End of October the first meeting of a 3-day workshop on Physiotherapy and Cervical Dystonia was held in Umeå in Northern Sweden.
Physiotherapist Johanna Blom from Skåne University Hospital in Malmö, Sweden, gave an introduction to what dystonia is and how it is treated. A demonstration patient was invited to take part in the session showing how to do the anamnesis. Johanna asked him several questions on his dystonia, when it started, how it affects him, his work and life in general.
“I tried to be normal but it didn’t work very well”, he said. Then followed a physical demonstration deciding what exact muscles are affected. Before lunch there was also time for Johanna to go through what types of exercises could be efficient for the patient to practice.
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- Demonstration Exercises
After lunch Dr. Ghad Loutfi from the Neurology Department of the University Hospital of Norrland in Umeå gave a presentation on dystonia, where it comes from, various types, different treatment approach.
In the afternoon followed another session with a new demonstration patient, identifying the muscles affected and what exercises to recommend.
15 physiotherapists had come to Umeå from all over Sweden, most of them from the Northern region. At the end of the day they all received the assignment to go home and practice the learnings on a dystonia patient and to document it all, preferably with video. When we meet again for the second part of the workshop in March 2023 everybody will show and report their work for the group.
The workshop is a made possible with a grant from Ipsen and Desitin in Scandinavia.
Monika Benson
Executive Director. Dystonia Europe
