Professor Deborah Falla BPhty(Hons), PhD

BPhty (First Class Honors) - Department of Physiotherapy, University of Queensland, Australia
PhD - Department of Physiotherapy, University of Queensland, Australia

Previous Positions

• 2003 – 2005 Research Officer, Department of Physiotherapy, The University of Queensland, Australia
• 2005 – 2007 Assistant Professor, Centre for Sensorimotor Interaction, Faculty of Medicine, Aalborg University, Denmark
• 2007 – 2011 Associate Professor, Centre for Sensorimotor Interaction, Faculty of Medicine, Aalborg University, Denmark
• 2011  - 2016 Professor, Center for Anesthesiology, Emergency and Intensive Care Medicine and the Institute for Neurorehabilitation Systems, Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, University Hospital Göttingen, Germany,

Professor Deborah Falla is Chair in Rehabilitation Science and Physiotherapy at the University of Birmingham, UK and is the Director of the Centre of Precision Rehabilitation for Spinal Pain (CPR Spine). Her research focuses on optimising the management of musculoskeletal disorders with a particular interest in spinal pain. She has published ~400 papers in international, peer-reviewed journals which have been cited >20,000 times, and is an author/editor of four books including the latest entitled “Grieves Modern Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy (5th Ed)” (Elsevier).

She has delivered more than 40 keynote lectures and over 250 invited post-graduate workshops on the management of neck pain to health care practitioners in over 25 countries ensuring translation of her research to the benefit of the patient. Professor Falla is listed as the number 1 expert on Neck Pain on ExpertScape and is ranked #2 as the Highly Ranked Scholar – Lifetime for the topic of Neck Pain on ScholarGPS. Additionally, she is ranked in the top 0.05% of all scholars worldwide according to Scholar GPS.

She has obtained awards from major grant funding bodies (e.g., MRC, NIHR, UK Space Agency, Royal Society), charities (e.g., Versus Arthritis, DEBRA UK, Inspire Foundation), and industry (e.g., BTE Technologies, Dynamis MedTech Ltd) to support her research. Furthermore, she has received several recognitions and awards for her work including Fellow of the International Society of Electrophysiology and Kinesiology, the German Pain Research Prize, the George J. Davies - James A. Gould Excellence in Clinical Inquiry Award and the Delsys Prize for Electromyography Innovation.

Professor Falla is the Editor-in-Chief of Musculoskeletal Science & Practice (Elsevier) and is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Electromyography and Kinesiology (Elsevier). From 2016 to 2018 she was President of the International Society of Electrophysiology and Kinesiology.

Teaching Experience / Topics

Module Lead for Neuromuscular Adaptations to Training

Module Team Member for the Analysis of Motor Performance

Contributor to Advanced Manipulative Physiotherapy

Contributor to Musculoskeletal Reasoning and Practice

Contributor to Evidence Based Musculoskeletal Practice 

Professor Falla has delivered over 250 Invited Postgraduate Courses on the management of neck pain, whiplash and headache to health care practitioners in over 25 countries.

Professor Falla is interested in supervising doctoral research students in the following areas:

Musculoskeletal physiotherapy, low back pain, neck pain, whiplash associated disorders, headache, muscle fatigue, neuromuscular adaptations to training, mechanisms underlying motor adaptations to pain, efficacy of physiotherapy interventions for musculoskeletal pain

If you are interesting in studying any of these subject areas please contact Deborah on the contact details above.

Musculoskeletal physiotherapy, low back pain, neck pain, whiplash associated disorders, headache, muscle fatigue, neuromuscular adaptations to training, mechanisms underlying motor adaptations to pain, efficacy of physiotherapy interventions for musculoskeletal pain.

Research Gate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Deborah_Falla

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?user=XDsMg4YAAAAJ&hl=en

• From 2025 Editor-in-Chief of Musculoskeletal Science and Practice (Elsevier)
• Since 2022 Associate Editor of Scientific Reports
• 2022 Awarded ISEK Fellow from the International Society of Electrophysiology and Kinesiology
• 2018 - 2019 Visiting Professor, Department of Physiotherapy, University of Torino, Italy
• Since 2018 Associate Editor of IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering
• Since 2016  Associate Editor of the Journal of Electromyography and Kinesiology (Elsevier)
• 2015 - 2018  Visiting Professor, Department of Physiotherapy, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland                         
• 2016 President of the International Society of Electrophysiology and Kinesiology (ISEK)
• 2014 Vice President of the International Society of Electrophysiology and Kinesiology (ISEK)
• 2010:  Congress Chair: XVIII Congress of the International Society of Electrophysiology and Kinesiology, 2010, Aalborg, Denmark
• 2010 - 2018  Council member of the International Society of Electrophysiology and Kinesiology (ISEK)
• Since 2008  Associate Editor of Musculoskeletal Science and Practice (Elsevier)
• Since 2006  Member of the Society for Neuroscience
• Since 2004  Member of the International Association for the Study of Pain
• Since 2004  Member of the International Society for Electromyography and Kinesiology