Adam Naylor

I am a senior lecturer and the programme lead for the Sport Rehabilitation courses in the School of Sport and Biological Sciences. As a Sports Rehabilitation graduate myself, I am passionate about the growth and development of my health profession, and utilising my clinical skills and academic knowledge and research into ensuring that students on the BSc and MSc programmes receive the highest standards of education and training.

I have been in clinical practice since 2002, and, within this time, I have gained a broad range of experience in many areas of the profession including injury diagnostics, private clinical practice, therapy and rehabilitation in elite-level sport, personal training with a medical exercise focus, sport science performance testing, and, strength and conditioning, training and rehabilitation consultancy for individual athletes. My academic role within the University places these experiences at the heart of student learning and enables me to maintain my practitioner skills via our Athlete Development Centre and Sports and Spinal Injuries Clinic. I also drive the European Super League injury surveillance research project in partnership with the Rugby Football League; this project, which started in 2013, has recently produced its first peer-reviewed paper, the first of its kind in rugby league across the world. My other area of research interest, which forms the basis of my current PhD studies, is the science of fatigue and recovery, and I am currently investigating the circadian and hormonal effects of whole-body cryotherapy following intense physical activity.

My key lecture areas on the degree programmes include the fields of human and applied physiology, clinical biomechanics, injury screening, and exercise rehabilitation. I am a Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) registered Physiotherapist, certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist with the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA), and a fellow member of the Higher Education Authority (HEA). Also, I am currently the membership officer and executive member of the committee for the sports rehabilitation professional and regulatory body, the British Association of Sport Rehabilitators (BASRaT).