Staff profile

Dr Henry Wajswelner FACP, APAM

Senior Lecturer, Course Co-ordinator

Faculty of Health Sciences

School of Allied Health
Department of Physiotherapy

Melbourne (Bundoora)

 

Qualifications

Clinical Doctorate in Physiotherapy ( University of Melbourne ), Master of Physiotherapy ( Research : University of Melbourne), Master of Manipulative Physiotherapy ( Latrobe University ), APA Specialist Sports Physiotherapist ( as awarded by the Australian College of Physiotherapy , 2007 )

Membership of professional associations

Member : Australian Physiotherapy Association, Australian College of Physiotherapy, Sports Physiotherapy Australia, Sports Medicine Australia

Area of study

Physiotherapy

Brief profile

 Dr Henry Wajswelner FACP co-ordinates the Master of Sports Physiotherapy

course at La Trobe University. He trained as a physiotherapist at La Trobe

University (Lincoln Institute) and has since worked in a variety of settings as a

sports and musculoskeletal physiotherapist including a previous teaching position

at the University of Melbourne.

Henry is an APA Specialist Sports Physiotherapist having passed the Australian

College of Physiotherapy exam in 2007, being one of the first Sports

Physiotherapists in Australia to achieve a Fellowship. He has had extensive

clinical experience at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra, Olympic Park

Sports Medicine Centre, DMA Clinical Pilates Physiotherapy, the Back in Motion

Health Group and Lifecare Sports Medicine Centres. He has been on the

Australian Olympic Team and attended many World Championships events with

the Australian Rowing Team. He was National Chairman of Sports Physiotherapy

Australia for four years, and helped develop the new APA specialisation

framework.

Henry’s postgraduate qualifications include a Masters in Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy

and a Masters by Research which focussed on the mechanism of rib stress fractures in

elite rowers. His current research activities include the role of exercise and pilates in the

management of chronic back pain, posture and hip tendinopathy.

He has completed a Clinical Doctorate in Physiotherapy and his

thesis topic was a randomised controlled trial of Pilates in the management of

chronic low back pain.

Henry has a passion for clinical education and has mentored many fellow

physiotherapists on their own path to become sports specialists. When not at La

Trobe, Henry consults privately as a Specialist Sports Physiotherapist at Lifecare

Prahran Sports Medicine and Ovens Valley Physiotherapy in Victoria’s beautiful

North-East. He stays healthy by cycling to work, skiing and keeping up with his

active young family.

Research interests

Chronic disease

- Chronic Low Back Pain, Hip pain, Pilates for chronic musculoskeletal conditions

Teaching units

Responsible for the following subjects

PTY5PDS

PTY5PSM

PTY5CRM

PTY5APS

PTY5SSP

Consulting

Henry consults privately in back pain, hip pain, pilates, sports injury and rowing injury management at Prahran Sports Medicine Centre

Recent publications

Wajswelner H, Bennell K, Metcalf B (2012) Clinical Pilates versus general exercise for chronic low back pain: randomized trial. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. 44 (7)1197-1205

Older publications

Wajswelner H (1996) Management of rowers with rib stress fractures. Australian Journal of Physiotherapy 42: 157-161

Bennell K, Wajswelner H, Lew P, Schall-Riaucour A, Leslie S, Plant D and Cirone J (1998) Isokinetic strength testing does not predict hamstring injury in Australian Rules footballers. British Journal of Sports Medicine 32:309-314

Bennell K, Talbot R, Wajswelner H, Techovanich W, Hall A and Kelly D (1998) Intra-rater and inter-rater reliability of a weight bearing lunge measure of ankle dorsiflexion. Australian Journal of Physiotherapy 44:175-180.

Warden SJ, Wajswelner H, Bennell KL (1999) Comparison of Abshaper and conventionally performed abdominal exercises using surface EMG. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise 31: 1656-1664

Kolt GS, Wajswelner H, Adonis M, Levin P, Shell A, Srage M, Steinweg J (2000). Injury toll following the 1997 Maccabiah Games bridge collapse: Implications of major disasters for sports medicine teams. Sports Medicine. 30: 63-71.

Wajswelner H, Bennell K, Story I, McMeeken J (2000) Muscle action and stress on the ribs in rowing. Physical Therapy in Sport 1: 75-84 Warden SJ, Wajswelner H, Bennell KL: (2001) Relative activity of abdominal muscles during commonly prescribed strengthening exercises. J Strength Cond Res 15(4):480-5.

Gabbe B, Finch C, Wajswelner H, Bennell K (2002). Australian football: injury profile at the community level. Journal of science and medicine in sport 5 (2). p. 149-160

Warden SJ, Gutschlag FR, Wajswelner H, Crossley K (2002) Etiology of rib stress fractures in rowers. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. 32:819-836

Gabbe, B.; Finch, C.F.; Wajswelner, H. (2003) Does community-level Australian football support injury prevention research ? Journal of science and medicine in sport. 6 (2). p. 231-236;  

Gabbe BJ, Finch CF, Bennell KL, Wajswelner H (2003) How valid is a self reported 12 month sports injury history? Br J Sports Med. Dec;37(6):545-7.  

Gabbe BJ, Finch CF, Wajswelner H, Bennell KL (2004) Predictors of lower extremity injuries at the community level of Australian football. Clin J Sport Med. 14(2):56-63.  

Huguenin L, Brukner PD, McCrory P, Smith P, Wajswelner H, Bennell K.(2005) Effect of dry needling of gluteal muscles on straight leg raise: a randomised, placebo controlled, double blind trial. Br J Sports Med. 39(2):84-90.  

Gabbe BJ, Finch CF, Bennell KL, Wajswelner H. (2005) Risk factors for hamstring injuries in community level Australian football. Br J Sports Med. 39(2):106-10.  

Gabbe BJ, Bennell KL, Finch CF, Wajswelner H, Orchard JW (2006) Predictors of hamstring injury at the elite level of Australian football. Scand J Med Sci Sports. 16(1):7-13.    

Publications: Book Chapters:

Wajswelner H (1995) Therapeutic exercise. In : Zuluaga M et al (eds) Sports physiotherapy: Applied science and practice Churchill Livingstone, Melbourne, pp 207-223.

Wajswelner H (1995) The leg. In : Zuluaga M et al (eds) Sports physiotherapy: Applied science and practice Churchill Livingstone, Melbourne, pp 613-633.

Wajswelner H (1996) Stretching: Chapter 4 in "Smart Sport". RWM Publishing. ACT.

Wajswelner H (2002) Spine injury in sport in “Physical therapies in sport and exercise: Principles and practice. G. S. Kolt and L. Snyder-Mackler. Edinburgh, Harcourt Health Sciences.                               

Research projects

Pilates

Gluteal Tendinopathy

Chronic Low Back Pain