I love to highlight the people in the research trenches and asked Tom Astill to chat with me about the research he has been working on with Jane Chalmers and Rocco Caveleri regarding a new questionnaire directed at assessing the impact pelvic pain has on men, called The Male Pelvic Pain Impact Questionnaire (links below). The focus of this episode was this assessment questionnaire, but as usual, I took him off course and ventured into in a few other places. I hope you enjoy!

A bit more about Tom:

Originally born in England, Tom moved to Australia 15 years ago. Initially he studied audio engineering and worked in various fields of technical support and training before meeting his wife and embarking on a physiotherapy degree.

He is a newly graduated physiotherapist. As part of his undergrad he conducted an honours project where they developed a questionnaire to assess the impact of chronic pelvic pain in men. This project has sparked a passion for research, chronic pain, and men’s health. He is currently deciding on PhD topics in those areas and working on expanding his clinical skills to support his future research. He enjoys reading, cooking, and spending time with his twin daughters Kate and Lily.

Links:

mPPIQ preprint on Research Gate

Abstract presentation through the Australian Pain Society