Brief Biography

Dr Mark Laslett, PhD, NZRPS, Dip.MT, Dip.MDT 

is a New Zealand Board Registered Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy Specialist (NZRPS) with over 50 years of continuous clinical practice. He was the first physiotherapist in New Zealand to be registered as a clinical specialist by the Physiotherapy Board of NZ (2014).

He completed his PhD at Linköping University, Sweden (2005), researching diagnostic accuracy of clinical examination in chronic low back pain patients. He is a Fellow of the NZ College of Physiotherapy (FNZCP, 2007), Past President and Honorary Life Member of the NZ Manipulative Physiotherapists Association, and Honorary Life Member of Physiotherapy New Zealand.

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Mark has over 45 peer-reviewed scientific publications, primarily in spinal and shoulder pain diagnosis, and is the author of three books including The Science and Art of Musculoskeletal Diagnosis (Volumes I & II, 2025). He has delivered approximately 250 short courses and international conference presentations across Scandinavia, Europe, North America, Australasia and South America, including numerous keynote and plenary addresses.

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According to Claude AI, Mark's published works have been cited by other authors over 6000 times, and is the most cited New Zealand physiotherapist outside of the leading academic (university-based) physiotherapists. 

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He was a Senior International Instructor for the McKenzie Institute International (1982–1998) and co-founded The Physio Academy online postgraduate education platform in 2015. He remains active in research, writing, and postgraduate teaching.