Bhagwant S. Sindhu, PhD, OTR/L

Speaker Topics

• Sincerity of effort
• Pain physiology and assessment
• Pain related psychological factors
• Pain interference
• Assessment of upper limb function

Interests & Expertise

Bhagwant Sindhu’s research focuses on pursuing theoretically rigorous exploration of approaches for improving upper extremity rehabilitation in two related areas: rehabilitation assessments and rehabilitation outcomes.

Within the broad framework of rehabilitation assessments, his research has focused on sincerity of effort testing; self-report assessments of upper extremity function; and pain assessment.

He has conducted studies to determine differences between maximal and submaximal grip efforts using force-time curves and surface electromyographic signal among healthy people, as well as people with musculoskeletal disorders and injuries, including traumatic musculoskeletal injuries, carpal tunnel syndrome and fibromyalgia. Surprisingly, these conditions affect different force parameters.

Recently, he found that fear-avoidance beliefs related to pain result in poorer rehabilitation outcomes in two out of eight groups of musculoskeletal disorders of the shoulder, with one group including people with rotator cuff tears.