Cód. SSPA: IBiS-DS-26
The group's work addresses the capacity of physiotherapy for the prevention and treatment of health disorders, in a general way. Specifically, the group's scientific activity gives special interest to the approach to pain and disability. In the case of pain, chronic pain occupies the group's attention to a greater extent. Regarding disability, our group emphasizes its activity in pathologies of the central nervous system. In relation to intervention methods, exercise as a form of therapy has a main role in group activity. Likewise, we address the role of new technologies in physiotherapy as a tool for the promotion, prevention and treatment of health problems.
Research lines
- Painful processes: assessment, diagnosis and treatment
Our group investigates pain from several perspectives. On the one hand, we aim to advance our knowledge of the physiopathological aspects underlying the experience of pain. Hand in hand with this activity, we consider the need to advance in the assessment of pain as a fundamental tool for an adequate diagnosis. In this sense, the analysis and influence of comorbidities and sensory-perceptual disorders take on special relevance in our approach, all under the biopsychosocial consideration of the patient. In terms of treatment strategies, within the whole field of the physiotherapeutic approach, the importance of manual therapy, therapeutic physical exercise and intervention strategies centred on the body-mind relationship dominate the group's activity in this line of research. To summarise, key issues in the group's work in this line include the role of proprioception and interoception in the development of pain, its improvement through physical activity and therapeutic exercise, viscerosomatic and viscerovisceral reflexes, the influence of lifestyle habits, pain education as a way to prevent and treat pain, and the use of alternative approaches such as meditation, hypnosis or yoga.
- Neurological physiotherapy
This line of research addresses the role of physiotherapy in disorders of the nervous system, with special consideration of those affecting the central nervous system. Although it focuses on adult disorders, it also deals with disorders of the newborn and the child, as an example of the application of new knowledge in both stages of life. This line includes the study of visual deficits and motor skills, coordination and neurodevelopmental disorders in the early stages of life, the analysis of disability in different neurological pathologies (Parkinson's, stroke, multiple sclerosis, etc.), the study of biomechanics and neurodevelopmental disorders in the early stages of life, and the study of the neurological and neurodevelopmental disorders in the early stages of life. ), the study of the biomechanics of gait in these pathologies, the evaluation of neurological physiotherapy care units, or the effect of different physiotherapy orientations on neurological pathologies, with special interest in exercise and physical activity. On the other hand, the application of new technologies is considered for both diagnosis and treatment. In this sense, we are researching new tools for the analysis of muscle tone in central nervous system disorders. Finally, the use of virtual reality as a diagnostic and therapeutic element occupies a central place in this line of research.
- New technologies in Physiotherapy
The development of virtual reality, artificial intelligence and mobile devices represent an enormous area of possibilities for the development of physiotherapy. This line of research focuses on the role of these new technologies to favour promotion, prevention, assessment and treatment in the field of physiotherapy. Thus, we are working on the development of applications for health promotion, telerehabilitation and the application of artificial intelligence to these systems. We are also focused on the use of virtual reality in physiotherapy, especially in motor disorders derived from neurological diseases. Movement (specific therapeutic exercise and physical activity in general) is an element that underlies the focus of the research on the application of new technologies for the promotion and treatment of health disorders.
