Patrick Ippersiel

Patrick Ippersiel has been an assistant professor at the School of Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Ottawa since July 2025. He holds a BSc in physical therapy, a master’s degree in clinical physiotherapy from Curtin University in Western Australia, and a PhD in rehabilitation sciences from McGill University. He recently completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the École de kinésiologie et des sciences de l'activité physique at the University of Montréal. He is also a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Manual and Musculoskeletal Physiotherapists (FCAMPT). His research focuses on the intersection of movement science, pain and clinical rehabilitation.

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Professor Ippersiel is accepting new students for thesis supervision.

• Low back pain
• Movement biomechanics in musculoskeletal health conditions
• Clinical rehabilitation
• Biopsychosocial models of pain

Professor Ippersiel’s research examines the interactions between motor control, movement biomechanics and psychosocial influences in musculoskeletal conditions, with an emphasis on low back pain. His work focuses on how people adapt their movement strategies in response to pain, threats or environmental challenges during real-world and clinically relevant tasks. He applies advanced biomechanical analyses, such as inter-joint coordination, co-contraction, and variability measurements using wearable sensors, like inertial measurement units (IMUs) and electromyography (EMG).

Grounded in a biopsychosocial framework, his research explores how factors like pain sensitivity, pain-related fear and catastrophizing, and sensorimotor impairment shape motor behaviour. By capturing movement in both structured and natural environments, Patrick aims to improve our understanding of movement adaptations in clinical populations to help inform targeted rehabilitation strategies.

See Patrick Ippersiel’s publications.