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Let's find out who is Giacomo Rizzolatti, the presenter of the presidential lecture at the next ISLLS conference |
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“In every action, beyond what you do, the intention counts; the reason you do it, for example — I take the glass — is the action. How I take it is crucial to understanding the intention. Whether to drink, to toast or to throw it against my interlocutor”: These words are by Prof. Giacomo Rizzolatti, discoverer of mirror neurons and one of the leading figures in the field of neuroscience. Prof. Rizzolatti, one of the greatest Italian neuroscientists, will speak for a keynote lecture at the 50th ISSLS conference taking place from May 27 to May 31 in Milan, the city of the ISICO headquarters.
We remind you that Dr. Fabio Zaina, an ISICO physiatrist, and our scientific director, Prof. Stefano Negrini, will be local hosts for the event. |
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Alma Deguzman shares her experience A few weeks ago, Alma Deguzman, a physiotherapist from Youngsville, USA, came to see us at our headquarters in Milan.
Deguzman attended our scoliosis online master course in 2022, as well as the online course on prescription and construction of the Sforzesco brace in 2023. After all that learning, she was interested in seeing us at work, and it was a pleasure for us to welcome her to follow our daily clinical work for a few days.
We took the opportunity to ask some questions about her training experience. In the photo, she is with Michele Romano, our director of physiotherapy. "I came to know ISICO through online research to find someone who could provide me with solid notions and knowledge in my field of work...". |
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SEAS in March? Turkey, Ukraine and China
In recent weeks, our international SEAS training programme has picked up the pace on its journey around the world, first with a SEAS Level 1 course in Turkey, where Michele Romano, our physiotherapy director, held three days of training with 22 participants. In this country, we have been guests for several years with our training programmes. Then, for the very first time, SEAS landed in Kyiv, Ukraine, on March 15–17. There were 20 participants present at this course, and Michele Romano taught virtually from Italy with on-site assistance from a physiotherapist at the rehabilitation facility housing the event. In a row, Michele Romano headed to Astana, Kazakhstan, to teach a Level 2 course for 15 participants.
Subsequently, just in these days, Romano flew to China, to Chengdu, for the first of a series of courses to be performed on the Chinese territory during the year 2024.
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How to strengthen rehabilitation in health systems, Prof. Stefano Negrini writes about it in BMJ
A few months ago, we wrote about the launch, during the 3rd Global Rehabilitation 2030 meeting, where 82 founding organisations met, of the World Rehabilitation Alliance in Geneva, a WHO global network of stakeholders whose mission is to support the implementation of the Rehabilitation 2030 Initiative and the resolution through advocacy activities. Prof. Stefano Negrini, scientific director of Isico, director of Cochrane Rehabilitation and Cochrane representative, was there, as well as in May, when the World Health Assembly adopted a resolution on “Strengthening rehabilitation in health systems”.
At a distance of time, Prof. Negrini is one of the two authors of the article "An expanded workforce is needed to strengthen rehabilitation in health systems" recently published by the British Medical Journal (BMJ), which discusses the importance of rehabilitation and the forces necessary to be put in place to make it work in the world. "By prioritising rehabilitation, health systems can substantially reduce disability and its societal costs... Workforce and rehabilitation needs traverse all areas of medicine," writes Prof. Negrini. |
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| An Isico Pill about Trace
Watch the short video about Trace given by Francesco Negrini, MD physiatrist. The Isico Pills format is designed for expert professionals, namely, doctors and therapists, and is available with English subtitles. Share it with #isicopills on social networks! |
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Can scoliosis get worse in spite of bracing treatment?
Yes, unfortunately, it can. Assuming that the patient’s brace is well constructed and has been properly checked, the most likely reason for any worsening is that it is not being worn for enough hours each day: to be effective, a brace must be worn for a number of hours commensurate with the risk of the scoliosis worsening, which is something only the treating physician can establish.
The prescribed number of dose-wearing hours should also vary over time, depending on the risk: when the risk is high, it needs to be worn all the time, and the patient should remove it only in order to take a shower.
