Dr Kate Button
Specialty Lead for Musculoskeletal Disorders
Health and Care Research Wales Funding Award:
Award: Research for Patient and Public Benefit (RfPPB) Wales (December 2021 - June 2023)
Kate Button is a chartered physiotherapist and her area of specialism is musculoskeletal disorders. Her research interests are in the development of digital interventions to support home-based physiotherapy. She is part of a team of researchers studying how biomechanics can be used to inform the design of new rehabilitation techniques in patients with osteoarthritis and individuals following anterior cruciate ligament rupture. The team are currently evaluating patient and physiotherapists perspectives on the use of body worn sensors as part of a movement feedback toolkit for the treatment of knee pain. She works closely with computer scientists in Cardiff University and in collaboration with the orthopaedic department in Cardiff and Vale University Health Board we have been using health informatics to evaluate care pathways for patients seeking specialist care for hip and knee pain.
Kate holds a number of research leadership roles including Research and Development Lead for Therapies (Cardiff and Vale University Health Board), Director of Research Governance and Research Theme Lead for optimising health through activities, lifestyle and technology (School of Healthcare Sciences, Cardiff University). She is currently supervising six PhD students and is a mentor for two Physiotherapists that have a Research Capacity Building Collaboration, First into Research Award. She is a member of the Steering Committee for the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy and James Lind Alliance Physiotherapy Research Priority Setting Panel.
In the news:
Health and Care Research Wales invests in leaders across Wales to shape the research of the future (April 2022)
Relieve your joint pain at home: a new study investigating the benefits of an online physio programme (October 2022)
Almost £6.5million awarded to life saving research in Wales (October 2021)