Welcome to Cortex Neuro Education- Evidence into Practice
Introductions and rationale for this blog!
Who am I?
I’m Ashan Weerakkody. I’m an APA Titled Neurological Physiotherapist, APA Titled Research Physiotherapist, a PhD-trained clinician-researcher, and the owner of Cortex Neuro Rehab in Perth, Western Australia. I’ve spent the past 15 years working almost exclusively in neurological rehabilitation, predominantly in community settings across subacute and chronic periods of disability.
My clinical work has always sat at the intersection of evidence, clinical-reasoning, and real-world constraints. Like many clinicians, I was trained to value best practice, yet repeatedly encountered the gap between what the literature recommends and what services can realistically deliver. That tension between evidence and implementation has shaped much of my professional journey.
I undertook my PhD to better understand that gap and find ways to change clinical practice to deliver the interventions we should be delivering. My doctoral work focused on the large-scale implementation of constraint-induced movement therapy within an early supported discharge rehabilitation service. It was a multi-year process that involved clinicians, managers, stroke survivors, and carers, and it required grappling with complexity rather than controlling for it.
This work reinforced a reality many clinicians already sense: evidence does not fail because it is weak, but because implementation is hard (but not impossible!).
Being a clinician-researcher meant living in both worlds simultaneously. I continued to treat patients while designing behaviour-change interventions, conducting qualitative research, analysing service-level data, and negotiating the practical realities of workforce capacity, caseload pressure, and competing priorities. That dual role fundamentally changed how I read and interpret research, how I clinically reason, and how I think about service design.
Alongside clinical practice and research, I have always been drawn to education and mentorship. I enjoy working with clinicians who want to think deeply about what they do and the type of clinician they want to become. I’m passionate about developing skills for clinicians to understand when to choose certain interventions, how to adapt evidence to suit their clinical context, and develop confidence without oversimplification. Over time, teaching, supervision, and mentoring have become an increasingly important part of my work, not as an adjunct to practice, but as a core professional responsibility.
One unexpected outcome of my PhD was developing a love for writing. Writing became a way to think clearly, to synthesise ideas, and to communicate nuance; especially the nuance that is often lost in guidelines, protocols, or social media summaries which aren’t easy for clinicians to then take forward into the real world. I came to see writing not just as academic output, but as a form of knowledge translation and professional dialogue.
Why this blog?
Since completing my PhD, I’ve spent the past 6 months focussing on my clinical work with Cortex Neuro Rehab, whilst maintaining a small clinical supervision and mentoring load, and running ad hoc professional development courses in Perth.
I love my clinical work. I love the clients that I work with and the complexity of my caseload. But something’s been missing…
Alongside clinical practice, my other passion has been developing clinicians, teaching the how and why of good neurological rehabilitation, ensuring evidence-based practice is accessible and deliverable, and helping clinicians feel confidence managing complexity in the real world.
In both my formal and informal mentoring, the feedback I’ve received has been concerning regarding the state of neurological clinician development. Young clinicians are burnt out, with large caseloads, minimal support and often feeling like they aren’t making a difference. Others report that they do the same generic exercises with every client, regardless of how the impairments are impacting function. I also get contacted by international physiotherapists wanting insights into how neurological rehabilitation is practiced in Australia.
Enter Cortex Neuro Education- Evidence into Practice
Cortex Neuro Education exists because there is space, and need, for slower, more thoughtful conversations about neurorehabilitation. This is a place to explore evidence, clinical reasoning, and implementation honestly: what works, what doesn’t, and why. It is not a substitute for peer-reviewed research or formal education, but a complement to both.
I aim to capture the full breadth of neurological rehabilitation practice, reflecting my clinical caseload and experience, combined with the latest evidence and practical guidance on delivering best-practice care. Whilst I’m a physio, and content will be biased towards physiotherapy, there will be much applicable across many disciplines working in neurological rehabilitation.
This blog will include:
Guideline and consensus recommendation summaries
Literature reviews
Critical appraisals of important papers (including how to do critical appraisals in the first place)
Deep dives into a range neurological conditions
Clinical reasoning and therapy planning
Implementation science and the challenges to deliver evidence-based practice
Tips on career planning and progression, and,
Anything else that readers think would help them become a more confident clinician.
I’ve set myself a goal of writing content fortnightly this year, so you can expect at least 2 pieces published each month!
If you’re a clinician, student, educator, or manager interested in evidence-informed neurological practice that acknowledges real-world complexity, I hope you’ll find this useful.
Thanks for reading,
Ashan