When the risk is low, they will wear the brace for fewer hours. The other possible reason for scoliosis worsening in spite of bracing therapy is, instead, much more rare: the presence of a highly aggressive form of scoliosis.
A brace is worn to avoide the need for surgery. If the brace proves unable to contain the progression and the curve exceeds 45-50°, then it will probably be necessary to consult a spine surgeon. If there is a worsening of scoliosis, but the curve nevertheless remains below this threshold, then the treatment has been effective. |
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| Full-time treatment: no stress!
We talk of “full-time treatment” whenever a brace needs to be worn round (or almost round) the clock, i.e., for 23 or 24 hours a day.
When patients with scoliosis are treated using a brace, it is not unusual to have to wear the device full-time in order to effectively address severe curves (those measuring more than 40 Cobb degrees) or high-risk situations (a pubertal growth spurt).
Full-time treatment is a tough challenge, especially if you consider that it usually begins at between 11 and 15 years of age, in other words, just before or during adolescence, which is a notoriously tricky time that already brings plenty of changes. Youngsters of this age no longer see the world through children’s eyes. Instead, they begin to experience all kinds of doubts and insecurities...
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If you have severe scoliosis it's best to avoid pregnancy
Absolutely not true. Scoliosis is not a condition that precludes pregnancy and the joy of bringing a child into the world.
It is true that pregnancy is a tricky period in which scoliosis is more likely to progress, and therefore it is certainly a good idea to keep your back situation monitored by a specialist during and after pregnancy. However, it is wrong to say that a woman with scoliosis should avoid having children.
A severe lumbar curve might possibly make it more complicated to administer an epidural, but that is a situation for the anaesthetist to manage. |
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A video commentary about back pain in adults by Dr. Carmelo Pulici Dr. Carmelo Pulici, a physiatrist at Isico, speaks in a video commentary about Current Knowledge on the Different Characteristics of Back Pain in Adults with and without Scoliosis. Dr. Pulici explains how the study aims to provide a comprehensive overview of back pain characteristics in adults with and without scoliosis through a systematic literature review... |
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Introduction to target trial emulation in rehabilitation: a systematic approach to emulate a randomized controlled trial using observational data
Pierre Côté, Stefano Negrini, Sabrina Donzelli, Carlotte Kiekens, Chiara Arienti, Maria G Ceravolo, Douglas P Gross, Irene Battel, Giorgio Ferriero,, Stefano G Lazzarini, Bernard Dan, Heather M Shearer, Jessica J Wong,; Participants in the 5th Cochrane Rehabilitation Methodological Meeting
Eur J Phys Rehabil Med. 2024 Feb;60(1):145-153.doi: 10.23736/S1973-9087.24.08435-1. |
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We know how important it is to share experiences and get comfort from those who are going through the same difficulties in a tiring and demanding therapy like that with exercises and braces. For this reason, we collected short testimonies from some of our patients participating in a summer camp organised by Isico.
Below, you can find one of these
"I’m Sara and in September last year, I started wearing a brace for the first time, and had to keep it on for 22 hours a day. I thought: how would my friends react? Would they leave me out? As it turns out, none of this happened, either; also, because a brace isn’t something you need to be ashamed of or hide.
I’ve always tried to make a joke of it. Why don’t you ask your new friends to punch you when you’re wearing your brace and then wait to see their expression?! We brace wearers usually give our braces a name: Ironman, RoboCop, and so on. Thanks to my brace, I’ve had some great experiences, and in a week’s time we’ll all be going to a camp in Riva del Garda. You’ll soon see that bracing is an experience that helps you to grow … Don’t forget, the harder the fight, the greater the triumph, and you must not let these difficulties get you down: you’ll come out of this stronger and better than before. Of course, there will be difficulties and it’s easy to feel shy and embarrassed about it, but frankly it’s better to wear a piece of plastic today than be left with scoliosis for the rest of your life, because you don’t want to end up feeling embarrassed about that.
My advice is to tackle this difficulty with a smile, to think only about the things you can do, not about the things (very few) that you can’t, and you’ll see that that makes everything easier. |
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