Bronwen Ackermann

Biography

Dr Bronwen Ackermann is a specialist musicians' physiotherapist, musculoskeletal anatomist and musicians' health researcher at the University of Sydney. Her interest in performing arts health grew as a result of working with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra since 1995, going on to work on improving occupational health as well as developing best-practice injury prevention and management strategies with all the major Australian Orchestras, as well as the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. She received a Churchill fellowship in 2002 allowing her to spend time with international colleagues involved in both research and clinical work in the field of music medicine. She completed her PhD in 2003 looking at physiotherapy mangement of performance-related musculoskeletal injuries in violinists, and joined academia in 2006, where she has lectured in physiotherapy and functional musculoskeletal anatomy.She continues to conduct research into musicians' health focussing on performance-related injury prevention, performance-related injury assessment and management, optimising performance through enhancing physical and pscyhological well-being, and understanding the anatomical, physiological and biomechanical mechanisms underpinning musical performance. Dr Bronwen Ackermann is a specialist musicians' physiotherapist, musculoskeletal anatomist and musicians' health researcher at the University of Sydney. Her interest in performing arts health grew as a result of working with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra since 1995, going on to work on improving occupational health as well as developing best-practice injury prevention and management strategies with all the major Australian Orchestras, as well as the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. She received a Churchill fellowship in 2002 allowing her to spend time with international colleagues involved in both research and clinical work in the field of music medicine. She completed her PhD in 2003 looking at physiotherapy mangement of performance-related musculoskeletal injuries in violinists, and joined academia in 2006, where she has lectured in physiotherapy and functional musculoskeletal anatomy.She continues to conduct research into musicians' health focussing on performance-related injury prevention, performance-related injury assessment and management, optimising performance through enhancing physical and pscyhological well-being, and understanding the anatomical, physiological and biomechanical mechanisms underpinning musical performance.

Research Interest

Investigating strategies to enhance health and performance capacity in musicians across the lifespan Encompassing: musicians applied anatomy and physiology research, music performance biomechanics, injury preventon, health promotion and health care provision research, development of evidence-based clinical assessments and treatments for musicians, enhancing health literacy and translational applications of health knowledge into music practice.