Brief Biography

Dr Mark Laslett, PhD, NZRPS, Dip.MT, Dip.MDT is a New Zealand Board Registered Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy Specialist (NZRPS). He was in continuous musculoskeletal clinical practice 1971-April 2024. He is now retired from clinical practice after 53 years of full-time practice but continues involvement in research & postgraduate teaching. He completed doctoral studies at Linköping University, Sweden (2005), based on diagnostic accuracy research with chronic low back patients undergoing interventional spinal diagnostic procedures with the late Dr Charles Aprill MD in New Orleans.

 

He is a former instructor & past president of the New Zealand Manipulative Physiotherapists Association (NZMPA). Past clinical lecturer, tutor in biostatistics and study design for AUT University, and supervisor/advisor for master’s and doctoral students undertaking diagnostic accuracy research at Auckland University of Technology (AUT). He is a former international instructor for the McKenzie Institute International. Mark has taught short courses internationally since 1985. Between 1985 and 1998, as a senior international instructor for the McKenzie Institute International. He commenced teaching his own upper and lower limb courses internationally in 1993 until 2004. Since then, his teaching has focused on the lumbar spine, pelvis and hip, as well as the general principles of the science of diagnostics.

 

He has taught extensively in Scandinavia, Europe, North America, and Australasia. In 2019, he taught one course in Taiwan 2019, Dubai & Cairo (2023), and commenced teaching in South America (Chile, Brazil & Argentina) in 2019.

 

Mark is an honorary life member of the New Zealand Manipulative Physiotherapists Association (NZMPA), Physiotherapy New Zealand, and the Swedish branch of the McKenzie Institute.Mark has been a triage consultant for the Canterbury Initiative Low Back Pain Health Pathway and also triage consultant for a neurosurgical practice in 2015.

 

In 2015 he co-founded the Physio Academy (originally Southern Musculoskeletal Seminars) with Dr Angela Cadogan, which provides structured online education courses for clinicians on musculoskeletal diagnostics and pain science. As of November 2020, Mark ceased having a financial interest in the Physio Academy while retaining his status as a content provider. The online platform is now https://learning.physioacademy.co.nz/

 

Mark was the first physiotherapist in New Zealand to be Physiotherapy Board registered as a clinical specialist (musculoskeletal) in 2014.Mark has over 45 scientific publications, many of which relate to diagnosis and management of low back pain. His book “Mechanical Diagnosis & Therapy: The Upper Limb” was published in 1996. His most recent publication is a Kindle e-book “Laslett M. Back Pain: Diagnosis and Management Beyond Guidelines.” The Spanish language version is also available. French and Portuguese language versions will soon be available.