Dr Jackie Whittaker PhD in Musculoskeletal Rehabilitation , 2012

Assistant Professor, Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine, Research Director, Glen Sather Sports Medicine Clinic, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Hi, I'm Jackie Whittaker and I studied a PhD in Musculoskeletal Rehabilitation ‘Ultrasound Imaging of the Abdominal Muscles and Bladder: Implications for the Clinical Assessment of Individuals with Lumbopelvic Pain’ at the University of Southampton.

Things are not what they appear to be: nor are they otherwise – Surangama Sutra

 

My academic training began with one year of sciences and two years in physical education and recreation before transferring to, and completing, a Bachelor of Science in Physical Therapy at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada.

Upon completion of my Physical Therapy training I worked in clinic, primarily in musculoskeletal private practice, for 21 years in the provinces of Alberta and British Columbia, Canada.

During that time I received certifications in manual and manipulative therapy (Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Manipulative Physical Therapy; FCAMPT), acupuncture (Certificate, Acupuncture Foundation of Canada Institute; CAFCI), dry needling (Certificate, Gunn Intramuscular Stimulation; CGIMS) and ultrasound imaging, and was recognised as one of eight original clinical specialists in musculoskeletal physical therapy by the Canadian Physiotherapy Association.

I came to the University of Southampton in 2007 to begin my PhD training. Whilst here I was supervised by Maria Stokes, Professor of Musculoskeletal Rehabilitation and Victor Humphrey, Professor of Engineering. My PhD was quite productive and lead to five publications and numerous presentations at local, national and international conferences.

Following a postdoctoral fellowship in Epidemiology and Sport Injury Prevention at the IOC supported Sport Injury Prevention Research Centre, Faculty of Kinesiology, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, I accepted an appointment as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine and Research Director of the Glen Sather Sports Medicine Clinic at the University of Alberta. I am also an adjunct professor in the Faculty of Kinesiology at the University of Calgary and Associate Member of the Arthritis Research UK Centre for Sport, Exercise and Osteoarthritis.

Since completing my PhD at the University of Southampton I have had the fortunate opportunity for continued collaboration with Professor Maria Stokes and the University of Southampton, and have since returned to Campus to represent a Canadian collaboration with the Arthritis Research UK (ARUK) Centre for Sport Exercise and Osteoarthritis. More specifically, I have a role as core lead for the Centre’s movement screening group, and I am leading a systematic review of current literature on the topic of predicting sport and occupational lower extremity injury risk through movement quality screening.

Being involved with the University of Southampton and the ARUK Centre is hugely beneficial, particularly in being able to share information and collaborate with colleagues working towards the same goal of reducing the burden of osteoarthritis resulting from sport injury.