How a fractured spine led this Brandeis senior to orthopedic research

Brandeis Stories

How a fractured spine led this Brandeis senior to orthopedic research

By David Levin
August 26, 2026 • Research

Until his first year at Brandeis, back pain wasn't something Jacob Anderson thought much about. Within a few months of arriving on campus, though, his life changed dramatically. While training during his first NCAA fencing season, Anderson suffered a stress fracture in his spine, making debilitating pain a constant companion. It's the reason certain chairs became off-limits, the reason sleep didn't come easily, the reason even showering took advance planning.

Anderson credits his physical therapist for guiding him through a long recovery. The relief he felt from his treatment, he says, sparked a newfound interest in orthopedics and spine rehabilitation. That in turn led to an internship this past summer at the University of California, San Francisco, where he was able to do hands-on research in an orthopedic lab.

Anderson, now a senior majoring in Health: Science, Society, and Policy, spent most of his days in UCSF's clinics, interviewing patients right after they'd seen an orthopedic surgeon for chronic hip or back pain. Anderson walked each them through questionnaires about pain and fear of falling, then recorded video of them doing two simple actions - standing up from a chair and walking. His lab then ran the footage he collected through a specialized computer program designed to spot abnormal motion, giving them new insight on how chronic pain changes the way a person moves.

Once a week, Anderson also joined the full UCSF lab for meetings, where faculty, PhD students, and clinically-minded undergraduates like him compared notes. "The experience taught me that there's so much value, as a clinician, in understanding research applications and understanding how research directly applies to your patient population," he says.

After Brandeis, he plans to attend grad school to become a physical therapist himself. He says he's drawn less to technical fixes it offers than to the relationships that practicing PT allows - seeing the same patients over months, watching their trajectory, helping them reclaim a sense of control the way his own therapist once helped him.

"I want to instill a belief in them that they have the ability to take control over their lives," he notes.