About Professor Kathryn Refshauge
Kathryn is strongly motivated by the need to improve the effectiveness of treatment of musculoskeletal injuries and to prevent chronic disability. Her particular passion is to understand the underlying mechanisms of these chronic injuries that finally lead to severe disability such as ankle osteoarthritis and chronic back pain.
Professor Kathryn Refshauge is an internationally recognized leader in research in musculoskeletal injury, in particular sports injuries and back pain.
Professor Kathryn Refshauge is Chair of Physiotherapy, and Acting Associate Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at The University of Sydney. She has both clinical and academic expertise in musculoskeletal physiotherapy with particular expertise in assessment and management of low back pain and sports injuries. Kathryn’s laboratory-based research has resulted in the development of several novel tests for disability arising from sports injuries, and has led to the design of new prevention and treatment strategies for sports injuries and for back pain. Her clinical research includes several large prognostic studies and clinical trials investigating treatment efficacy for musculoskeletal injuries. This work has changed our understanding about these conditions and has had a major impact in the field, e.g. she has developed methods to measure patient-relevant outcomes, and acute low back pain can no longer be considered as a benign self-limiting condition, contrary to the recommendations in all international guidelines. Kathryn is often invited to present her work at international conferences. In addition to her 100 publications in peer-reviewed journals, Prof Refshauge has authored or co-edited 3 books and 17 book chapters. She is a member of an NHMRC grant review panel and a member of several Editorial Boards of international journals. Kathryn has led several international debates concerning issues related to professional practice, in particular about the relevance of “proprioceptive training” for sports injuries and the safety of neck manipulation. For these reasons, she was invited to lead the development and update of the guidelines for testing to optimise safety of neck manipulation. She was also invited to represent the health professions in the development of the original NHMRC guidelines for best practice in the management of acute pain. Kathryn has been awarded several prizes and awards and is also a Senior Research Associate at the Prince of Wales Medical Research Institute, Sydney, and at St Vincent’s Clinic, Sydney.
Selected publications
- Pengel LHM, Refshauge KM, Maher CG, Nicholas M, Herbert RD, McNair P. (2007) Randomised controlled trial comparing the efficacy of exercise, advice or both for sub-acute low back pain. Annals of Internal Medicine. (Accepted March 2007)
- Sawkins K, Refshauge KM, Kilbreath SL, Raymond J (2007). The placebo effect of ankle taping in ankle instability. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. 39:781-787.
- de Noronha M, Refshauge KM, Kilbreath SL, Herbert RD. (2006). Do voluntary strength, proprioception, range of motion or postural sway predict occurrence of lateral ankle sprain? British Journal of Sports Medicine. 40:824-828.
- Hiller C, Refshauge KM, Bundy A, Herbert RD, Kilbreath SL. (2006). The Cumberland Ankle Instability Tool (CAIT): A Valid and Reliable Tool for Measuring Functional Ankle Instability. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. 87: 1235-1241.
- Scarvell J, Smith PN, Refshauge KM, Galloway HR, Woods KR. (2006). Does anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction restore normal knee kinematics? A prospective MRI analysis over two years. Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery (British) 88-B: 324-330.
- Salmon L, Russell VA, Refshauge KM, Kader D, Connolly C, Linklater J, Pincewski L. (2006). Long-term outcome of endoscopic anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction with patellar tendon autograft: minimum 13-year review. American Journal of Sports Medicine. 34: 721 - 732.
- Collins DF, Refshauge KM, Todd G, Gandevia SC. (2005). Cutaneous receptors contribute to kinesthesia at the index finger, elbow and knee. Journal of Neurophysiology 94: 1699-1706.
- Muaidi Q, Nicholson L, Refshauge KM. (2007). Prognosis of conservatively managed anterior cruciate ligament injury: A systematic review. Sports Medicine. (Accepted May 2007).
- Pengel LHM, Refshauge KM, Maher CG. (2004). Responsiveness of pain, disability and physical impairment outcomes in subjects with low back pain. Spine. 29: 879-83.
- Refshauge KM, Collins, D, Gandevia SC. (2003). The detection of finger movement is not facilitated by cutaneous feedback from adjacent digits in humans. Journal of Physiology. 551, 371-377.