Rate My Professor Ramakrishnan Mani

Associate Professor Ramakrishnan Mani holds the position of Associate Professor in the School of Physiotherapy within the University of Otago's Health Sciences Division. He also serves as Co-Deputy Dean, Associate Dean for Research and Director of the Centre for Health, Activity and Rehabilitation Research (CHARR), and Director of the Pain@Otago Research Theme. His qualifications include a Bachelor of Physiotherapy (BPhty), Master of Physiotherapy in Manual Therapy (MPhty), Postgraduate Certificate (PGCert), Doctor of Acupuncture (DAc), and PhD from the University of Otago. As a registered physiotherapist (NZRP), Mani has built a distinguished career focused on pain research and education at the University of Otago, progressing from lecturer to his current senior leadership roles.

Mani's research interests center on chronic pain mechanisms, including central sensitization, nociplastic and psychosocial factors influencing pain experience, longitudinal musculoskeletal pain studies, neuromodulation interventions such as neurofeedback and high-definition transcranial stimulation, and knowledge translation into physiotherapy clinical practice. He leads the Otago Pain Mechanisms and Neuromodulation (OPaMEN) research programme, exploring self-regulation training like mindfulness and neurofeedback for chronic musculoskeletal pain conditions, particularly knee osteoarthritis. His scholarship is evidenced by over 2,500 citations on Google Scholar. Notable publications include 'Self-regulation training for people with knee osteoarthritis: a protocol for a feasibility randomised control trial (MiNT trial)' (2024), 'EEG-Based Cortical Alterations in Individuals With Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain: A Systematic Review' (2024), 'Neuroendocrine Response Following a Thoracic Spinal Manipulation in Chronic Mechanical Neck Pain Patients' (2017, cited 66 times), and contributions to reviews on central sensitization in chronic pain conditions (2021). Mani delivers specialized teaching such as PAIN 701 Neurobiology of Pain and imparts the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) curriculum to physiotherapists. He supervises honours, master's, and PhD students, and has secured competitive funding from the Health Research Council for osteoarthritis self-regulation projects. In 2024, he received the Stanley Paris Fellowship, honoring his contributions to physiotherapy research and education.