MILAN (ITALPRESS) – Milano FisioWeek 2024, the week dedicated to physiotherapy organized by the Interprovincial Order of Physiotherapists of Milan, Como, Cremona, Lecco, Lodi, Monza Brianza, Sondrio, and Varese, comes to an end with its last educational event, “Beyond the Boundaries of the Profession.” The conference, held today at IRCCS S.Maria Nascente Fondazione Don Carlo Gnocchi, was an opportunity to explore the future of physiotherapy, providing an overview of the future of certain skills in the profession, comparing European experiences. The aim is to chart a path for Italian professionals to train and acquire advanced skills. During the day, participants had the opportunity to attend thematic sessions on current legislation, respiratory rehabilitation, and various advanced physiotherapy techniques-now in place in several countries-with a specific afternoon focus on the European landscape. The day opened with greetings from Mariella Mainolfi, director general of the Health Professions of the Ministry of Health; Marco Bestetti, member of the III Health Commission of the Lombardy Region; Piero Ferrante, president of the National Federation of Physiotherapists’ Associations (FNOFI); the director of the Northern Territorial Area of the Don Gnocchi Foundation, Antonio Troisi; Matteo Paci, president of the Italian Society of Physiotherapy; Marta Lazzeri, past president ARIR; and Don Pablo Herrera Jimenez, vice president of the Colegio Profesional de Fisioterapeutas Comunidad de Madrid.”Today we will compare our profession here in Italy with that practiced by colleagues abroad. We will measure our skills and go to see what theirs are. We are certain that the comparison will be an important building block for our professional development,” Ferrante stressed. “In other European states, physical therapists implement techniques that are not allowed here in Italy. For example, dry needling, epi, and neuromodulation, which exploit the overcoming of the skin barrier through the use of needles,” explained Angelo Giovanni Mazzali, president of the Interprovincial Order of Physiotherapists of Milan, “allow musculoskeletal problems to be solved very effectively. Today we will try to understand what contribution they can have on patient health and, together with the institutions, how to go about incorporating them into the training and practice of the profession here in Italy.” “It’s very important,” spoke Don Pablo Herrera Jimenez, vice president Colegio Profesional de Fisioterapeutas Comunidad de Madrid, “to be able to be with our Italian colleagues on this day, to be able to learn about the techniques that are used throughout Europe and to introduce Spanish techniques, what evolution the profession has had in Spain and how it has become an independent profession. “We are here to enhance the role of physiotherapists. Not only in rehabilitative care but also the role they have in terms of prevention,” pointed out Marco Bestetti, regional councilor of the Lombardy Region and member of the Health Commission. Prevention must be the cornerstone of our legislative initiative. We have just approved the Region’s Socio-Health Plan that enhances this factor. Then we want to invest more and more in home care, an aspect that therapists are well aware of, and in the role of physical therapists in community homes and the newly created health gyms. It is a collaborative relationship that already exists and is strong but that we want to further implement in the interest of citizens.”(ITALPRESS).
