“Infographic regarding the risk of suicide in the LGTBI community”
16 December, 2022Candidate sought for call for postdoctoral contracts Sara Borrel from ISCIII
21 December, 2022
The research of the iHealthy group, directed by Dr. Pablo Herrero, will receive funding of 755.000 euros for the period 2023-2025 from the ERA-Net NEURON call, through the Carlos III Health Institute
The STROKE-POC study, which will begin in the first half of next year, will be carried out in collaboration with researchers from Canada and Belgium
The European STROKE-POC project, led by the group's principal investigator iHealthy from the Aragón Health Research Institute (IIS Aragón), Dr. Pablo Herrero, has been one of the projects selected in the recent ERA-Net NEURON call and will receive funding of 755.000 euros for the period 2023-2025. The study, which will begin in the first half of next year, seeks to investigate the mechanisms of action and effectiveness of dry needling for the treatment of spasticity in patients who have suffered a stroke, comparing it with the current pharmacological alternative, botulinum toxin.
The project will be developed in coordination with researchers from Canada, led by Mindy Levin (McGill University), and from Belgium, led by Wim Saeys (University of Antwerp). STROKE-POC aims to deepen the knowledge of the mechanisms of action of both treatments and the effects they have on both the central nervous system and the muscle, analyzing possible adverse effects and the cost-effectiveness of each treatment.
“Botulinum toxin is currently the first option for the treatment of post-stroke spasticity, so the objective is to do a comparative study with dry needling and demonstrate that it is equally effective, but with fewer adverse effects and lower costs” , argues Herrero, also a professor of the Physiotherapy Degree at the Faculty of Health Sciences of the University of Zaragoza.
Prevalence
According to data from the Spanish Society of Neurology (SEN), every year between 110.000 and 120.000 people suffer a stroke in Spain, of which half are left with disabling consequences or die. Currently, more than 330.000 Spaniards have some limitation in their functional capacity due to having suffered this stroke.
“One of the most important consequences is spasticity, which limits movement and leads to a greater or lesser degree of disability, depending on the severity of the spasticity. It is a motor disorder that occurs as a consequence of an injury to the central nervous system and, therefore, is common to many neurological pathologies such as stroke, multiple sclerosis or childhood cerebral palsy, among others,” explains Herrero.
“Spasticity is characterized by an increase in muscle activity, which can generate difficulties or even an inability to perform movements, therefore affecting any activity of daily living such as walking or picking up an object where muscle contraction is required.” , Add.
Interdisciplinary approach
The iHealthy research group at IIS Aragón develops its research activity in the area of Physiotherapy with an interdisciplinary approach thanks to the participation of researchers from different areas. Its main lines of research are invasive physiotherapy, telerehabilitation or the use of technologies that allow for “personalized physiotherapy”.
The financing of the project has been obtained through the Carlos III Health Institute (ISCIII), within the framework of the subsidies for international collaboration projects of the 2022 call of the Strategic Action in Health 2021-2023, charged to European funds. of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan.
