Month: November 2011

-recovery in progress among the main priorities expressed by the patient and their family members

-the Spanish society of rehabilitation and physical medicine draws the attention of health managers, neurologists and society at large about the need for the rehabilitation physician to indicate and to coordinate the therapies

Madrid, 2011-November 20-40% of patients with stroke are unable to walk independently six months after suffering brain damage, so the restoration of the ability to fly is one of the most outstanding goals that seeks to achieve in therapy rehabilitation.

These statements have been made by the President of the Spanish society of rehabilitation and physical medicine (SERMEF), Inmaculada García Montes, on the occasion of the celebration, the last weekend, the international day of stroke, a disease which represents the leading cause of disability in the Western world.

Rehabilitation is the key element to deal with the various consequences arising from a stroke. In this sense, García Montes stresses that “ the nuclear and differentiating feature of rehabilitation is the diagnosis, evaluation, prognosis and treatment of disability, in order to achieve the highest possible functional capability, facilitating the independence and the reintegration into the family environmentsocial and employment of the person who has suffered a stroke ”.

Similarly, the President of SERMEF, scientific society representing the Group of about 2000 specialists in the field of rehabilitation in Spain, considers “ essential ” to optimize the functional outcome of rehabilitation that these therapies “ are carried out by a multidisciplinary team of professionals consisting of physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists, neuropsychlogists and nurses, as everything they directed and coordinated by a medical specialist in rehabilitation ”.

“ From SERMEF call the attention of health managers, specialists in neurology and society in general about the importance that implies the figure of the rehabilitation physician in therapies ”, says the President that, in this regard, it places a special emphasis on that medical specialist in the field of rehabilitation “ is the person who has been coordinating the various therapiesboth in intensity and in the field to perform them, either in a hospital in the acute phase, day, or outpatient hospitals ”.

For its part, Esther Duarte Oller, head of section of the service of physical medicine and rehabilitation of the Hospital hopes of Barcelona, Member outstanding SERMEF, points out that “ the role of the rehabilitation physician consists in the evaluation of the process, the proper diagnosis of the disability and the development of a reliable functional prognosis ”.

The rehabilitation is to recover all functions altered by stroke as the language to communicate with their peers, the use of the hand concerned to carry out activities of daily life, control the sphincters, etc. However, the patient and the family aimed at rehabilitation recovers above all, the March.

In this sense, Duarte ensures that the recovery of the March “ figure among the main priorities expressed by the patient and their family members ”. “ Proof of this is the fact that, to ask your doctor for the prognosis of recovery, is this the first concern of the family, once cleared the doubts as to the patient’s vital risk ”, adds.

Among the shortcomings that determine the loss of the ability to fly is in most cases, paralysis, but also involved other factors that require a specific approach as alterations in muscle tone, the alterations in sensitivity and balance.

Outstanding day

During the month of October, there have been various acts and events in relation to brain damage. One of the most important has been the “ Conference on brain injury. Interdisciplinary approach to the departure of persons with hemiplegia ”, held at the 11th edition of the fair Orprotec of Valencia, Feria international rehabilitation and Personal autonomy. The event was organized by the Valencia Biomechanics Institute (IBV), counted with the collaboration of the Professional Association of occupational therapists (APETO), the General Council of physiotherapists schools of Spain, the Spanish Federation of brain damage (FEDACE), and the Spanish society of physical medicine and rehabilitation (SERMEF).

The event convened near some 400 workers belonging to the above-mentioned collective discussed the problem of brain damage. In addition, also benefited from the presence of the following outstanding professionals: Esther Duarte Oller, head of the Department of physical medicine and rehabilitation of the Hospital of hope. Barcelona; Dr. Enrique Viosca Herrero, rehabilitation physician and head of the rehabilitation service of the University Hospital and Polytechnic La Fe of Valencia; Dr. Alex Cortés Fabregat, rehabilitation physician of the rehabilitation service of the Hospital Arnau de Vilanova, and Dr. Francisco Javier Juan García, head of the Department of physical medicine and rehabilitation of Complexo Hospitalario Universitario de Vigo. Pontevedra.