Psychology and Physiotherapy Clinic

As a sports and exercise enthusiast, Ms. Dominique Gilbert focused primarily on orthopedics and sports medicine in the course of her undergraduate studies in Physiotherapy at McGill University. In parallel to her studies, she was assistant director of the sports medicine clinic and trainer for McGill’s football, soccer and basketball teams.

After graduation, she continued to perfect her knowledge of orthopedics and manual therapy by attending workshops in Canada and the UK. However, she came to the realization that the treatment options usually suggested all suffered from the same limitations, namely the patient had to remain dependent on the therapist for relief.

Progressively, she began to change her therapeutic approach to emphasize patient education and movement, to help the patients achieve a greater degree of autonomy in their own treatment.

With this new focus in mind, she treated wounded soldiers while collaborating with the Canadian Armed Forces’ medical teams, as well as with the National Defense Hospital in Ottawa. There, she also trained physical educators who helped patients by utilizing strategies based on patient movement.

While acting as Chief Physiotherapist of the orthopedic surgery department of the National Defense Hospital, she decided to join the Canadian Back Institute’s clinic in Ottawa. Working with this new team, she was able to broaden her knowledge pertaining to the treatment of complex lower back pain conditions. In fact, in order to treat this clientele, she needed to utilize a multidisciplinary approach which relied on the biopsychosocial model.

Due to her past successes in therapy and her dynamic treatment style, she then became the director of the Canadian Back Institute’s new clinic in Montreal. With the help of her new team, she put in place a variety of innovative physical rehabilitation programs, focused on being active, improving function and providing useful knowledge. In addition to her regular responsibilities in this role, she offered professional training workshops on the management of complex cases for the CSST, the SAAQ and private insurance.

Since she wanted to be able to focus more on clinical treatment, she decided to start her own private practice. It is at this time that she partners with Dre Manon Houle and joins NOCI Clinique. She has refined her therapeutic approach in the midst of a team of like-minded professionals who understand the undeniable influence of psychosocial factors on pain treatment.

Her innovative approach emphasizes proper education of patients, as well as focusing on active treatment for pain management and returning to function. In fact, she believes that encouraging her patients to adopt active lifestyles during treatment encourages a more realistic self-evaluation of the patient's own physical capabilities.

In the course of her career, she has been invited to speak at conferences for: members of the Canadian Armed Forces, several rehabilitation centers all over Quebec, the Canadian Institute, the Canadian Physiotherapy Association, several insurance companies, the French Collaborating Centre of the World Health Organization, and the physical rehabilitation program of McGill University, in collaboration with Dr. Dritsa. In 2002, the physical rehabilitation department of the University of Montreal asked her to create the first version of their course on “Pain Physiotherapy.”

Due to her interest in the biopsychosocial model and its implications for the clinical treatment of patients suffering from chronic pain, she collaborates with psychologists to produce integrated reports, which combine both the physical and psychological evaluations of a patient, to determine his or her capacities. The nature of her work often brings her to work on contentious cases, which forces her to maintain up-to-date knowledge in her field. This is why she pursued a post-graduate diploma in Insurance Medicine and Forensics from the University of Montreal, which she obtained in 2009. Following her graduation, she became a member of the Quebec Society of Forensic Experts (SEEMLQ) in 2013, as well as became a member of the Canadian Society of Medical Evaluators in 2014.

In 2011, she was recognized as a specialist in Pain Science by the Canadian Physiotherapy Association, and is now on the committee for evaluating candidates for the title of specialist.

Noticing that there was a lack of knowledge and coherence in the techniques which were taught for diagnosing musculoskeletal pain, she worked on a survey of the literature in this field,  to highlight the best methods for evaluating lower back pain. Her dissertation allowed her to obtain a Masters in Biomedical Science from the University of Montreal in 2015.

She provides services in both French and English.