Call for founding members of the European Organization For University Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine (UniPRM).

Rehabilitation is increasingly recognized as a key component of health systems worldwide. To meet the growing demand for rehabilitation services, it is essential to strengthen academic capacity in Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine within universities. Academic structures are critical for training future physicians and professionals, and for advancing research and innovation in rehabilitation.

Association between trunk aesthetics and underling scoliosis severity and curve type in adolescents: evaluation of traditional clinical scores and novel automated indices from rasterstereographic imaging.

Background: Trunk aesthetics is an important aim in treating adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS). While subjective measures like the Scoliosis Research Society-22 questionnaire are commonly used, objective methods, such as the Trunk Aesthetic Clinical Evaluation (TRACE) index, are less explored. Non-invasive imaging techniques like rasterstereography (RST) have been studied to reduce radiographic exposure in AIS, though their correlation with Cobb angles remains weak.

The "Idiopathic Scoliosis Graphical Representation of Worsening Trend of Natural History" (IS-GROWTH) communication tool provides a reliable prediction useful to manage long-term treatment during growth. 2025 SOSORT award winner.

Purpose: Effective communication with patients regarding long-term conservative treatment for idiopathic scoliosis necessitates an understanding of its natural history. Existing predictive models have limitations in this regard. Our study aimed to develop and evaluate the reliability and utility of the Idiopathic Scoliosis Graphical Representation Of Worsening Trend of Natural History (IS-GROWTH) communication tool.

Wearing a brace for idiopathic scoliosis above 18 hrs/day shows a dose-response effect on the outcomes improvement and end-of-treatment Cobb angle below 30 degrees.

Purpose: The Brace Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis Trial (BrAIST) reported a bracing dose-response curve in AIS for brace-wearing time (BWT) up to 18 h/day (h/d) on the outcome end-of-treatment < 50°. We aimed to examine the dose-response curve for this and other relevant outcomes in cases of BWT > 18 h/d.

Methods: Design: Retrospective secondary analysis of consecutively collected data.

Evaluating ChatGPT-4.0's accuracy and potential in idiopathic scoliosis conservative treatment: a preliminary study on clarity, validity, and expert perceptions.

Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate the scientific accuracy, content validity, and clarity of ChatGPT-4.0's responses on conservative management of idiopathic scoliosis. The research explored whether the model could effectively support patient education in an area where non-surgical treatment information is crucial.

Night-Time Bracing Can Reduce Pain in Adults with Scoliosis: Six-Month Results of a Retrospective Controlled Study.

Severe scoliosis can lead to chronic low back pain (cLBP) and may progress in adulthood. While day-time bracing is commonly used to alleviate pain and improve function, the role of night-time bracing remains unclear. This study aimed to assess the six-month effectiveness of a custom-made night-time brace in reducing pain in adults with scoliosis, compared to a prefabricated brace worn for 2-4 h during the day.

Geographic, personal and clinical determinants of brace-wearing time in adolescents with idiopathic scoliosis.

Purpose: Adherence to brace treatment is crucial for its effectiveness in AIS. The study aimed to verify the impact of geographic, personal and clinical variables on adherence to brace wear.

Methods: Design: retrospective cross-sectional study of consecutively collected participants at a tertiary referral institute.

The overview reporting map: a visual tool for overviews of systematic reviews.

Objectives: This study aims to present the Overview Reporting Map (ORMap), a structured approach for summarizing and visually representing results from overviews of Cochrane Systematic Reviews (CSRs). The goal is to address the difficulty in effectively reporting information from overviews of reviews.

Study Design And Setting: ORMap was developed progressively and applied through two projects with the World Health Organization (WHO): Best Evidence for Rehabilitation and Rehabilitation COVID-19 Evidence Response.

SCaRES - scoliosis caregiver response and emotional scale: a Rasch-validated questionnaire to measure the psychological impact of children's scoliosis on their parents.

Purpose: Having a child diagnosed with Idiopathic Scoliosis (IS) can be stressful for parents who report higher rates of mood disturbances, anxiety, and diminished quality of life (QoL). Currently, there are no questionnaires to assess the QoL of this population. This study aimed to develop a Rasch-validated questionnaire to measure the impact of their children's pathology and treatment on the QoL of parents of IS patients.

The new rehabilitation definition for research purposes could improve rehabilitation description in Cochrane Systematic Reviews.

Introduction: In 2022, Cochrane Rehabilitation developed a new definition of rehabilitation for research purposes with 80 global stakeholders, aiming to support and improve the production and reporting of primary and evidence-synthesis rehabilitation studies.

Objective: 1.To compare how Cochrane Systematic Review (CSR) authors describe rehabilitation interventions against criteria derived from the new rehabilitation definition.

Safety and tolerability of kinesiotaping as add-on treatment of pressure injuries.

