Dr Alessio Gallina PT, PhD

Dr Alessio Gallina

School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences
Lecturer in Musculoskeletal Pain and Rehabilitation

Contact details

Telephone
+44 (0)121 41 47253
Email
a.gallina@bham.ac.uk
View my research portal

Dr Gallina’s research focuses on neuromuscular adaptation to musculoskeletal pain and rehabilitation. He is specifically interested in understanding whether and how neuromechanical impairments have a role in the onset and maintenance of pain in chronic musculoskeletal disorders. His work combines electrophysiological and biomechanical techniques to study human movement in people with and without musculoskeletal disorders, and with experimentally-induced pain. The long-term goal of Dr Gallina’s research is to identify key neuromechanical features that are clinically relevant for the prevention and rehabilitation of musculoskeletal disorders.

Qualifications

  • BSc Physiotherapy, Universita’ degli Studi di Torino, Italy

  • MSc Exercise, Testing and Research in Rehabilitation Medicine, Universita’ di Pisa, Italy

  • PhD Rehabilitation Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada

Biography

Dr Gallina graduated in Physiotherapy in 2009. He started his research career working as a research coordinator for the Laboratory for Engineering of the Neuromuscular System in Torino. In these years, he learnt how to use high-density electromyography and became interested in neuromuscular control, while completing a MSc in Exercise, Testing and Research in Rehabilitation Medicine. In 2013 he moved to Vancouver, Canada, to pursue his PhD in Rehabilitation Sciences on the effects of clinical and experimental knee pain on the regional activation within the vasti muscles. He further developed his skills in electrophysiology and techniques for stimulation of sensory afferents in his postdoc in Kinesiology at the University of British Columbia. In May 2019 Dr Gallina started a position as a Lecturer in the School of Sports, Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences, within the Centre of Precision Rehabilitation for Spinal Pain.

Teaching

Dr Gallina contributes to the following modules:

  • Neuromuscular Adaptations to Training
  • Athletic Training and Conditioning

Postgraduate supervision

Dr Gallina is interested in supervising master and PhD students in the following areas:

  • Neuromuscular control
  • Musculoskeletal pain
  • Rehabilitation
  • Techniques for electrophysiology
  • Neuromechanics
If you are interested in any of the topics above, please contact Dr Gallina at the contact details above.

Research

Research interests:

  • Neuromechanical adaptation to clinical and experimental pain
  • Neuromechanical predictors of musculoskeletal pain onset and maintenance
  • Electrophysiological techniques and neuromuscular control

Other activities

Society Memberships:

  • International Society of Electrophysiology and Kinesiology (2014 - present)
  • International Society of Biomechanics (2011-2014, 2017 - present)
  • Societá Italiana Fisioterapia (2010-present)

Editorial board memberships:

  • Frontiers in Integrative Physiology
  • Archives of Physiotherapy

Reviewer activities:

  • Journal of Electromyography and Kinesiology, Muscle & Nerve, Frontiers in Physiology, Human Movement Science, BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders, Medicine Science Sports Exercise, Multiple Sclerosis Related Disorders, Journal of Neurophysiology, PLOS One, Applied Physiology Nutrition Metabolism, Clinical Biomechanics, Biomedical Engineering Online, Journal of Applied Biomechanics, Clinical Physiology Functional Imaging, Archives of Physiotherapy

Publications

  • Gallina A, Abboud J, Blouin JS. Novel experimental pain model to target task-relevant neuromechanical adaptation. Journal of Physiology, 599(9):2401-2417. IF = 4.5
  • Watanabe K, Vieira TMM, Gallina A, Kouzaki M, Moritani T. Novel insights into bi-articular muscle actions gained from high-density EMG. Exercise and Sport Science Reviews, accepted. IF = 5.0
  • Serafino F, Trucco M, Occhionero A, Cerone GL, Chiarotto A, Vieira T, Gallina A*. Understanding regional activation of thoraco-lumbar muscles in chronic low back pain and its relationship to clinically relevant domains. BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders, accepted. IF = 2.1
  • Devecchi V, Rushton AB, Gallina A, Heneghan N, Falla D. Are Neuromuscular Adaptations present in People with Recurrent Spinal Pain During a Period of Remission? A Systematic Review. PLOS One, 16(4):e0249220. IF = 2.7
  • Basoudan N, Rodriguez A, Gallina A, Garland J, Guenette J, Shadgan B, Road J, Reid D. Scalene and sternocleidomastoid activation during normoxic and hypoxic incremental inspiratory loading. Physiological Reports, 2020, 8:e14522.
  • Falla D, Gallina A. New insights into pain-related changes in muscle activation revealed by high-density surface electromyography. Journal of Electromyography and Kinesiology, 2020 in press.
  • Cohen JW, Gallina A, Ivanova TD, Vieira TMM, McAndrew DJ, Garland SJ. Regional modulation of the ankle plantarflexor muscles associated with standing external perturbations across different directions. Experimental Brain Research, 2020, 238:39-50.
  • Miller KJ, Gallina A, Ivanova TD, Snow NJ, Neva JL, Ledwell NM, Zhao ZG, Menon C, Boyd LA, Garland SJ. The effect of combining repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation with robot-assisted movement training on voluntary wrist muscle activation following stroke. Clinical Neurophysiology, 2019 130 (8), 1271-1279.
  • Pollock CL, Hunt MA, Vieira TM, Gallina A, Ivanova TD, Garland SJ. Motor control of standing postural sway under anteriorly-directed challenges to standing balance in people post-stroke. Motor Control, 2019 1-17.
  • Gallina A, Wakeling J, Hodges PW, Hunt MA, Garland SJ. Regional Vastus Medialis and Lateralis Activation in Females with Patellofemoral Pain. Medicine Science Sports Exercise, 2019 51 (3), 411-420. 

PROTOCOL PUBLICATIONS in PEER-REVIEWED, INTERNATIONAL JOURNALS:

  • Alalawi A, Gallina A, Sterling M, Falla D. Are physical factors associated with poor prognosis following a whiplash trauma? A protocol for a systematic review and data synthesis. BMJ open 9 (10).
  • Sanderson S, Rushton AB, Martinez-Valdes E, Heneghan N, Gallina A, Falla D. The effect of chronic, non-specific low back pain on superficial lumbar muscle activity: a protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMJ open 9 (10).
  • Devecchi V, Gallina A, Heneghan NR, Rushton A, Falla D. Are neuromuscular adaptations present in people with recurrent spinal pain during a period of remission? A protocol for a systematic review. BMJ open 9 (10).

BOOK CHAPTERS:

  • Gallina A, Gazzoni M, Falla D, Merletti R. (2016). Surface EMG Biofeedback. In: Merletti R and Farina D, Surface Electromyography: Physiology, Engineering, and Applications, 1st ed. John Wiley and Sons, pp.485-500.

View all publications in research portal