Roisin Cahalan

Biography

I qualified as a chartered physiotherapist in UL in 2008 and have worked in many settings in the private and public sector in the intervening years. My main area of interest is musculoskeletal physiotherapy in dancers and athletes. I was a professional Irish dancer in Riverdance, the Show prior to embarking on my physiotherapy studies, working as both troupe and lead dancer. My PhD completed in 2014 examined musculoskeletal pain and injury in elite adult Irish dancers. This thesis was conducted under the supervision of Dr. Kieran O'Sullivan and Prof. Peter O'Sullivan.I am currently concluding a one year prospective study comparing the biopsychosocial causes of pain and injury in a variety of dance styles including elite adult and adolescent Irish dancers, contemporary dancers and ballet. In this project we will be working with several elite Irish and international dance organisations including Dance UK, the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance London, Ballet Ireland, and the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance here in UL. I am also collaborating with researchers from PESS, IWAMD and the University of Roehampton investigating disordered eating in dancers, and a further collaboration with PESS and the IWAMD is examining the lower limb biomechanical features of Irish and contemporary dancers. I am involved in a number of studies examining injury surveillance and screening in a variety of athletic populations including rugby (in conjunction with PESS and the IRFU), endurance athletes and male and female GAA players. I am currently lecturing at undergraduate and postgraduate level on the physiotherapy programme in UL. I am also undertaking the Graduate Diploma in Teaching, Learning and Scholarship here at UL, and am a member of the Committee for Teaching and Learning in the Department of Clinical Sciences. I also teach and adjudicate Irish dancing and have a small private physiotherapy practice seeing predominantly patients with musculoskeletal complaints.

Research Interest

The main focus of my research is musculoskeletal pain and injury in dancers and athletes. My PhD examined this concept in elite adult Irish dancers. Since then, I have expanded my research work in dancers to include pain and injury in ballet and contemporary dancers as well as elite adolescent Irish dancers. To this end I collaborate with a number of partners including the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance (IWAMD), Ballet Ireland, Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in London, and multiple Irish dancing schools in the mid-west region. I am also collaborating with researchers in Physical Education and Sports Science (PESS) and Roehampton University (UK) examining disordered eating in Irish dancers. A further study with PESS and IWAMD is looking at lower limb biomechanical features of contemporary and Irish dancers. I am also co-supervising a number of PhD and MSc projects involving screening and surveillance of pain and injury in a variety of athletic populations. This includes a nationwide study of club and schools rugby in conjunction with the IRFU, and a study of the factors affecting pain and in jury in endurance athletes. Further cohorts being investigated by students include male and female GAA athletes. Research plans include conducting an RCT for an intervention in dance injury, and to collaborate with psychology on further aspects of injury prediction and management.