Zac Southern

Zac Southern is an APA Sport & Exercise Physiotherapist, Pain Physiotherapist and clinician–researcher whose work focuses on lower limb musculoskeletal conditions, performance medicine and pain management in athletes, performers and active adults. He holds clinical roles at Olympic Park Sports Medicine Centre and academic roles at The University of Queensland, where he contributes to teaching and research in musculoskeletal and sports physiotherapy.

Zac’s emerging research program examines education and exercise‑based interventions for ankle osteoarthritis, ACL reconstruction rehabilitation and load management in field, court and sliding sports. He has contributed to feasibility trials in ankle osteoarthritis and published applied case work on return to running after ACL reconstruction, with the aim of optimising safe and efficient return‑to‑sport and return‑to‑performance pathways.

He has extensive experience in elite sport and touring entertainment, including Cirque du Soleil’s Messi10, Dolphins NRL, the Australian Women’s Olympic Bobsleigh Team at the Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, VFL/QAFL football and high‑performance netball programs. This provides a strong applied context for collaborative research in injury prevention, wellness monitoring and performance medicine. Key interests include sport and exercise physiotherapy, lower limb injury (ACL and ankle), ankle osteoarthritis, pain education, performance medicine, and implementation of evidence‑based care in high‑performance and clinical settings.