Peter Malliaras: PRF Case Study

Tendinopathy refers to the pathology and pain of the tendon. It’s a common condition that can impact the quality of life and the ability of people to be active and can take many months to resolve. In 2005, Associate Professor Peter Malliaras received a Physiotherapy Research Foundation (PRF) Tagged Grant. Peter believes the grant gave him the ability to pursue a niche research topic to investigate that otherwise would not have been possible, and helped him develop a funding track record, kick-starting an impactful career in tendinopathy research. He has gone on to conduct research that has generated over 120 peer-reviewed papers and been cited over 5,000 times. In 2018, Associate Professor Malliaras was also involved in a PRF funded grant research project titled “Internet-based management of rotator cuff tendinopathy with remote physiotherapist led support: a pilot and feasibility randomised controlled trial”. The research investigated the potential to provide effective educational exercise treatment to patients with a specific type of shoulder pain using internet-based and telerehabilitation delivery of recommended care. The output from this research was published in October 2020, which concluded it was feasible to progress to a full-scale trial. In the same month, the research team was awarded a $201,000 HCF Research grant to conduct a randomised controlled trial to assess the effectiveness and safety of the intervention. They are planning to recruit 300 people to participate in the larger trial. If the current large-scale trials show that the approach to the effectiveness of telerehabilitation is practical, Peter plans to create capacity building training courses to train physiotherapists to deliver the telerehabilitation approach. He also plans to lobby for appropriate MBS and private health insurance rebates for the intervention. To read the original PRF funded research paper, visit https://www.researchgate.net/publication/24197165_Hip_flexibility_and_strength_measures_Reliability_and_association_with_athletic_groin_pain For more information on the Impact of the PRF visit https://australian.physio/research/prf/news/measuring-value-physiotherapy-research-foundation