Eric Parent, PhD

Professor, Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine - Physical Therapy

Pronouns: He/ him

Contact

Professor, Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine - Physical Therapy
Email
eparent@ualberta.ca
Phone
(780) 492-8889
Address
6-110G Clinical Sciences Building
11304 83 Ave NW
Edmonton AB
T6G 2G3

Overview

Area of Study / Keywords

Scoliosis quality of life posture back pain measurement properties


About

Credentials


  • BSc. PT, MSc. experimental medicine, PhD rehabilitation science 
  • Post-doctorate - University of Utah - Supervised by Julie Fritz - 2006-2007 
  • Post-doctorate - Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital - 2006 
  • PhD - University of Alberta - Supervised by Michèle Crites-Battié and Tapio Videman - 2005 
  • MSc - Université Laval - Supervised by Hélène Moffet - 2000 
  • BSc.- Sciences de la Santé Physiothérapie - Université Laval - 1996


Background

Dr. Parent is originally from Lac-à-la-Tortue, halfway between Montréal and Québec City. He studied physiotherapy at Université Laval in Québec City. He worked as a physiotherapist in a private practice with a focus on musculoskeletal conditions. Dr. Parent completed his MSc in Experimental Medicine (Rehabilitation) at Université Laval in 2000. In 2005, he received his PhD in Rehabilitation Science at the University of Alberta. Dr. Parent’s PhD work focused on the development of a measure of lumbar disc contour abnormality on MRI. He completed one year of post-doctoral work with the Edmonton Scoliosis Research Group with a focus on the assessment of the measurement properties of health-related quality of life questionnaires and surface topography measures. He also completed a post-doctoral fellowship with Dr Julie Fritz at the University of Utah where he conducted a cohort study to create a prediction rule to identify the responders to extension exercises and understand the mechanisms of action for these exercises. Dr. Parent completed the Intermountain Healthcare mini-training program in Health Care Delivery Improvement. In January 2008, he joined the Department of Physical Therapy with a cross-appointment as a Clinical-Scientist at the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital within the Edmonton Scoliosis Research Group


Research

Professional Interests

Dr. Parent’s research interests are in the assessment of the measurement properties of questionnaires and performance measures. He is also focused on the development of prediction rules to identify responders to physical therapy treatments. Further, Dr. Parent is interested in assessing the mechanisms of action of physical therapy interventions using quantitative measures from MR images. The clinical populations he is most interested in are low back pain and scoliosis.

Current Research

  • The Schroth Exercise Trial for Scoliosis (SETS) study
  • The measurement properties of Full-torso surface topography for scoliosis
  • Spinal stiffness characteristics and muscle thickness asymmetries at different levels of scoliosis curves.
  • Identifying predictors of good therapeutic response to repeated exercises in patients with low back pain
  • Correlations between the changes in pain and the changes in lumbar pathoanatomical findings in response to repeated movement exercises.

Teaching

Eric Parent, PhD, is a graduate supervisor at the Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine.


Announcements

Dr. Parent currently mentors one PhD student and two MSc students.

Courses

PTHER 574 - Advanced Concepts in Evidence-Based Practice

Advanced concepts in measurement of clinical effectiveness such as program evaluation, quality improvement initiatives, and evaluation of synthesized sources. Prerequisites: PTHER 573.


Browse more courses taught by Eric Parent

Featured Publications

Sanja Schreiber, Eric C. Parent, Gregory N. Kawchuk, Douglas M. Hedden

Children. 2023 March; 10.3390/children10030523


Eric C. Parent, Matthew Vaclavik, Cody Bourgoin, Courtney Hebert, Megan Bouwmeester, Sarah Cheslock, Rebecca Collins, Stefan Potgieter, Mark Coles, Sanja Schreiber, Sabrina Donzelli, Camille Warner

Children. 2023 January; 10.3390/children10020239


Claudie Forest, Eric Parent, Olivier Chémaly, Soraya Barchi, Sabrina Donzelli, Stefano Negrini, Carole Fortin

The Spine Journal. 2022 November; 10.1016/j.spinee.2022.07.094


Journal of back and musculoskeletal rehabilitation. 2021 January; 10.3233/BMR-200169


Studies in Health Technology and Informatics. 2021 January; 10.3233/SHTI210473


American Journal of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. 2021 January; 10.1097/PHM.0000000000001581


Journal of Orthopaedic Research. 2021 January; 10.1002/jor.24930


Clinical Biomechanics. 2021 January; 10.1016/j.clinbiomech.2021.105291


Spine Deformity. 2020 January; 10.1007/s43390-020-00060-1


Musculoskeletal Science and Practice. 2020 January; 10.1016/j.msksp.2020.102250


BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders. 2019 January; 10.1186/s12891-019-2695-9


European Spine Journal. 2019 January; 10.1007/s00586-018-5851-2


Computer Methods in Biomechanics and Biomedical Engineering. 2019 January; 10.1080/10255842.2019.1584795


Biomedizinische Technik. 2019 January; 10.1515/bmt-2017-0086


BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders. 2019 January; 10.1186/s12891-019-2543-y


Scoliosis and Spinal Disorders. 2018 January; 10.1186/s13013-017-0145-8


BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders. 2018 January; 10.1186/s12891-018-2303-4


European Journal of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine. 2018 January; 10.23736/S1973-9087.17.05062-6


Biomedizinische Technik. 2018 January; 10.1515/bmt-2016-0178


Musculoskeletal Science and Practice. 2018 January; 10.1016/j.msksp.2017.11.008


Spine Journal. 2018 January; 10.1016/j.spinee.2018.05.006


Scoliosis and Spinal Disorders. 2017 January; 10.1186/s13013-017-0137-8


Spine. 2017 January; 10.1097/BRS.0000000000001971


Clinical Biomechanics. 2016 January; 10.1016/j.clinbiomech.2016.03.006


Scoliosis and Spinal Disorders. 2016 January; 10.1186/s13013-016-0101-z


PLoS ONE. 2016 January; 10.1371/journal.pone.0168746


Scoliosis. 2015 January; 10.1186/s13013-015-0048-5


European Spine Journal. 2015 January; 10.1007/s00586-014-3684-1


Spine Deformity. 2015 January; 10.1016/j.jspd.2015.02.002


Spine. 2015 January; 10.1097/BRS.0000000000000981


Spine Journal. 2015 January; 10.1016/j.spinee.2015.01.018


Medical and Biological Engineering and Computing. 2015 January; 10.1007/s11517-015-1306-7


Symmetry. 2015 January; 10.3390/sym7031436


Pattern Recognition. 2014 December; 10.1016/j.patcog.2014.06.013


Journal of Pain. 2014 January; 10.1016/j.jpain.2013.10.008


Journal of Physiotherapy. 2014 January; 10.1016/j.jphys.2014.08.005


Spine Deformity. 2014 January; 10.1016/j.jspd.2014.02.006


European Journal of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine. 2014 January;


Wong AY, Parent EC, Kawchuk GN.

2013 January;


Wong AY, Kawchuk G, Parent E, Prasad N.

2013 January;


Kennedy MD, Fischer R, Fairbanks K, Lefaivre L, Vickery L, Molzan J, Parent E,

2012 January;


Kawchuk GN, Prasad N, Parent E, Chapman S, Custodio M, Manzon M, Wiebe A, Dhillon S.

2011 January;


Stanton TR, Fritz JM, Hancock MJ, Latimer J, Maher CG, Wand BM, Parent EC.

2011 January;


View additional publications

Research Students

Currently accepting undergraduate students for research project supervision.

Interested students should email with CV/transcript/personal statement.