Hillel Finestone profile picture

Contact Information

Hillel Finestone, MD, FRCPC
613-562-6262 ext. 4064
hfinestone@bruyere.org

Hillel Finestone

Clinician Investigator, Clinical Epidemiology Program
Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
Director of Stroke Rehabilitation Research, Bruyere Continuing Care
Elisabeth Bruyere Hospital
Professor, Division of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
University of Ottawa

Research Interests

  • Driving and Stroke Issues
  • Nutrition, Dysphagia and Stroke
  • Effect of of Psycho-social Issues on Recovery from a Musculoskeletal Injury
  • Use of Virtual Reality in the Physical Rehabilitation of Stroke Patients

Brief Biography

Dr. Finestone regularly treats in and out-patients who had a stroke and he devises stroke rehabilitation programs for them in a multi-disciplinary setting at the Elisabeth Bruyere Hospital, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. He treats patients experiencing musculoskeletal and neurologic pain and teaches on the topic to medical students, residents, family doctors and specialists.  

His stroke research interests include: 1) Virtual Reality stroke rehabilitation technology to enhance exercise and balance- (patients play video games).  2) Driving and Stroke, 3) Technology to assist toileting in stroke, disabled and geriatric populations. His pain rehabilitation research deals with effectively communicating the Mind-Body issues that frequently concern the patient experiencing chronic pain. 

Dr. Finestone is a Full Professor in the division of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Department of Medicine, at the University of Ottawa, Director of Stroke Rehabilitation Research at the Elisabeth Bruyere Hospital, Bruyere Continuing Care and Electromyographer at the Ottawa Hospital Rehabilitation Centre. 

Selected Publications

Finestone HM, Juurlink DN, Power B, Gomes T, Pimlott N. Opioid prescribing is a surrogate for inadequate pain management resources. Can Fam Physician. 2016;62(6):465-8.

Sheehy, L., Taillon-Hobson, a., Sveistrup, H., Bilodeau, M., Fergusson, D., Levac, D., Finestone, H. Does the addition of virtual reality training to a standard program of inpatient rehabilitation improve sitting balance ability and function after stroke? Protocol for a single-blind randomized controlled trial”. BMC Neurology. 2016;16:42.

Levac DE, Glegg SM, Sveistrup H, Colquhoun H, Miller P, Finestone H, DePaul V, Harris JE, Velikonja D. Promoting Therapists’ Use of Motor Learning Strategies within Virtual Reality-Based Stroke Rehabilitation. PLoS One. 2016;11(12):e0168311.

Finestone HM, Yanni MM, Dalzell CJ. Patients’ recall of diagnostic and treatment information improves with use of the Pain Explanation and Treatment Diagram in an outpatient chronic pain clinic. Pain Res Manag. 2015;20(3):145-151.

Yang CP, Finestone HM, Chen PY. Psychosocial determinants of longer length of stay on a Canadian stroke inpatient rehabilitation unit. Int J Phys Med Rehabil. 2015;3:281.

Diseases, conditions and populations of interest





Research and clinical approaches