What is a Kinesiologist?

By: Melissa Dahn & Vania Kulik

What is a Kinesiologist?

Are you still struggling with pain or function after doing months to years of Physiotherapy and Massage Therapy?  Then maybe it’s time to look into Kinesiology to help reach your next step in injury recovery.

Kinesiology is the study of human movement.  A Practicing Kinesiologist is someone who specializes in injury rehabilitation, using an evidence-based approach to teach exercise, postural control, stability, endurance, strength, biomechanics, anatomy, physiology, and nutrition to achieve a functional goal.  The goal of any Kinesiologist is to optimize movement and provide people with the tools to live a functional and pain-free life.

Active Rehabilitation is one such field that a Kinesiologist commonly practices in.  In Active Rehab, clients learn how to manage their pain through a personalized exercise program that focuses on improving mobility, stability, strength, and endurance.  Clients learn how to exercise safely to prevent injury and live competently.

A Kinesiologist first provides a thorough assessment to analyze gait, posture, muscular strength, muscular endurance, and cardiovascular fitness.  They typically provide exercises that address musculoskeletal imbalances, poor posture, lifting/hinging mechanics, movement optimization, power and force production, and sometimes sport performance.  Such exercises include strength training, endurance training, plyometrics, cardiovascular training, resistance training, calisthenics, pilates, yoga, and stretching.

So if you are finding that you have reached a plateau in your recovery process, ask your doctor or Physiotherapist about starting Kinesiology/Active Rehab.