About Neil
Neil Pearson, BA, MSc, PT, C-IAYT, ERYT500, YACEP
Director, Pain Care U
Neil is a physical therapist, a Clinical Assistant Professor at the University British Columbia, and a certified yoga therapist.
An engaging educator and compassionate clinician, Neil is able to make the complex understandable, willing to share his knowledge and expertise in pain care, and always ready to learn more. He is also an aspiring writer.
“My goal is to help people living in pain and to assist others with the same desire to serve.
“We must shift many paradigms. Our views of pain, of people in pain, and of the role and effectiveness of non-pharmacological pain care, are mostly outdated.”
Neil’s most influential mentors and teachers have been the people in pain he has served.
Education
Bachelor of Arts, Health and Physical Education, Queens University, 1985
Master of Science, Rehabilitation, Queens University, 1993
Highlights
Physical therapist since 1985
Clinical Assistant Professor, UBC, since 1997
Complex pain focus, since 2000
Consultant for Doctors of BC, since 2013
Past Director, Pain BC , 2003-2006
Founding Chair, Canadian Physiotherapy Pain Science Division, 2008-2011
Faculty positions in Accredited Yoga Therapy Programs:
- Inner Peace Yoga Therapy – Chicago, USA
- Yoga Therapy International – Vancouver, Canada; Anatomy and Physiology
- Embodied Yoga Therapy – Ottawa, Canada
- Yoga Studio College – Calgary, Canada
Author
Co-editor, author – Yoga and Science in Pain Care: Treating the Person in Pain; Singing Dragon Publishing, 2019
Author – Yoga Therapy chapter, Integrative Pain Management: Massage, Movement, and Mindfulness Based Approaches, Diana Thompson, Marissa Brooks, editors; Handspring Publishing, 2016
Author – Understand Pain Live Well Again; Life Is Now/Pain Care U, 2007; Kindle Edition, 2015
Developer of Pain Care for Life and First 5 Steps (now Lifemark), launched 2016
Awards
Distinguished Alumni Award – Queen’s University, 2015
Excellence in Interprofessional Pain Education – Canadian Pain Society, 2012
Award of Excellence, Clinical Contribution – Physiotherapy Association of BC, 2010