Dr. Ranita Manocha

MD, MSc, FRCPC, CSCN(EMG)

Affiliations

Clinical Associate Professor

Cumming School of Medicine, Department of Clinical Neurosciences

Adjunct Associate Professor

Faculty of Kinesiology

Full Member

McCaig Institute for Bone and Joint Health

Full Member

Hotchkiss Brain Institute

Contact information

ranita.manocha@ucalgary.ca

Web presence

Better Mobility Lab Website

Better Mobility Lab Twitter

Better Mobility Lab Instagram

Better Mobility Lab YouTube Channel

ICanWALK(C): Teaching Canadians how to safely use their walking aids

ICanWALK(C) Educational Videos

Phone number

Clinical Office: 403.944.4224

Location

Lab Office: HMRB453

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Senior Communications Specialist

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Funding

Research partners

Study participants

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Background

Credentials

Clinician Investigator Program, Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada,

FRCPC, Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada,

CSCN(EMG), Canadian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology,

Educational Background

BA Cross-Disciplinary Studies, University of Western Ontario,

MD University of British Columbia,

MSc Medical Biophysics, University of Western Ontario,

Residency Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, University of Western Ontario,

Biography

Dr. Ranita Manocha is a Clinical Associate Professor in the Division of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation (PM&R) and an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Faculty of Kinesiology at the University of Calgary. Dr. Manocha’s research interests involve upper limb biomechanics, walking aids, braces, and connective tissue disorders. She has evaluated Canadian professional school curricula around walking aids and has developed an interactive app, brochures, and online educational videos to help patients, caregivers, clinicians, and clinicians-in-training learn how to safely use walking aids. She has investigated how Hypermobility Spectrum Disorders and hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome affect quality of life, and she has collaborated with scientists to understand how joint hypermobility conditions affect strength, gait, proprioception and tendon stiffness.

Dr. Manocha is currently aiming to work with graduate and post-doctoral research trainees. She has supervised award-winning research trainees from Community Disability and Rehabilitation Studies, Engineering, Health Sciences, Kinesiology, Medicine, Occupational Therapy, and Physical Therapy. Dr. Manocha is passionate about using transdisciplinary approaches to address research questions, and building a diverse research team.

Dr. Manocha developed the Connective Tissue Disorders Rehabilitation Clinic at Foothills Medical Centre where she works with patients with conditions such as generalized joint hypermobility, the Ehlers-Danlos Syndromes, Marfan Syndrome, Loewy-Dietz Syndrome, Down Syndrome, Stickler Syndrome, and familial thoracic aneurysm and dissection syndromes, amongst others. Dr. Manocha also built the Bracing and Mobility Clinic at Foothills Medical Centre where she works with patients who require braces for the upper or lower limbs or spine, or who have difficulties with walking. Dr. Manocha also does outpatient electromyography and wheelchair seating clinics.

Finally, Dr. Manocha is very passionate about teaching. She has helped develop the bracing and wheelchair seating curricula for the physiatry residents in Calgary and has been involved in graduate seminars, undergraduate medicine and undergraduate kinesiology education around musculoskeletal health. She has supervised a number of clinical trainees from undergraduate medicine, family medicine, geriatrics, internal medicine, neurology, orthopedic surgery, pediatric neurology, pediatrics, physiatry, palliative medicine, and vascular surgery.

Dr. Manocha's grand visions are:

to develop a multidisciplinary centre for assessment and management of Connective Tissue Disorders in Southern Alberta,
to build the research evidence for rehabilitating conditions that cause ligamentous laxity,
to build a centre for clinical excellence in bracing in Southern Alberta,
to build local research capacity in evaluating brace and walking aid effectiveness,
to develop a national program to evaluate walking aids,
and to improve public and clinical professional awareness of the PM&R specialty.

Please reach out if you are interested in collaborating.