DAN CLOUSTON, OTR/L, CHT

Dan Clouston, brother of Ken Clouston, is an occupational therapist and vital component to the team at Gillette Physical Therapy. Although he was certified in hand therapy in 2005, Dan’s professional journey began with his attendance at the University of Jamestown. After wrestling there for a year, Clouston transferred to the University of North Dakota. His college graduation did not mark the end of his education; Dan continued on to do a hand fellowship in Bismarck, ND, and has since been increasing his knowledge and expanding his range of expertise by attending various conferences. While Dan Clouston initially specialized in hand therapy, he now has training in ergonomic assessments, dry needling, and myofascial decompression.

It is easy to see the dedicated and determined nature of Dan Clouston through his educational background and desire to keep learning. These traits and many more allow him to fit in perfectly with the other talented staff at GPT, a therapy clinic that he chose based on its state-of-the-art skills and creation of a welcoming and family-like atmosphere. Dan contributes to this vision with his personal abilities as a therapist. In order to be a successful therapist, he recognizes the widespread effects that impairments can have on an individual’s life and works to treat not just the injury, but the person as a whole. Clouston is passionate about seeing patients progress and regain function, and loves that he is able to help people get out of pain and back into doing what they like.

Dan Clouston lives by one of his dad’s sayings, “You aren’t apart of the community unless you are active in it.” He remains involved in Gillette through coaching, being apart of the rotary club, and is a member of the college foundation board. Even when he is not out in the community, Dan enjoys outdoor activities such as elk hunting. He also loves spending quality time with his wife, whom he claims is a better therapist than himself, and his two sons. Clouston is kept consistently active throughout the year as he coaches and helps out with his sons’ football, hockey, and baseball teams.

Education: Occupational Therapy, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, North Dakota

Continuing Education: Upper-extremity residency program; sports medicine; tendon trauma; orthopedic extremity injury treatment; post-surgical rehabilitation; elbow, wrist and hand therapy; head injuries; cerebrovascular accidents; wheelchair seating and positioning; customized splinting; spinal cord injuries; neurodevelopmental techniques

Certification: Hand Therapy Specialist, Functional Capacity Evaluation Certification 

Memberships: American Occupational Therapy Association, Wyoming Occupational Therapy Association, American Society of Hand Therapists