A center of excellence for the innovation of rehabilitation medicine with robotics: born in Salernoinside the Santa Maria al Mare Center of the Don Carlo Gnocchi Foundation and makes available to fragile people suffering from chronic diseases or with disabilities, both in pediatric and elderly age, new robotic neuromotor rehabilitation systems that improve the quality of life. The center is part of the initiative “Fit for Medical Robotics” (Fit4MedRob) and is one of the four projects, supported by the Italian government, approved as part of the complementary investments to the national recovery and resilience plan dedicated to health technologies and, in this specific case, to technologies for rehabilitation robotics integrated with digital technologies.
The expected impact of the project is to develop new treatment paradigms, in which the contribution of technology will be able to improve rehabilitation pathways, preventive approaches and assistance activities, including at home, for people with chronic or transient stages of illness and disability. «The project started on December 1, 2022 and will end at the end of 2026», says Dr. Irene Aprile, project coordinator. The initiative will also have a second operational headquarters in Bari, managed by the Maugeri Clinical Scientific Institutes.
But also amputees or cancer patients with movement disorders. Without forgetting the elderly or those who do strenuous jobs ».
A structure of 700 square meters, undergoing renovation, where robotic technologies will be positioned inside and open laboratories for movement analysis, virtual reality, gyms. “The teams will be different,” says Aprile. «Not only doctors, but also physiotherapists and specialized engineers». A real team effort that also has another goal: «Bringing these technologies to the patient’s home as well, then focusing on home therapy: tele-rehabilitation. The new technologies have the advantage of remote monitoring of the patient and allow the constraint of the physical presence of the physiotherapist to be overcome, thanks to automation”.
For several years now, the Don Gnocchi Foundation has included robotic applications within its rehabilitation proposal, because they allow you to increase the intensity of the treatments, they offer more stimulating and motivating scenarios for the patient, they allow you to create personalized protocols and to objectively measure the responses, improving the result of each rehabilitation project. Robotic rehabilitation and with advanced technologies is particularly useful for people with difficulties and deficits in arm and hand movements, gait problems and balance disorders: these tools are already used in clinical practice with pediatric patients but the new center he will undertake to use them also with adults and the elderly.