Rate My Professor Peter Malliaras

Professor Peter Malliaras is a physiotherapist and clinical researcher who holds the position of Professor in the Department of Physiotherapy at Monash University's School of Primary and Allied Health Care. He graduated from La Trobe University Physiotherapy School with a Bachelor of Physiotherapy (Honours) in 1996 and completed his PhD in tendinopathy in 2006. For over 15 years, Malliaras has focused his clinical practice on managing individuals with lower limb tendinopathy, earning an international reputation in this area. As Co-director of the Monash Musculoskeletal Research Unit, his research investigates tendon disorders, musculoskeletal diseases, mechanisms of tendon response to load and adaptation, and clinical trials evaluating exercise and other treatments for tendinopathies including rehabilitation models for patellar tendinopathy, telehealth interventions for rotator cuff tendinopathy, relationships between imaging and pain, and injection treatments.

Malliaras has published more than 120 original research articles, contributing to changes in clinical practice through guideline development, invited narrative reviews in high-impact journals, and co-leadership of the international Achilles tendinopathy consensus group. Among his key publications are the highly cited systematic review "Achilles and patellar tendinopathy loading programmes: a systematic review comparing clinical outcomes and tendinopathy loading programmes" (Sports Medicine, 2013), which challenged eccentric contractions as the gold standard; the narrative review outlining a new rehabilitation model for patellar tendinopathy (Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy, 2015), adopted in subsequent trials; and "Efficacy of heel lifts versus calf muscle eccentric exercise for mid-portion Achilles tendinopathy" (British Journal of Sports Medicine, 2021). Recent efforts include novel findings on imaging-pain relationships leading to NHMRC-funded injection trials and HCF-funded telehealth pilots scaled to full trials. In addition, he received a $1.27 million Medical Research Future Fund grant to lead a clinical trial on telehealth for shoulder pain, supervises PhD students, and develops training courses including for the Australian Physiotherapy Association.