Yanfei has a discipline background as a physiotherapist. She completed her PhD at The University of Queensland in October 2021. Her PhD involved ultrasound shear wave elastography, quantitative sensory testing, and physical and psychological measures to uncover potential biopsychosocial mechanisms underlying work-related neck pain and disability in a high-risk occupation group. After her PhD, she was awarded a competitive UQ postdoctoral fellowship to conduct research related to musculoskeletal pain and injury at RECOVER Injury Research Centre. Her current research focuses on uncovering the biopsychosocial mechanisms underlying musculoskeletal pain and injury, developing, and implementing effective and tailored pain treatments. She also has interests in occupational health and health equity. She has a broad range of research skills applicable across methodologies, including randomized controlled trials, case-control, and longitudinal study designs, systematic and scoping reviews, and meta-analysis. Yanfei has presented her work at national and international conferences and received several presentation awards.
Yanfei's research has informed the development of novel technologies that can generate tailored notifications, such as exercise plan, to mitigate musculoskeletal pain associated with prolonged use of computer and mobile devices (Patent No.: US 11,550,690 B1; Altmetric, May 2023). Additionally, findings of her research has been adopted by the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, impacting their policy recommendations for teleworkers (Almetric, May 2023). Three publications of her publications (Xie et al, Ergonomics, 2016; Xie et al, Appl Ergon, 2017; Madeleine, Xie et al, Clin Neurophysiol, 2016) featured in 14 news outlets and blogs, including prominent media platforms such as Yahoo, The Guardian, and Scientific American (Altmetric, May 2023).
Selected awards:
- The Best Poster Award at the Australian Pain Society 41st Annual Scientific Meeting
- 2nd Runner-up Best Poster Award at the 2019 Brisbane Pain Research Symposium
- People’s Choice Best Oral Presentation at the 2019 School of Health and Rehabilitation
- Winner of the Best Infographic Award at the 2018 School of Health and Rehabilitation
- Outstanding Student Project Award, awarded by The Hong Kong Ergonomics Society, 2017
Xie, Yanfei, Nielsen, Mandy, Kendall, Melissa, Jones, Rachel, Ownsworth, Tamara and Geraghty, Timothy (2023). Care transitions for people with acquired neurological disability in the first 12 months following inpatient rehabilitation: health service use and obstacles. Health and Social Care in the Community, 2023 2894552, 1-16. doi: 10.1155/2023/2894552
Ownsworth, Tamara, Mols, Helen, O'Loghlen, Jessica, Xie, Yanfei, Kendall, Melissa, Nielsen, Mandy, Mitchell, Jessie, Jones, Rachel and Geraghty, Timothy (2023). Stigma following acquired brain injury and spinal cord injury: relationship to psychological distress and community integration in the first-year post-discharge. Disability and Rehabilitation, 1-11. doi: 10.1080/09638288.2023.2205173
Other Outputs: Data of time course and risk profile of work-related neck disability
Xie, Yanfei, Johnston, Venerina, Thomas, Lucy and Coombes, Brooke (2023). Data of time course and risk profile of work-related neck disability. The University of Queensland. (Dataset) doi: 10.48610/67e0858
Xie, Yanfei, Nielsen, Mandy, Kendall, Melissa, Jones, Rachel, Ownsworth, Tamara and Geraghty, Timothy (2023). Care transitions for people with acquired neurological disability in the first 12 months following inpatient rehabilitation: health service use and obstacles. Health and Social Care in the Community, 2023 2894552, 1-16. doi: 10.1155/2023/2894552
Ownsworth, Tamara, Mols, Helen, O'Loghlen, Jessica, Xie, Yanfei, Kendall, Melissa, Nielsen, Mandy, Mitchell, Jessie, Jones, Rachel and Geraghty, Timothy (2023). Stigma following acquired brain injury and spinal cord injury: relationship to psychological distress and community integration in the first-year post-discharge. Disability and Rehabilitation, 1-11. doi: 10.1080/09638288.2023.2205173
Xie, Yanfei, Thomas, Lucy, Johnston, Venerina and Coombes, Brooke K. (2023). Cervical and axioscapular muscle stiffness measured with shear wave elastography: a comparison between different levels of work-related neck disability. Journal of Electromyography and Kinesiology, 69 102754, 1-7. doi: 10.1016/j.jelekin.2023.102754
Xie, Yanfei, Coombes, Brooke K., Thomas, Lucy and Johnston, Venerina (2022). Time course and risk profile of work-related neck disability: a longitudinal latent class growth analysis. Physical Therapy, 102 (6) pzac050, 1-9. doi: 10.1093/ptj/pzac050
