CURRENT PROJECTS
BOOST – Repetitive transcranial magnetic simulation to bolster analgesic effects of quadriceps str
Osteoarthritis affects more than 20% of Australians aged over 60. The knee joint is commonly affected, causing persistent pain and difficulty in daily activities. Although exercise is the cornerstone of conservative treatment for knee osteoarthritis and recommended in all international guidelines, its effects are, at best, moderate.
BOOST is a ‘proof of concept’ study to explore the use of a novel intervention combining non-invasive brain stimulation and exercise therapy in people with knee osteoarthritis. This intervention applies repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation, a safe and painless non-invasive brain stimulation, targeting specifically the brain region involved in pain processing and motor function to enhance the effects of exercise therapy.
The study might be a good fit for you if you:
- Are aged ≥ 50 years with knee osteoarthritis.
- Have knee pain for more than 3 months and on most days of the past month.
- Have average pain intensity higher than 4 out 10 in the past week.
- Do not have previous knee joint replacement or high tibial osteotomy.
- Do not knee surgery or joint injection in past 6 months.
- Do not have planned surgery in the next 9 months.
- Do not use oral corticosteroids currently or in the past 4 weeks.
- Do not have systemic arthritis, previous knee fracture or malignancy.
- Do not have other condition affecting lower limb function.
- Do not participate in knee strengthening exercise in past 6 months.
- Do not have a loss of sensation of the affected leg.
- Do not have neurological or psychiatric disorders.
- Do not have contraindications to brain stimulation such as epilepsy, metal implant in the skull.
- Do not use neuroactive drugs.
If you are eligible and agree to participate, you will be asked to attend 2 sessions per week for 6 weeks (each session includes 15 minutes of active or sham brain stimulation plus 30 minutes one-to-one exercise by a physiotherapist); 2 testing sessions (about 1.5 hours per session) before the start and after the completion of the intervention. All sessions will take place in a laboratory at NeuRA.
If you would like more information or are interested in being part of the study, please contact:
Name: Dr Wei-Ju Chang
Email: w.chang@neura.edu.au
Phone: 02 9399 1260
Like to see if you’re eligible? Click here
This research is being funded by the ANZMUSC Clinical Trial Network.
READ MORE
BOOST – Repetitive transcranial magnetic simulation to bolster analgesic effects of quadriceps strengthening exercise in knee osteoarthritis
RESOLVE Trial for Chronic Low Back Pain
For people with long term back pain that is not getting better. We are testing two pain treatment programs that target the brain, for people with chronic low back pain.READ MORE
RESOLVE Trial for Chronic Low Back Pain
Medicines for Back Pain
Medicines are the most common treatment for back pain. The aim of this program of research is to improve our understanding of the clinical effects of medicines.
Studies currently in progress:
- Scoping review of paracetamol, NSAIDs and opioid analgesics for chronic low back pain (led by Matthew K Bagg). The objective of this study is to identify and describe the characteristics of available clinical trials of commonly used analgesic medicines for chronic low back pain. This information will inform the design and conduct of other studies in the research program.
- Paracetamol, NSAIDs and opioid analgesics for chronic low back pain: a network meta-analysis (led by Matthew K Bagg). The objective of this study is to produce information about the clinical effects of available analgesic medicines for chronic low back pain. This information will be available in a Cochrane review to assist clinical prescription of medicines. The protocol is published and available here.
- Prescribing practices of medicines for adults with low back pain: a systematic review (led by Michael Wewege). The objective of this study is to determine how different medicines are prescribed to adults with low back pain and how this differs across countries. The protocol for this study is being developed.
- Analgesic medicines for adults with low back pain: a network meta-analysis (led by Michael Wewege). The objective of this study is to evaluate the comparative effectiveness of a range of analgesic medicines for adults across different classifications of low back pain. The protocol for this study has been submitted for publication.
- Muscle relaxant medicines for low back pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis (led by Aidan Cashin and Thiago Folly). The objective of this study is to determine the effectiveness and tolerability of muscle relaxant medicines for adults with low back pain. The protocol is available here.
- Novel biologic medicines for low back pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis (led by Rodrigo Rizzo). The objective of this study is to determine the effectiveness and tolerability of novel biologic medicines for adults with low back pain. The protocol is available here.
Completed studies:
- Evaluation of the impact of unpublished data from clinical trial registries on the effects of medicines for low back pain (led by Matthew Bagg). The objective of this study was to evaluate whether there is a difference between clinical trial data that are published and those that are not published. The findings are published in the Journal of Clinical Epidemiology.
- Antidepressant medicines for low back pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis (led by Michael Ferraro). The objective of this study was to determine the effectiveness and tolerability of antidepressant medicines for adults with low back pain. The findings have been submitted for publication. The protocol is available here.
