Dr. Karin Gravare Silbernagel has been named assistant professor in the Department of Physical Therapy at University of the Sciences’ Samson College of Health Sciences.
Dr Silbernagel received her bachelor’s degree in physical therapy from Boston University in 1990. She earned her advanced master’s degree in physical therapy (2001) and her PhD in medicine (2006) at University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden. She is also a certified athletic trainer.
Dr. Silbernagel has been a clinician, researcher, and educator in the U.S. and Sweden. She has been a practicing physical therapist for 20 years, mainly in orthopaedics and sports medicine.
Her research areas are on tendon injuries especially the clinical aspects of prevention, treatment, and evaluation. The focus of the research is on how to prescribe exercise and grade the loading to achieve the optimal response in tendon tissue after both chronic and acute injuries, while improving patients’ impairments and symptoms. Currently, the majority of her research involves patients with Achilles tendon injuries. She has just completed two years as a postdoctoral researcher at University of Delaware, where she continued her research on tendon injuries. She is published in peer-reviewed journals, has written several book chapters and has presented nationally and internationally.
Dr. Silbernagel currently resides in Landenberg, Pa.