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About Cathy
Associate Professor Cathy Chapple serves as Dean of the School of Physiotherapy within the Faculty of Health Professional Programmes at the University of Otago. She earned her PhD and Masters of Manipulative Physiotherapy from the University of Otago, along with a Postgraduate Diploma of Manipulative Physiotherapy from the same institution. Her earlier qualifications include a Graduate Diploma of Physiotherapy from Guy's Hospital in the UK and a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Geography, Physical Education and Sports Science from Loughborough University in the UK. Chapple trained as a physiotherapist at Guy’s Hospital and worked in the UK National Health Service, Australia, and New Zealand since 1992. She practiced at Maniototo Hospital in Ranfurly and for 15 years at Dunedin Hospital, focusing on musculoskeletal physiotherapy, chronic pain, and joint conditions such as osteoarthritis. While completing her PhD, she maintained part-time clinical practice. Following graduation, she joined the School of Physiotherapy as a lecturer, coordinating clinical programmes, and advanced to Associate Professor and Dean, appointed in 2025.
Chapple's research specializations centre on physiotherapy management of osteoarthritis, particularly knee osteoarthritis, manual therapy for musculoskeletal conditions, and the delivery of physiotherapy care. She has led clinical trials including the Opti-OK trial investigating manual therapy frequency for knee osteoarthritis and the AP-KO feasibility trial combining anti-inflammatories with physiotherapy. She supervises postgraduate students on topics such as mechanisms of manual therapy, acupoint sensitization in chronic low back pain, and mobilization for shoulder pain. Key publications include 'The effect of physiotherapy interventions on biomechanical outcomes of gait in people with knee osteoarthritis: A systematic review & meta-analysis' (2025, with Alam, Hargest, and Ribeiro), 'Sensitized-points acupuncture versus routine integrative acupuncture for chronic low back pain: A randomized-controlled feasibility study' (2025, with Tan, Tumilty, Huang, and Baxter), and 'Reliability and validity of the Brief Pain Inventory-Short Form in individuals with rotator cuff-related shoulder pain' (2025, with Law, Wang, Mani, Zeng, and Ribeiro). She received the inaugural Dr Stanley Paris Research Fellowship in 2019 for her work on optimal treatment frequency for knee osteoarthritis. Chapple teaches musculoskeletal and manual physiotherapy at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, coordinates clinical programmes, and contributes to professional bodies as New Zealand representative for the International Federation of Orthopaedic Manual Physical Therapists and Executive Committee member of New Zealand Manual and Musculoskeletal Physiotherapists.
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