Medicines for Back Pain – Publications:
- Bagg MK, McLachlan AJ, Maher CG, Kamper SJ, Williams CM, Henschke N, Wand BM, Moseley GL, Hübscher M, O’Connell NE, van Tulder MW, Nikolakopoulou A, McAuley JH. (2018). Paracetamol, NSAIDS and opioid analgesics for chronic low back pain: a network meta-analysis [Protocol]. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Issue 6. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD013045. PMCID: PMC6513465
- Bagg MK, O’Hagan E, Zahara P, Wand BM, Hübscher M, Moseley GL, McAuley JH. (2020). Reviews may overestimate the effectiveness of medicines for back pain: systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology. doi: 10.1016/ j.jclinepi.2019.12.006. PMID: 31816418
Medicines for Back Pain – Registrations of Study Protocols:
- Folly T, Bagg MK, Wewege M, Ferraro MC, Schabrun S, Gustin SM, Day R, McAuley JH. (2019) UMbRELLA: Understanding efficacy and safety of Muscle RELaxant medicines for Low back pain – systematic Literature review and meta-Analysis (protocol).Open Science Framework, available at: https://osf.io/xuw5h
- Rizzo RN, Bagg MK, Ferraro MC, Wewege M, Cashin A, Leake HB, O’Hagan E, Jones M, McAuley JH. (2020). Efficacy and safety of medicines targeting neurotrophic factors in the management of low back pain: protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis. Open Science Framework, available at: https://osf.io/zax6d
- Ferraro MC, Bagg MK, McAuley JH. (2019). RADICAL: Systematic Review of Anti-Depressant Medicines if Considered Analgesics for Low Back Pain (protocol). Open Science Framework, available at: https://osf.io/cedm3
READ MORE
Medicines for Back Pain
AGReMA – A Guideline for Reporting Mediation Analyses
There are a growing number of studies using mediation analysis to understand the mechanisms of health interventions and exposures. Recent work has shown that the reporting of these studies is heterogenous and incomplete. This problem stifles clinical application, reproducibility, and evidence synthesis. The development and implementation of A Guideline for Reporting Mediation Analyses (AGReMA) will improve the standardization, transparency, and completeness in the reporting of studies that use mediation analysis to understand the mechanisms of health interventions and exposures.
AGReMA Publications
Cashin AG, McAuley JH, Lamb SE, Hopewell S, Kamper SJ, Williams CM, Henschke N, Lee H. (2020). Development of A Guideline for Reporting Mediation Analyses (AGReMA). BMC Med Res Methodol 20(1):19. doi: 10.1186/s12874-020-0915-5. PMID: 32013883
READ MORE
AGReMA – A Guideline for Reporting Mediation Analyses
HYPNOSIS FOR ANXIETY? ‘DOABLE’ IF YOU HAVE AN OPEN MIND. THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, 22ND JANUARY 2020
HYPNOSIS CAN HELP TREAT CHRONIC LOW BACK PAIN. NEURA BLOG, 21 MAY 2018
RESEARCH TEAM
YANNICK GILANYI Honours Student : y.gilanyi@neura.edu.au
BRISHNA SHAH Honours Student : b.shah@neura.edu.au
JACK DEVONSHIRE Research Assistant : j.devonshire@neura.edu.au
HARRISON HANSFORD Doctoral Candidate : h.hansford@neura.edu.au
THIAGO FOLLY Research Assistant
ANIKA HAIGH Research Assistant : a.haigh@neura.edu.au
PAULINE ZAHARA Clinical Trial Manager
DR IAN SKINNER Postdoctoral Research Fellow
PUBLICATIONS
Efficacy and Safety of Medicines Targeting Neurotrophic Factors in the Management of Low Back Pain: Protocol for a Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.
Rizzo RRN, Ferraro MC, Wewege MA, Cashin AG, Leake HB, O'Hagan ET, Jones MD, Gustin SM, McAuley JH
The aim of this study is to evaluate the efficacy and safety of medicines targeting neurotrophins in patients with LBP and sciatica. This systematic review and meta-analysis will assess the evidence for the efficacy and safety of NGF inhibitors for pain in patients with nonspecific LBP and sciatica. The inclusion of new studies and unpublished data may improve the precision of the effect estimates and guide regulatory actions of the medications for LBP and sciatica.
The mediating effect of pain catastrophizing on pain intensity: The influence of the timing of assessments.
Rizzo RRN, Lee H, Cashin AG, Costa LOP, Gustin SM, McAuley JH
The timing of the assessment influenced the mediating role of pain catastrophizing on pain intensity. These results raise questions on the casual role that pain catastrophizing has on pain intensity. Psychosocial interventions such as clinical hypnosis can reduce pain intensity even when there has been no change in pain catastrophizing.