Our Physiotherapists
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Martin Vaillancourt
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While Martin grew up in Montreal and has lived there for his whole life, he recently decided that he wanted to push his skills and practice even further by moving to beautiful Vancouver. He is a very active person whose hobbies include hiking, snowshoeing, hockey, broomball, and of course playing with his children. Martin is also an avid traveler having been to Asia, Oceania, Europe, and South American to discover new landscapes and learn about other cultures. This combination of experiences has led Martin to be open-minded when dealing with patients from a wide variety of backgrounds.
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Cheryl So
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However, it was a unique experience as a physiotherapy student at the Center of Rehabilitation of the Paralysed in Bangladesh where she fully realized the positive effect of injury rehabilitation on patient quality of life. In a country where limited access to physiotherapy, the lack of awareness and poor perceptions of disability led to many cases of injury to remain untreated, many preventable cases of chronic pain often result in life changing and lifelong disability. As such, Cheryl’s strongest motivation for continuing practice in physiotherapy is to empower patients from all walks of life to participate in their own rehabilitation journey through education about their own injury, manual therapy, acupuncture and therapeutic exercise, ultimately allowing them to return to leading life in ways that are most meaningful and functional to them.
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Brendon Ip
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As an avid runner and rockclimber with a passion for ice hockey, brazilian jiu-jitsu and strength and conditioning. With an analytic mindset, Brendon uses an approach that breaks down the imbalances, movement patterns and opposing forces in the body to determine the root cause of dysfunction.
Fighting through his own shoulder injury, Brendon learned that his best outcome resulted from taking charge of his own rehabilitation and becoming an active leader through all stages of his rehabilitation. It is important to take ownership of your injury and rehabilitation because only then do you dictate where and how the healing and recovery process happens. By being an active participant, you decide what you want to do, where you want to go and your therapist simply teaches you how. As such, Brendon hopes to equip his patients with the same mindset and approach, returning his patients to function through manual therapy, IMS, Graston (IASTW), acupuncture, movement and education through corrective and therapeutic exercise.
Fighting through his own shoulder injury, Brendon learned that his best outcome resulted from taking charge of his own rehabilitation and becoming an active leader through all stages of his rehabilitation. It is important to take ownership of your injury and rehabilitation because only then do you dictate where and how the healing and recovery process happens. By being an active participant, you decide what you want to do, where you want to go and your therapist simply teaches you how. As such, Brendon hopes to equip his patients with the same mindset and approach, returning his patients to function through manual therapy, IMS, Graston (IASTW), acupuncture, movement and education through corrective and therapeutic exercise.
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Damien Wild
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He was also a part of the team responsible for revamping the standards utilized by the Department of National Defence (DND) firefighters for entry and yearly recertification as well as the development of the practical components of testing protocols used by several municipal fire departments across Western Canada.This extensive testing and research lead to him to taking on the lead role in the development and implementation of the East Central Health region's first community based cardiac rehab program followed by 3 years of full time work as a firefighter in the oil sands while concurrently running the physio department. This intimate understanding of high performance athletes, Fire and EMS personnel and an aging population with a lust for life make him an ideal candidate to continue to work with those individuals as a physiotherapist.
As an avid participant in numerous contact sports and intense resistance training, Damien's first exposure to physio, like a lot of athletes, was as a patient. The remarkable healing qualities he experienced with acupuncture inspired him to quickly pursue the Medical Acupuncture Program through the University of Alberta after graduating from physio. Further developing his skills through the addition of Gokavi dry needling and continuous education in manual therapy and therapeutic exercise allows for different levels of treatment based on patient needs and desire.
With knowledge comes power! Damien believes that understanding your injury is invaluable to the healing process. When a patient understands their injury and why they are doing what they are doing, they get to be a more active team member in their own recovery. It is incredibly important that the patient is aware of why treatment of different areas is being done so they can understand their injury and take appropriate measures to prevent reoccurrence and work towards a speedy recovery and renewed balance of the person as a whole.
As an avid participant in numerous contact sports and intense resistance training, Damien's first exposure to physio, like a lot of athletes, was as a patient. The remarkable healing qualities he experienced with acupuncture inspired him to quickly pursue the Medical Acupuncture Program through the University of Alberta after graduating from physio. Further developing his skills through the addition of Gokavi dry needling and continuous education in manual therapy and therapeutic exercise allows for different levels of treatment based on patient needs and desire.
With knowledge comes power! Damien believes that understanding your injury is invaluable to the healing process. When a patient understands their injury and why they are doing what they are doing, they get to be a more active team member in their own recovery. It is incredibly important that the patient is aware of why treatment of different areas is being done so they can understand their injury and take appropriate measures to prevent reoccurrence and work towards a speedy recovery and renewed balance of the person as a whole.
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Jim Bowie
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Prior to starting his masters degree in physiotherapy Jim worked for several years as an exercise therapist, athletic therapist, and ergonomist. His work as an ergonomist took him all over North America and provides him with a unique set of skills to identify and solve issues with workplace stressors including optimal office/computer station design. While working with multiple sports programs his main focus was with the SFU Men's soccer team.
After completing his Physiotherapy degree at the University of Alberta he aggressively pursued post graduate courses in physiotherapy. Highlights of this include his completion of the Advanced Certification in Manual Therapy and Intra Muscular Stimulation (IMS). This allows him to quickly assess and accurately treat even the most complex injuries with great outcomes.
Jim's style of treatment involves first discovering the primary driver or reason why the injury occurred and any other additional factors. Sometimes this involves treating areas that are away from the area of concern. He has found this method the most successful at avoiding repeat injuries and recovering quickly. He enjoys treating people of all ages and abilities.
After completing his Physiotherapy degree at the University of Alberta he aggressively pursued post graduate courses in physiotherapy. Highlights of this include his completion of the Advanced Certification in Manual Therapy and Intra Muscular Stimulation (IMS). This allows him to quickly assess and accurately treat even the most complex injuries with great outcomes.
Jim's style of treatment involves first discovering the primary driver or reason why the injury occurred and any other additional factors. Sometimes this involves treating areas that are away from the area of concern. He has found this method the most successful at avoiding repeat injuries and recovering quickly. He enjoys treating people of all ages and abilities.
