Iben Axén

Iben Axén leads the Musculoskeletal Disorders and Sports Medicine Research Group at Karolinska Institutet's Institute of Environmental Medicine. Her research program focuses on musculoskeletal pain (particularly neck and back disorders), sports injuries, and their intersections with mental health and workplace factors. She maintains extensive international collaborations across Scandinavia, with significant contributions to chiropractic research and evidence-based practice development.

Her research interests span musculoskeletal pain mechanisms, sports injury prevention (particularly in youth football and handball), post-COVID conditions, and workplace interventions for mental health disorders. Key methodologies include randomized controlled trials, longitudinal cohort studies, and qualitative investigations of rehabilitation processes. Recent work explores ethical challenges in workplace mental health interventions, biomechanical aspects of spinal manipulation, and multidimensional impacts of post-COVID conditions.

Analysis of recent publications reveals strong emphasis on translational research bridging clinical practice and population health. Her team frequently examines how psychological factors modify physical pain outcomes, investigates biomarkers like heart rate variability in pain conditions, and develops instruments for patient selection in maintenance care programs. International collaborations with Norwegian and Danish researchers feature prominently in her work on chiropractic maintenance care.

Her team actively contributes to methodological advancements in pain research through innovative data collection techniques including SMS-based longitudinal monitoring and development of clinical prediction tools. Current projects address critical gaps in understanding post-viral syndromes, sports injury prevention in adolescent athletes, and optimizing workplace rehabilitation for mental health conditions.