Who is Greg Elliott?
Updated: Sep 17, 2021
Greg Elliott, MS, CEP, BCAK, DOMP
Greg is an exercise physiologist, kinesiologist and osteopathic practitioner who has worked with various hospitals, universities, clinics, fitness facilities and sports teams in Canada, the USA and around the world. He completed his Master of Science in Exercise Science at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania and is passionate about teaching and learning about latest improvements in the field of exercise science, active rehab and manual therapy. He completed his Diploma in Osteopathic Manual Practice (DOMP) from the Canadian School of Osteopathy Manual Practice (CSO) in Vancouver.
Greg continuously works with individuals at all physical levels, from people suffering from various chronic diseases and illnesses, to the highest level athletes, including the Vancouver Canucks, BC Lions and Wrestling Canada.
How long have you been a practitioner?
Since 2013, so about 8 years now.
What does a typical clinical day look like for you?
Usually I am in the clinic from 8am to 6pm with sessions being at least 1 hour long, one-on-one with clients. I would say a large part of my sessions are on the training floor as I want to get people back moving, and exploring movement, as quickly as possible. For my clients, I see this transferring to greater independence and better quality of life then putting a focus on passive modalities, like manual therapy. If the goal of the session is to modulate pain, then I can do that with manual therapy, but this should only last for a few sessions at most. The long lasting progress is done outside of the treatment room.
What kind of clients do you see?
A majority of my caseload are generally physically active individuals that have chronic issues that have not been addressed by either the medical system or other allied healthcare practitioners. The overall goal is often wanting to figure out where their pain is coming from biomechanically, and to know what they can do about it to decrease pain. I do not see clients too often as I was to provide the education and tools to be as self-sufficient as possible.
What are your hobbies and interests?
I love spending time with my family and seeing my kids run around and play. I am a newer father so it’s a special feeling. Also having played college basketball, as well as many other sports growing up, I love to watch and play sports as well.
What are the biggest issues you see in the physical rehabilitation professions?
One of the biggest problems is the lack of collaboration between professionals. No profession or professional will solve every problem that walks into their office, but understanding their limitations, and being open to asking for help or a second opinion is critical for a high success rate with clients. There is a poor understanding of how to apply a truly holistic model of wellness, which puts a focus on all area’s, body, mind, environment and so on.
The second is quantifying change in people to show progress. Through my research in osteopathy, to determine progress, most physical rehabilitation professionals just ask, “How do you feel from last time” as a marker of progress. This approach is riddled with errors and will not represent the true progress of a client. By applying metrics to progress, whether that's movement assessments, heart rate or HRV, joint ankles or some sort of validated subjective assessment, will give the feedback needed to determine treatment effectiveness.
What made you want to create IMMT?
First, I saw the need for certain physical rehabilitation professionals to be offered or introduced to concepts that are within their scope, but are poorly educated on, such as manual therapy for kinesiologists or capacity training for physiotherapists.
Secondly, there are no courses offered that allow professionals from as many backgrounds as possible to learn under one roof. Courses are usually targeted to one type of professional which is typically taught by a professional of the back background. We wanted to include progressions from MANY backgrounds to learn together, share ideas and learn how each can fit into their network of referrals.