Phone:
250.423.3423 (Fernie Physiotherapy)
250.430.2115 (cell)
info@aheadofthecurvept.com

Heather Kerr has been serving the Elk Valley as a physiotherapist since 2002.  A graduate of the University of British Columbia, she has taken post-graduate training in manual and manipulative therapy, acupuncture, dynamic stability, and gait analysis.  She was encouraged to go into physiotherapy at a young age by her grandmother, who noticed that Heather's favourite part of going to the mall was watching the people walk. 

Heather has published scientific research on force-plate analysis of movement and balance, and will be starting a study in late 2009 comparing different methods of foot molding for orthotics.  Heather's other professional interests, international health and teaching, took her to the Himalayan country of Bhutan in 2005-6, where she served as a university professor in the physiotherapy program at the Royal Institute of Health Sciences through Health Volunteers Overseas. Heather continues to publish articles on international health. 

Originally from northwestern Quebec, Heather is bilingual, and happy to provide physiotherapy in either of Canada's official languages. 

When she's not working, Heather can be found coaching runners and triathletes, playing ultimate, paddling her canoe, attending music festivals and trying to write a book about her time in Bhutan.

Links of Interest:
Canadian Physiotherapy Association:  www.physiotherapy.ca
College of Physical Therapists of BC:  www.cptbc.org
Physiotherapy Association of BC:  www.bcphysio.org
Prescription Foot Orthotic Lab Association:  http://www.nvo.com/pfola/

Clin Biomech (Bristol, Avon). 2002 Aug;17(7):555-7.

Kerr HM, Eng JJ.

Riverfront Physiotherapy, Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada Y1A 2A8.

OBJECTIVE: To quantify the limits of stability during a leaning/reaching task and determine (1) test-retest reliability and (2) effect of movement direction and foot support. DESIGN: Test-retest reliability design. BACKGROUND: Seated reaching and leaning are used in rehabilitation programs to assess and train sitting balance and motor function. Continuous (as opposed to ordinal), multidirectional measures of seated postural stability have not been previously presented. METHODS: Twelve older adults performed a seated reaching/leaning task while net body centre of pressure displacement and velocity were measured with three forceplates (under buttocks and each foot) over two separate days. Conditions of movement direction (forward, backward, lateral) and foot support (with and without) were randomized. RESULTS: Except for the backward movement in the supported foot condition, all measures had moderate to very high reliability. Measurements were sensitive to both foot support and movement direction. RELEVANCE: Centre of pressure measures provide reliable measures which may be useful for clinical assessment of seated postural stability. Copyright 2002 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd.