Leon is Professor in the School of Physiotherapy and Exercise Science at Curtin University, Associate Director of the Raine Study and a National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia Senior Research Fellow. Leon’s work focusses on the health impacts of the interactions people have with technology, especially the impact on musculoskeletal problems like back and neck pain and the impact on how sedentary or active are people.

Leon’s research, clinical experience and consultancy has focussed on children and working adults. In children he is a world authority on the physical impact of computer use by children and has more recently been investigating the impact of electronic game play on children. In adults his focus has been on office workers and on manual handling.

His research spans from laboratory based electromyographic, kinematic and kinetic biomechanical and energy expenditure physiological studies, through field based intervention trials to longitudinal epidemiological studies.

Recent projects include: a universal program for pre-school children to improve motor skills and social skills (Animal Fun), a randomised and controlled trial of active video games for children with developmental coordination disorder (EGS3), a community-based, family-centred, multidisciplinary intervention for obese teenagers (CAFAP), a randomised and controlled trial to reduce sedentariness in office workers, a longitudinal study of spinal pain trajectories from adolescence to adulthood (Raine Study) and a longitudinal study of factors predicting activity profiles in young adults, a characterisation of highly productive young adults, and the impact of multimorbidity on activity profiles in ‘baby boomers’.

University College London, U. of London

University of Sydney