Julie Reay

Current positions

Senior lecturer

Julie graduated as a Physiotherapist from the University of Liverpool in 1999 and focussed on adult musculoskeletal physiotherapy before switching to paediatrics. She worked as a community paediatric physiotherapist in the NHS for many years and was particularly passionate about analysing and rehabilitating complex movement disorders using orthoses guided by motion analysis. In 2013, alongside her NHS career, Julie took up the position of clinical gait analysis lecturer and service manager at Salford University. Julie currently works full time as a senior lecturer and leads the foundation years across the School of Health and Society. As part of this role Julie has developed the Health Care and Social Sciences foundation year programmes and is a member of the newly established UK Foundation Year Network. Teaching activities are often multi-disciplinary and encompass levels 3-8 across various disciplines (for example Prosthetics & Orthotics, Podiatry and Physiotherapy).

Julie has been invited to speak at conferences (for example Association of Paediatric Chartered Physiotherapists and Clinical Motion Analysis Society) and external gait analysis courses. Research activities have focussed on how typical children move, gait analysis modelling, movement disorders in patients with metabolic disorders and paediatric podiatry curricula in the UK and Australia. Julie has worked as part of the Great Foundations Team, a collaborative initiative between the Universities of Salford and Brighton focussing on typical infant foot development and the views held by parents, health and industry professionals on children’s foot health. Current research relates to examining the usefulness of video vector analysis to physiotherapy and orthotic management decisions for children with complex movement disorders. Further information about publications can be found on Julie's ResearchGate profile, here.

Julie is involved with supervision for students of the Centre for Doctoral Training in Prosthetics and Orthotics. Clinical work focusses around monthly clinics held at the university with an external agency. These integrate video vector analysis into decision making on how to manage movement disorders in children. Previous qualifications include an MSc and PgCAP and Julie is currently studying for a PhD through published works. 

Areas of research

How typical children move, Paediatric podiatry, Gait analysis modelling, Movement disorders in patients with metabolic disorders