Dr. Carly McKay
PhD
Associate Professor
Current Focus:
Carly McKay is an Associate Professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences, Cumming School of Medicine. She specializes in behavioural science, with a focus on the development and implementation of sport injury prevention strategies. Her research focuses on understanding psychological and social factors that influence injury risk, risk perceptions, and prevention behaviours amongst athletes, coaches, referees, clinicians, and sport organisations. Carly is a member of the McCaig Institute for Bone and Joint Health (University of Calgary), holds an honorary Readership at the University of Bath (UK), and is the Director of Research at the charity Podium Analytics (UK).
Background:
Carly completed her BKin the University of Calgary in 2006 and her MSc (Sports Medicine) at the University of Calgary in 2008. She completed her PhD (Kinesiology) at the University of Western Ontario in 2011 before returning to the University of Calgary for a 3.5-year post-doc with the Sport Injury Prevention Research Centre (SIPRC). She spent 10 years in the UK, finishing as a Reader in Injury Prevention at the University of Bath, where she was also the Director of Studies of the MSc Sport Physiotherapy, PG Dip/MSc Sport and Exercise Medicine, and PG Dip/MSc Football Medicine in association with FIFA courses. She returned to Calgary in 2025 as an associate professor in the Cumming School of Medicine.
Awards & Distinctions
Dec 2024 University of Bath Recognizing Excellence Award (outstanding contribution to the University)
Dec 2021 University of Bath Recognizing Excellence Award (outstanding contribution to the University)
Dec 2020 University of Bath Recognizing Excellence Award (outstanding contribution to the University)
Dec 2019 University of Bath Outstanding Contribution Award (for sustained exceptional performance)
Dec 2018 Rugby Science at Bath Research Group named in list of “Most Significant University Breakthroughs in the UK” for research driving changes to international scrum law and introduction of the Activate warm-up programme
Dec 2018 University of Bath Recognizing Excellence Award (outstanding contribution to the University)
Dec 2017 University of Bath Recognizing Excellence Award (outstanding contribution to the University)
June 2014 Editor’s Choice manuscript - McKay CD, Steffen K, Romiti M, Finch CF, Emery CA. (2014). The effect of coach and player injury knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs on adherence to the FIFA 11+ program in female youth soccer. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 48(17), 1281-1286.
April 2011 Meritorious Student Submission – Society of Behavioral Medicine Annual Conference. McKay CD, Prapavessis H. The effect of preoperative exercise on postoperative recovery for orthopedic patients: A meta-analysis. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 41(Suppl), S250.
April 2011 Citation Award – Society of Behavioral Medicine Annual Conference. McKay CD, Prapavessis H. The effect of preoperative exercise on postoperative recovery for orthopedic patients: A meta-analysis. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 41(Suppl), S250.
April 2007 Dr. Tom Pashby Award - Canadian Academy of Sport Medicine. Examining attitudes toward body-checking, levels of emotional empathy and levels of aggression in minor hockey. A comparison between players in a league that allows body-checking and players in a league that does not allow body-checking. Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine, 17(2), 164. Emery CA, Peters A, Campbell T, McKay C (presenting author).
Publications
- Verhagen E, McGinley P, McKay CD. Beyond tame solutions: a new paradigm for injury prevention in sports. (2025). BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine (in press).
- Leese R, Kolstad A, Sant’Anna RT, McKay CD, West SW. High tackle headache: implications of referee agreement for tackle height law change. (2025). BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine (in press).
- Williams A, Peirce N, Griffin S, Langley B, Goggins L, McKay CD, Stokes K, Williams S. (2025). The financial cost of injuries and their association with team success in professional men’s cricket. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport (in press).
- West SW, Hudson SJ, Starling L, Cross MJ, Williams S, McKay CD, Cazzola D, Brooks JHM, Murray R, Williams AM, Kemp SPT, Stokes KA. (2024). Twenty-year analysis of men’s rugby union knee injuries from the English Premiership shows high rates and burden. British Journal of Sports Medicine (in press).
- Hancock MV, Barden C, Roberts S, McKay CD, Stokes KA. (2024). Match injuries in English schoolboy rugby union. BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine, 0:e001740. DOI: 10.1136/bmjsem-2023-001740.
- Williams A, Peirce N, Griffin S, Langley B, Warren A, Wedatilake T, Goggins L, McKay CD, Stokes K, Williams S. (2024). A similar injury profile observed in franchise men’s and women’s cricket in England and Wales: injury surveillance analysis from the first thee ‘The Hundred’ competitions. BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine, 10:e001815. DOI: 10.1136/bmjsem-2023-001815.
- McKay C, Van den Berg C, Marjoram R, Hagel B, Emery C. (2024). Youth injury knowledge and beliefs following neuromuscular training warm-up implementation in schools. International Journal of Sports Medicine, 45(2), 141-148. DOI: 10.1055/a-2184-9201.
- Crawford K, McEwan D, Arnold R, McKay CD. (2023). Coaching teamwork: team sport athletes’ and coaches’ perceptions of how coaches facilitate teamwork. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology. DOI: 10.1080/10413200.2023.2299203.
- Williams A, Peirce N, Griffin S, Langley B, McKay CD, Stokes K, Williams S. (2023). Annual incidence and prevalence of injuries in elite male academy cricketers: a 4-year prospective cohort study. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport Plus. DOI: 10.1016/j.sampl.2023.100050.
- Davies MAM, Lawrence T, Edwards A, McKay C, Lecky F, Stokes K, Williams S. (2023). Sport-related major trauma incidence in young people and adults in England and Wales: a national registry-based study. Injury Prevention. DOI: 10.1136/ip-2023-044887.
ARTICLES
- McKay C, Prapavessis H. Prehabilitation for total knee arthroplasty. (October 2012). Lower Extremity Review.
CHAPTERS
- Richmond S, McKay CD, Romanow N, Emery CA. (2013). Injury and the school environment. In: CM Davison, et al. Injury among young Canadians: A national study of contextual determinants. CIHR Team in Child and Youth Injury Prevention: Vancouver, BC.
BOOKS
- McKay, CD. (2022). The mental impact of sports injury. NY: Routledge. ISBN: 978-1-0005-1212-0.
- Hall C, Duncan L, McKay CD. (2014). Psychological interventions in sport, exercise, and injury rehabilitation. Dubuque, IA: Kendall Hunt Publishing. ISBN: 978-1-4652-4073-6.