Ryan Norbury
Assistant Professor,

Background
I joined UWW in July of 2025 as an Assistant Professor of Kinesiology, moving from the United Kingdom. My primary specialism is exercise science, with a focus on physiology, nutrition and strength & conditioning. I obtained my PhD from the University of Kent in 2022 where I investigated the effect of muscle pain on neuromuscular fatigue and endurance performance.

Teaching
I primarily teach on the undergraduate BS Human Performance program and the graduate Applied Kinesiology Program. Currently, I deliver the following classes:

PEPROF202: Structure and Function of the Human Body II

PEPROF416: Exercise Prescription and Fuel Utilization

PEPROF481: Captstone: Research in the Performance Sciences

Research
My research interests include exercise induced pain, with how pain can limit performance, blood flow restriction exercise, resistance training, and the etiology of fatigue.

Publications
Elder, G., Smith, S. A., Mauger, A. R., & Norbury, R. (2025). Hypertonic saline-evoked muscle pain in the quadriceps reduces neuromuscular performance and alters corticospinal excitability. Journal of Neurophysiology, 134(2), 715-727. https://doi.org/10.1152/jn.00087.2025.

O'Malley, C. A., & Norbury, R. (2025). Request for Clarification: The Effects of Anchoring a Fatiguing Forearm Flexion Task to a High Vs. Low Rating of Perceived Exertion on Torque and Neuromuscular Responses: Theoretical, Evidence-Based Approaches Are Required for Fixed Perceived Effort Tasks to Tell Us Anything Worthwhile About Effort and Perceived Effort. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 39(2), e85-e86. https://doi.org/10.1519/JSC.0000000000004999

Norbury, R., Grant, I., Woodhead, A., & Patterson, S. D. (2025). Acute hypoalgesic and neurophysiological responses to lower-limb ischaemic preconditioning. Experimental brain research, 243(1), 41. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-024-06985-7

O’Malley, C.A., Smith, S.A., Mauger, A.R. and Norbury, R., 2024. Exercise‐induced pain within endurance exercise settings: Definitions, measurement, mechanisms and potential interventions. Experimental Physiology, 109(9), pp.1446-1460. https://doi.org/10.1113/EP091687

O’Malley, C.A., Norbury, R., Smith, S.A., Fullerton, C.L. and Mauger, A.R., 2024. Elevated muscle pain induced by a hypertonic saline injection reduces power output independent of physiological changes during fixed perceived effort cycling. Journal of Applied Physiology, 137(1), pp.99-110. https://doi.org/10.1152/japplphysiol.00325.2023

Norbury, R., Grant, I., Woodhead, A., Hughes, L., Tallent, J. and Patterson, S.D., 2024. Acute hypoalgesic, neurophysiological and perceptual responses to low‐load blood flow restriction exercise and high‐load resistance exercise. Experimental Physiology, 109(5), pp.672-688. https://doi.org/10.1113/EP091705

Norbury, R., Dickens, L., Grant, I., Emery, A. and Patterson, S.D., 2023. Remote ischaemic preconditioning increase tolerance to experimentally induced cold pain. European Journal of Sport Science, 23(12), pp.2435-2442. https://doi.org/10.1080/17461391.2023.2241831

Smith, S.A., Norbury, R., Hunt, A.J. and Mauger, A.R., 2023. Intra‐and interindividual reliability of muscle pain induced by an intramuscular injection of hypertonic saline injection into the quadriceps. European Journal of Pain, 27(10), pp.1216-1225. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejp.2151

Norbury, R., Smith, S.A., Burnley, M., Judge, M. and Mauger, A.R., 2022. The effect of hypertonic saline evoked muscle pain on neurophysiological changes and exercise performance in the contralateral limb. Experimental Brain Research, 240(5), pp.1423-1434. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-022-06342-6

Norbury, R., Smith, S.A., Burnley, M., Judge, M. and Mauger, A.R., 2022. The effect of elevated muscle pain on neuromuscular fatigue during exercise. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 122(1), pp.113-126. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-021-04814-1

Conference Presentations

European Congress of Sports Science 2022 - Poster Presentation: The Effect of Experimental Muscle Pain on Self-Paced Cycling Exercise Performance

European Congress of Sports Science 2020 – Oral Presentation: Experimental Muscle Pain Reduces Endurance and Maximal Strength via Centrally Mediated Mechanisms. Joint 5^th prize for Young Investigators Award.

Peer Reviews
AJP-Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology

Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism

European Journal of Neuroscience

European Journal of Sports Science

Experimental Physiology

Fatigue: Biomedicine, Health & Behavior

International Journal of Sports Medicine

Journal of Cannabis Research

Pain Management

Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience

The Journal of Physiology