Rate My Professor Jacqueline Couldrick

Jacqueline Couldrick, PhD, is a researcher and educator in the Discipline of Physiotherapy, Faculty of Health, at the University of Canberra. She completed her Doctor of Philosophy degree in 2025 from the University of Canberra. Her PhD thesis, titled "Who benefits most? Evaluating and understanding clinical and biomechanical outcomes following structured education and exercise therapy interventions for people with knee osteoarthritis," examined the role of structured exercise therapy programs, such as GLA:D, as non-surgical interventions for knee osteoarthritis management. Couldrick's doctoral research included three key studies: a methods paper on statistical modeling of agreement in the Kellgren-Lawrence radiological grading system using cumulative-link models; a clinical outcomes study assessing the relationship between radiological knee osteoarthritis severity or body weight and short-term improvements following the GLA:D program in 33 participants; and a biomechanical study analyzing knee joint moment changes during walking and chair-rise tasks and their relation to radiological severity and body weight in 31 participants post-GLA:D intervention. Her work aims to determine if exercise therapy can effectively alleviate symptoms and potentially reduce the need for knee replacement surgery, particularly for patients facing long waiting lists.

Couldrick has published several peer-reviewed articles stemming from her research. Key publications include "Evidence for key individual characteristics associated with outcomes following combined first-line interventions for knee osteoarthritis: a systematic review" in PLOS ONE (2023), where she served as lead author; "Knee joint moment changes and the relationship to radiological severity and body weight following a structured education and exercise intervention (GLA:D™) for knee osteoarthritis" in Clinical Biomechanics (2025); and "The relationship between radiological OA severity or body weight and outcomes following a structured education and exercise therapy program (GLA:D®) for people with knee osteoarthritis." She is a member of the Clinical Research Rehabilitation and Translation (CRRT) team and the Clinical Applied Research in Active Treatments (CARAT) research group at the University of Canberra, contributing to projects on exercise and movement retraining effects on biomechanics in knee osteoarthritis. Couldrick teaches in the Discipline of Physiotherapy while advancing her research, with future interests in menopause-related factors in knee osteoarthritis. Her lifelong connection to the University of Canberra originates from her childhood experiences on campus, where her father worked as a librarian lecturer.