Dr Jane O’Brien is a researcher who combines her skills in exercise physiology and nursing to improve the quality of life for people with venous leg ulcers, which are painful and debilitating slow-healing wounds.

‘I started out as an exercise physiologist and went into nursing after travelling the world and seeing so many areas in which nursing skills make a real difference to people’s lives,’ says Dr O’Brien.

‘While I was always interested in exercise, a critical life experience for me was seeing the difference a dedicated nurse made to my father’s recovery after triple bypass surgery. He was encouraged to take charge of his health through cardiac rehab. This not only helped his recovery but it changed his attitude to exercise. After he recovered, he went on to have a much healthier lifestyle, which he still maintains.’

Research allows Dr O’Brien to bridge the worlds between exercise and nursing.  

Dr O’Brien became interested in exercise as an intervention for people with slow-healing wounds while she was doing a vacation scholarship program as part of her nursing degree.

‘I worked in a centre that specialised in wound care for people with venous leg ulcers. I’d watch people shuffle into the room, have their bandages dressed, then shuffle out again. Looking at their movement from a functional perspective I thought, if they’re shuffling then they aren’t walking in a way that activates their calf muscle pump in order to promote venous return. That’s not going to help with their healing. Together with the vascular surgeon in charge of the clinic, we looked at getting the patients to do simple exercises to determine if that would improve wound healing.’

This natural curiosity has led Dr O’Brien to continue her research and to find opportunities to collaborate with researchers around the world.

Her basic motivation is to help people to live full lives – to stay out of hospital and live well within their own homes.

‘With a bit of assistance, people can be enabled and empowered to do some exercise, which improves their lives so they’re more independent.’

Dr O’Brien tells a story about a woman who, through wearing high compression bandages for a slow-healing ulcer, had lost strength in her legs.

‘This woman had previously been a keen bird watcher. When I met her, she was wheelchair-bound. She said that one of her personal goals was to be able to walk down to the bottom of her garden and watch the birds there. After 12 weeks of my home-based progressive resistance exercise program, she and I were both delighted when she achieved her goal. Through focusing on what she valued the most, we also improved her overall mobility and she regained some of her independence.’

Dr O’Brien’s progressive resistance methodology is being adopted as part of a large-scale New Zealand study that will recruit hundreds of people to try the home-based program, and compare the results against a variety of measures.

Dr O’Brien is looking for opportunities to expand her research and loves sharing her passion for research training. If you are interested in exploring attitudes of health professionals for supporting patients to exercise or understanding the biomechanics of gait pattern and venous return, please get in touch with the wound team.