Xie, Yanfei, Hutting, Nathan, Bartys, Serena and Johnston, Venerina (2021). Interventions to promote work‐focused care by healthcare providers for individuals with musculoskeletal conditions a scoping review. Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation, 31 (4), 840-865. doi: 10.1007/s10926-021-09971-w
Xie, Yanfei, Thomas, Lucy, Barbero, Marco, Falla, Deborah, Johnston, Venerina and Coombes, Brooke K. (2021). Heightened pain facilitation rather than impaired pain inhibition distinguishes those with moderate/severe disability in work-related neck pain. Pain, Publish Ahead of Print (8), 2225-2236. doi: 10.1097/j.pain.0000000000002213
Xie, Yanfei, Jun, Deokhoon, Thomas, Lucy, Coombes, Brooke and Johnston, Venerina (2020). Comparing central pain processing in individuals with non-traumatic neck pain and healthy individuals: a systematic review and meta-analysis. The Journal of Pain, 21 (11-12), 1101-1124. doi: 10.1016/j.jpain.2020.02.007
Musculoskeletal pain and disability in sonographers: more than an ergonomic issue
Xie, Yanfei, Coombes, Brooke K., Thomas, Lucy and Johnston, Venerina (2020). Musculoskeletal pain and disability in sonographers: more than an ergonomic issue. Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography, 33 (12), 1526-1527. doi: 10.1016/j.echo.2020.07.005
Neck/shoulder problems and visual disturbances among surgeons: a scoping review
Alhusuny, Ameer, Cook, Margaret, Khalil, Akram, Xie, Yanfei and Johnston, Venerina (2020). Neck/shoulder problems and visual disturbances among surgeons: a scoping review. Journal of Surgical Research, 247, 413-428. doi: 10.1016/j.jss.2019.09.064
Quantifying cervical and axioscapular muscle stiffness using shear wave elastography
Xie, Yanfei, Thomas, Lucy, Hug, François, Johnston, Venerina and Coombes, Brooke K. (2019). Quantifying cervical and axioscapular muscle stiffness using shear wave elastography. Journal of Electromyography and Kinesiology, 48, 94-102. doi: 10.1016/j.jelekin.2019.06.009
Tsang, Sharon M. H., Szeto, Grace P. Y., Xie, Y. F. and Lee, Raymond Y. W. (2018). Association of electromyographic activation patterns with pain and functional disability in people with chronic neck pain. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 118 (7), 1481-1492. doi: 10.1007/s00421-018-3878-z
Xie, Yanfei, Feng, Beibei, Chen, Kedi, Andersen, Lars L., Page, Phil and Wang, Yuling (2018). The efficacy of dynamic contract-relax stretching on delayed-onset muscle soreness among healthy individuals : A randomized clinical trial. Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine, 28 (1), 28-36. doi: 10.1097/jsm.0000000000000442
Xie, Yan Fei, Szeto, Grace, Madeleine, Pascal and Tsang, Sharon (2017). Spinal kinematics during smartphone texting - A comparison between young adults with and without chronic neck-shoulder pain. Applied Ergonomics, 68, 160-168. doi: 10.1016/j.apergo.2017.10.018
Xie, Yanfei, Szeto, Grace and Dai, Jie (2017). Prevalence and risk factors associated with musculoskeletal complaints among users of mobile handheld devices: a systematic review. Applied Ergonomics, 59, 132-142. doi: 10.1016/j.apergo.2016.08.020
Madeleine, Pascal, Xie, Yanfei, Szeto, Grace P. Y. and Samani, Afshin (2016). Effects of chronic neck–shoulder pain on normalized mutual information analysis of surface electromyography during functional tasks. Clinical Neurophysiology, 127 (9), 3110-3117. doi: 10.1016/j.clinph.2016.06.015
Xie, Yanfei, Szeto, Grace P.Y., Dai, Jie and Madeleine, Pascal (2016). A comparison of muscle activity in using touchscreen smartphone among young people with and without chronic neck–shoulder pain. Ergonomics, 59 (1), 61-72. doi: 10.1080/00140139.2015.1056237
Ultrasound assesses muscle morphology and function under different neuropathological conditions
Chen, Ke-Di, Chen, Na, Xie, Yan-Fei and Li, Le (2013). Ultrasound assesses muscle morphology and function under different neuropathological conditions. Chinese Journal of Tissue Engineering Research, 17 (20), 3756-3763. doi: 10.3969/j.issn.2095-4344.2013.20.020
Data of time course and risk profile of work-related neck disability
Xie, Yanfei, Johnston, Venerina, Thomas, Lucy and Coombes, Brooke (2023). Data of time course and risk profile of work-related neck disability. The University of Queensland. (Dataset) doi: 10.48610/67e0858
A biopsychosocial approach to understanding neck pain among sonographers
Xie, Yanfei (2021). A biopsychosocial approach to understanding neck pain among sonographers. PhD Thesis, School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, The University of Queensland. doi: 10.14264/e1ad57f