Dr. Carly McKay

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.

1. Perkin OJ, Liang IJ, McKay CD, McGuigan P, Western MJ. Validity and reliability of assessing strength and balance improvements by videoconference in pre-frail and frail older adults. (2025). Aging Clinical and Experimental Research (in press).
2. Crawford KL, Arnold R, Brown DJ, McKay CD, McEwan D. A Mixed Methods Evaluation of a Season-Long Teamwork Training Intervention. (2025). Journal of Applied Sport Psychology (in press).
3. CD McKay, Owoeye OBA, Patterson B, Ardern CL, Moller M, Crossley KM, Emery CA. Implementing recommendations from the FAIR consensus - where do we start? (2025). British Journal of Sports Medicine. 
4. West SW, Hendricks S, Cumming SP, Dane K, O’Connor S, Jones B, Patterson B, Kolstad AT, Broglio S, Emery CA, McKay CD. (2025). The contact conundrum: are we introducing contact at the correct time in youth sports? Sports Medicine (in press).
5. Sjolie ES, McKay CD, Gjesdal S, Grindem H, Myklebust G, Bjorndal CT, Moller M. What lies behind injury prevention behaviour in youth handball and football? A cross-sectional nationwide study of behavioural constructs in 865 coaches and players. (2025). Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport. 
6. Heming EE, West SW, Patterson B, Bullock GS, McHugh TL, Shill IJ, Bruder AM, Kolstad AT, McKay CD, Moller M, Crossley KM, Emery CA. Raising girls in sport: Unique considerations for injury prevention. (2025). British Journal of Sports Medicine. 
7. Patterson B, McKay CD, Critchley M, Lutz D, Cowan SM, Kolesky N, White V, Ezzat AM, Ross AG, Adams WM, Ageberg E, Ardern CL, Badenhorst M, Coventry M, Dube MO, Emmonds S, Gracias LJ, Hayden KA, Lindblom H, Moller M, Holm Moseid C, Harrington (Quinn) N, Sugimoto D, Verhagen E, Yung KK, Zondi PC, Emery C, Crossley KM, Owoeye OBA. (2025). Dissemination and implementation of injury prevention interventions. A scoping review for the Female, woman and girl Athlete Injury pRevention (FAIR) consensus. British Journal of Sports Medicine. 
8. Roberts SP, West SW, Hancock MV, Barden C, Powell J, Brown JC, White V, Shill IJ, McKay CD, Kemp S, Faull-Brown R, Stokes KA. The effect of lowering the maximum tackle height in English Schoolboy rugby union on tackle characteristics, and all-injury and concussion rates. (2025). Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport 
9. Odetoyinbo K, McKay CD. Performance and healthcare team processes and structure impact player availability in professional men’s football. (2025). BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine 11(3):e002664. doi: 10.1136/bmjsem-2025-002664. 
10. 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).
11. 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).
12. 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).
13. 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).
14. 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.
15. 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.
16. 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.
17. 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.
18. 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.
19. 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.