1967: Defying gravity

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Tags: physiotherapy, summer-2011

Carolyn Richardson, Bachelor of Physiotherapy, PhD

Carolyn Richardson

While Professor Carolyn Richardson is used to having her feet firmly on the ground, most of her work has revolved around people who spend months at a time in zero gravity.

Professor Richardson is a pioneer in anti-gravity training and began her career as one of six students studying physiotherapy at UQ in the late 1960s.

Her knowledge of anti-gravity training was consolidated 20 years later, when she obtained her PhD at UQ under Professor Margaret Bullock, becoming only the second person in Queensland to achieve this level of qualification in physiotherapy.

Since this achievement, she has worked as a consultant for the European Space Agency (ESA) on exercise countermeasures for the International Space Station, conducted specialised anti-gravity research in Berlin, and has spoken at conferences for NASA and ESA scientists and astronauts from around the world.

Her involvement with ESA marked the first time Australia had partnered with the agency, and Professor Richardson said it was a step forward in recognising the significance of physiotherapy in space training.

“Astronauts need specific exercises because when they go into zero gravity they lose bone density and the anti-gravity muscles stop working,” she said.

“This means when they come back to earth they usually get back pain and other serious injuries because their bones and joints haven’t experienced the compression you get from living in a gravity zone.”

Along with other UQ physiotherapists, Professor Richardson developed exercises for the ESA astronauts to help with their transition from zero gravity back to life on Earth.

“We created walking programs, used special belts for core strengthening and also worked on the muscles in the back and other injury prone areas in the body,” she said.

Recently, Professor Richardson supervised a UQ PhD project on microgravity and the human musculo-skeletal system. The graduate is now working as a project coordinator at ESA.

Professor Richardson is currently running her own educational business on the Sunshine Coast, which focuses on gravity fitness.

“I started GravityFit with the aim to work with the fitness industry on anti-gravity training for sport performance and injury prevention,” she said.

By Caroline Bird

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