Profile

Prof Kim Burton specialises in ergonomics and biomechanics. Coming from a clinical background, he has a special interest in occupational musculoskeletal disorders.

He has been working in the field of ergonomics since the early 1980s, has been a member of the Ergonomics Society's Professional Register since 1991, and was registered as a European Ergonomist in 1996. He qualified as an osteopath in 1968.

Listed subject areas include:

  • manual handling
  • posture
  • health & safety
  • rehabilitation
  • biomechanics

Kim is listed in the UK Register of Expert Witnesses with specialist areas of work covering:

  • ERGONOMICS: work-related injury; low back disorders; upper limb disorders
  • CLINICAL SCIENCE: psychosocial and biomechanical aspects of low back trouble
  • OSTEOPATHY: osteopathic clinical negligence

He is regularly asked to give expert opinion on ergonomics and biomechanics issues in personal injury cases, backing this expertise with research into the causes, prevention, and rehabilitation of occupational musculoskeletal disorders. He is also instructed to give opinion in cases alleging osteopathic negligence.

Instructions are taken from solicitors across Britain and occasionally overseas (Hong Kong, USA, Canada, South Africa), and he has also given testimony on ergonomics matters to the US Senate.

Having had Single Joint Expert training, his split of instructions is approximately: 40% joint; 30% defendant; 30% claimant.

Current appointments include:

Director of the Spinal Research Unit at the University of Huddersfield
Editor-in-Chief of the international journal Clinical Biomechanics
Associate Professor of Clinical Biomechanics, British School of Osteopathy, London.

He is a member of numerous biomedical societies including the Ergonomics Society, the International Society for the Study of the Lumbar Spine, the International Society of Biomechanics, the International Society for the Study of Pain, and the Royal Society of Medicine. He is on the Statutory Register of Osteopaths.

Clinical training was received at the British School of Osteopathy, London in 1968, and a doctorate was awarded in 1987 for research into the epidemiology and biomechanics of low back trouble. In addition to regularly publishing papers in scientific journals, he is also invited to lecture internationally on the biomechanical, psychosocial, and occupational aspects of musculoskeletal disorders, with particular reference to low back trouble.