Rate My Professor Nicola Massy-Westropp

Nicola Massy-Westropp is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences within the College of Health at Adelaide University. She began her professional career in hand rehabilitation in 1990 as an occupational therapist, working in private and public health systems in Chicago, St Louis (USA), and Adelaide. Due to developing rheumatoid arthritis in her own hands, she transitioned in 1998 to teaching anatomy to allied health students and by 2007 had fully shifted to anatomy teaching. Her teaching strengths include anatomy, hand therapy, and systematic reviews. She teaches HLTH 1020 Human Anatomy 100 and is eligible to supervise Masters and PhD students.

Massy-Westropp's research interests encompass hand rehabilitation, best practice in anatomy education, rheumatoid arthritis, and carpal tunnel syndrome. She is available for media comment and contributes professionally as a member of Interplast Australia since 2019 and Associate Editor for the Hand Therapy journal (Sage Publishing) since 2019. Her key publications include "Hand grip strength: age and gender stratified normative data in a population-based study" (Massy-Westropp et al., 2011, BMC Research Notes); "Reference values for adult grip strength measured with a Jamar dynamometer: a descriptive meta-analysis" (Bohannon et al., 2006, Physiotherapy); "Measuring grip strength in normal adults: reference ranges and a comparison of electronic and hydraulic instruments" (Massy-Westropp et al., 2004, Journal of Hand Surgery); "Splinting for carpal tunnel syndrome" (Karjalainen et al., 2023, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews); and "Exercise and mobilisation interventions for carpal tunnel syndrome" (Massy-Westropp et al., 2012, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews). Recent publications address exercise interventions for persistent low back pain, handgrip strength factors, and trainee burnout during COVID. These works have advanced understanding and standards in hand function assessment, rehabilitation practices, and anatomy pedagogy.