Laurie Devaney, PT, ATC, PhD

Department Head, Department of Kinesiology

S.O.A.R. Lab
Physical Therapy Program
Exercise Science Program

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• Board Certified Orthopedic Specialist
• Fellow, American Academy of Orthopedic Manual Physical Therapists

University Titles

• Department Head, Kinesiology
• Director, Doctor of Physical Therapy Program
• Co-Director, UConn Institute for Sports Medicine
• Associate Professor-in-Residence, Doctor of Physical Therapy Program
• Associate Professor, UConn Health Department of Orthopedic Surgery
• Consultant, Division of Athletics

Biography

Laurie Lee Devaney is an experienced educator with over 27 years of clinical experience in orthopedic and sports physical therapy. She has expertise in managing a range of musculoskeletal conditions and regularly presents at the state and national level on a variety of topics including manual therapy, clinical measurement, and management of patients with neck and shoulder conditions.  Notable publications include Neck Pain: Revision 2017 Clinical Practice Guideline published by the APTA Academy of Orthopedic Physical Therapy.  In addition to her responsibilities in the Doctor of Physical Therapy Program, Laurie enjoys working with student athletes in her role as Consultant to UConn Athletics and is actively involved in promoting student wellness as part of Innovate Student Wellness at UConn.

Laurie received her Bachelor of Science Degree in Physical Therapy from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC in 1989 and has been an NATA Certified Athletic Trainer since 1993.  She earned an Advanced Master of Science in Orthopedic Physical Therapy from the University of Saint Augustine for Health Sciences in 2000 and completed a PhD in Exercise Science at UConn in 2018.  She is an active member of the American Academy of Orthopedic Physical Therapists. Laurie and her husband, Mark, live in Tolland and have three children.

Research Interests

Dr. Devaney’s research at the University of Connecticut centers on musculoskeletal health, clinical biomechanics, and injury prevention, with a particular emphasis on overhead and running athletes. Her primary interest is in how head and neck movement influence injury and function in athletes and older individuals, and recent work explored neck mobility as a risk factor for shoulder and elbow injuries in baseball pitchers. Her research integrates advanced biomechanical assessment tools with simple clinical measures to develop generalizable assessment and intervention strategies.

Current projects:

• Biomechanical Assessment of Neck Kinematics During Baseball Pitching
• Biomechanical and Neuromuscular Assessment of Baseball Pitchers with and without UCLR
• Lateral Preference in College Baseball Pitchers: Association with Injury and Function
• Neck Mobility Correlates with functional measures of Fall Risk in Community Dwelling Older Individuals

Teaching Responsibilities

• PT 5448 – Research Practicum
• PT 5453 – Musculoskeletal Examination and Intervention: Spine
• PT 5471 – Manual Physical Therapy

Publications

1. Blanpied P, Gross A, Elliott J, Devaney LL, Clewley D, Walton D, Sparks C, Robertson E. Neck Pain: Revision 2017 of Clinical Practice Guidelines. JOSPT, 2017; 47(7):A1-A83.doi: 10.2519/jospt.2017.0302.
2. Devaney LL, Bohannon R, Rizzo J, Capetta MC, Vigneault J, Van Deveire K.  Inclinometric Measurement of Kyphotic Curvature: Description and Clinimetric Properties. Physiotherapy Theory and Practice,  doi: 10.1080/09593985.2017.135495010/03/2016.
3. Nair P, Bohannon RW, Devaney L, Maloney C, Romano A. Reliability and Validity of Nonradiologic Measures of Forward Flexed Posture in Parkinson Disease. Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 2017 Mar;98(3):508-516. doi: 10.1016/j.apmr.2016.06.008.
4. Nair P, Bohannon R, Devaney LL.  Measurement of anteriorly flexed trunk posture in Parkinson’s disease: A systematic review.  Phys Ther Rev , 2015; 20(4): 225 – 232.
5. Lang J, Hassan T, Devaney LL, Colon-Semenza C, Joseph MF.  Reliability and Minimal Detectable Change of the 10 Meter Walk Test in Individuals with Parkinson’s Disease. JGPT, Sept 2015, published ahead of print. DOI: 10.1519/JPT.0000000000000068.

Honors/Awards

• Eastern Athletic Trainers Association Marjorie A. King Research to Reality Lecture Award
• UConn Physical Therapy Golden Apple Teaching Award

Current Graduate Students

• Stuart Wallace, MS
• Maryclaire Capetta, PT, DPT
• Matthew Fiedler, MS