Contact information
Karen Barker
MSc, PhD, FCSP
Professor of Physiotherapy
Karen Barker is Professor of Physiotherapy at the Nuffield Department of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Sciences (NDORMS) at the University of Oxford.
She trained at King's College Hospital, London qualifying in physiotherapy. She obtained a Masters degree in Ergonomics from the University of Loughborough (1991) and a PhD from Oxford Brookes University (2001) researching muscle function and recovery associated with limb lengthening surgery.
Karen held a number of clinical positions within London teaching hospitals before moving to Oxford in 1988 and joining the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre. During this time Karen has worked in clinical posts, as a Smith & Nephew Research Fellow and as Head of Therapy Services.
She currently holds the posts of Clinical Director for Trauma & Orthopaedics at the Oxford University Hospitals Foundation Trust and Head of Physiotherapy at the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre. She is a visiting Professor at Oxford Brookes University.
In 2013 she was awarded fellowship of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy.
She is currently PI for two large HTA funded trials looking at the effectiveness of physiotherapy for osteoporotic vertebral fracture (PROVE trial) and community based rehabilitation after knee arthroplasty (CORKA trial).
Her other main research interests are in chronic pain, qualitative research and the implementation of research findings into clinical practice.
Research Interests
- Rehabilitation post arthroplasty
- Physiotherapy interventions and effect of service delivery models
- Non surgical management of chronic back pain.
- Limb lengthening
- Clinical trials in rehabilitation of common musculoskeletal conditions
Recent publications
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Defining an Ageing-Related Pathology, Disease or Syndrome: International Consensus Statement
Preprint
Short E. et al, (2024)
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Using orthopaedic health care resources efficiently: A cost analysis of day surgery for unicompartmental knee replacement.
Journal article
Hlatshwako TG. et al, (2024), Knee, 49, 147 - 157
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Comparison of surgical or non-surgical management for non-acute anterior cruciate ligament injury: the ACL SNNAP RCT.
Journal article
Beard DJ. et al, (2024), Health technol assess, 28, 1 - 97
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Less pain reported 5 years after cementless compared to cemented unicompartmental knee replacement: an analysis of pain, neuropathy, and co-morbidity scores.
Journal article
Rahman A. et al, (2023), Knee surg sports traumatol arthrosc, 31, 5180 - 5189
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A Comparison of the Periprosthetic Fracture Rate of Unicompartmental and Total Knee Replacements: An Analysis of Data of >100,000 Knee Replacements from the National Joint Registry for England, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man and Hospital Episode Statistics.
Journal article
Mohammad HR. et al, (2023), J bone joint surg am