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the safety and tolerability of kinesiotaping (KT) as an adjunctive treatment of medium-to-severe sacral or heel pressure injuries (PIs) in patients with spinal cord injury (SCI), and to explore the effects of tape application in promoting the healing process.

Method: This pilot study was conducted in a tertiary specialised rehabilitation hospital in Italy. Patients with SCI within three months of an acute traumatic or non-traumatic event; any neurological level; complete or incomplete lesion; stage 3 or 4, sacral and/or heel PI for ≥1 month were included in the study.

Exercise for low back pain in adolescents and children.

This is a protocol for a Cochrane Review (intervention). The objectives are as follows: To assess the benefits and harms of exercise compared to placebo/sham/attention control or no treatment for low back pain in adolescents and children.

Artificial intelligence in clinical medicine: a state-of-the-art overview of systematic reviews with methodological recommendations for improved reporting.

Medicine has become increasingly receptive to the use of artificial intelligence (AI). This overview of systematic reviews (SRs) aims to categorise current evidence about it and identify the current methodological state of the art in the field proposing a classification of AI model (CLASMOD-AI) to improve future reporting. PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, Cochrane library, EMBASE and Epistemonikos databases were screened by four blinded reviewers and all SRs that investigated AI tools in clinical medicine were included.

Evidence synthesis of health policy and systems research in rehabilitation: a protocol for Cochrane overviews of systematic reviews on delivery, governance, financial arrangements, and implementation strategies.

Cochrane Rehabilitation and the World Health Organization (WHO) Rehabilitation Program are collaborating to produce four Cochrane overviews of systematic reviews that synthesize the current evidence from health policy and systems research (HPSR) in rehabilitation. They will focus on the four pillars of HPSR identified by the Cochrane Effective Practice and Organization of Care (EPOC) taxonomy: delivery arrangements, financial arrangements, governance arrangements, and implementation strategies. The protocol describes why HPSR is currently needed in rehabilitation, provides detailed information on the four EPOC pillars in interaction with rehabilitation and reports the Cochrane methods that will be followed to produce the overviews.

The Spine Lengthens During Walking in Healthy Participants, with Age-Related Changes in Kinematic Parameters.

While the importance of the upper and lower limbs in locomotion is well understood, the kinematics of the trunk during walking remains largely unexplored. Two decades ago, a casual observation was reported indicating spine lengthening in a small sample of mostly children during walking, but this observation was never replicated. Objectives: This study aims to verify the preliminary observation that spine lengthening occurs during walking and to explore changes in spine kinematics across three different age groups.

Why we need a representative organization of academic PRM in Europe, and why we need it now.

The growing relevance of rehabilitation in healthcare to address increasing patient needs necessitates robust Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine (PRM) integration into medical education and practice. Academic PRM, rooted in medical faculties, is vital for developing the medical speciality as an academic discipline across Europe, where it faces challenges, including limited representation in medical schools and competition for resources with established disciplines. This commentary advocates establishing a representative organization for academic PRM in Europe.

Efficacy of Kinesiotaping on Functional Outcomes, Pain, and Edema in the Early Rehabilitation After Total Knee Arthroplasty Surgery: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

: The aim of our study was to verify whether the application of Kinesiotaping in addition to the usual treatment was superior to the usual treatment alone regarding functional outcome, pain, and edema in the first 13 days after total knee arthroplasty (TKA) surgery. : The study sample ( = 71) comprised 42.3% men and the mean age was 68.

Role and promise of health policy and systems research in integrating rehabilitation into the health systems.

Despite recognized need and reasonable demand, health systems and rehabilitation communities keep working in silos, independently with minimal recognition to the issues of those who require rehabilitation services. Consolidated effort by health systems and rehabilitation parties, recognizing the value, power and promise of each other, is a need of the hour to address this growing issue of public health importance. In this paper, the importance and the need for integration of rehabilitation into health system is emphasized.

Observation of modulation instability in a coherently driven active fiber ring resonator at 2 μm wavelength.

We report the first, to our knowledge, observation of the nonlinear phenomenon known as modulation instability (MI) in a coherently driven fiber resonator pumped at 1972 nm. To compensate for the very high losses in this spectral region, we have integrated a thulium-doped fiber amplifier inside the cavity. Lower losses allow a lower MI threshold, leading to the observation of this phenomenon at a moderate input power.

Puberty changes the natural history of idiopathic scoliosis: three prediction models for future radiographic curve severity from 1563 consecutive patients.

Purpose: Understanding idiopathic scoliosis (IS) natural history during growth is essential for shared decision-making between patients and physicians. We developed a retrospective model with the largest available sample in the literature and we aimed to investigate if using three peri-pubertal growth periods provides better prediction than a unique model.

Methods: Secondary analysis of a previous study on IS natural history data from radiographs before and at the first consult.