Francesco Vincenzo Ferraro

University of Derby · Department of Sport and Exercise

To examine the effects of 8‐week unsupervised, home‐based inspiratory muscle training (IMT) on the balance and physical performance of healthy older adults. Fifty‐nine participants (74 ± 6 years) were assigned randomly in a double‐blinded fashion to either IMT or sham‐IMT, using a pressure threshold loading device. The IMT group performed 30‐breat...

The inspiratory muscles contribute to balance via diaphragmatic contraction and by increasing intra-abdominal pressure. We have shown inspiratory muscle training (IMT) improves dynamic balance significantly with healthy community-dwellers. However, it is not known how the magnitude of balance improvements following IMT compares to that of an establ...

Accidental falls are the leading cause of fatal and non-fatal injuries amongst older adults in the Western world. Around 30% of people over 65 years will fall at least once a year in the UK, whereas 50% of people over 80 years will fall annually (NICE 2013). Recently, falls prevention programmes have begun to incorporate multidimensional movements...

L'allenamento inspiratorio (Inspiratory Muscle Training), da anni oggetto di studi e ricerche, è stato introdotto con successo in campo terapeutico e sportivo. Nel testo, rivolto a esperti e non, ne sono illustrati i fondamenti: preparazione motoria, psicologica, tecnica e coordinata, realizzata attraverso l'esercizio fisico-respiratorio. Guida all...

Inspiratory muscle training (IMT) improved balance ability and respiratory muscle function in healthy older adults. The current study is a retrospective analysis to explore the relationship between inspiratory muscle function, balance ability, and adaptation to IMT. All participants (total = 129; IMT = 60; age range = 65–85 years) performed inspira...

This research reports on the first narrative review of Biodanza's effects on health and wellbeing. The review explores manuscripts in four languages (i.e., Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and English) and includes more than 200 documents. The protocol was evaluated according to the most recent SANRA guidelines and Kappa statistics. The research shows...

Before the pandemic, art-based teaching and learning approaches were used to enhance wellness and physio-social skills with adolescents and adults. In March 2020, the rise of COVID-19 casualties in Italy required a national lockdown from which, a year later, schools and sports centres are still closed. According to the embodied theories, the body w...

COVID-19 has shaped and changed our normalities, and, with the discovery of new variants, the long-COVID syndrome, and stress disorders, the end of the pandemic seems distant. The current scenario is impacting all aspects of our lives. In particular, many studies reported that the pandemic resulted in increased psychiatric disorders and grief-relat...

Gli Artur-Lab sono laboratori sperimentali strutturati per fronteggiare la crescente emergenza criminalità giovanile. I laboratori prevedono una fase valutativa, allo scopo di identificare nei ragazzi le aree problematiche e le risorse che saranno messe in campo nella successiva fase di intervento attraverso le arti performative (ad esempio danza e...

Introduction. In March 2020, the Italian Ministry of Health prohibited individuals movement in the whole national territory. Schools closed, and teachers, educators, and students had to adapt to distanced learning ever since. However, the Italian National Institute of Statistic reported that only one student out of four could follow distanced learn...

The AGOGHÈ Project aims to produce innovative and entrepreneurial models following the global socioeconomic changes caused by COVID-19. Its objectives include (i) generating awareness, education and social skills through dedicated ethical workstations and workgroups; (ii) developing a novel figure called “Social Trainer” who represents a profession...

The following manuscript shows the research pattern followed by the transdisciplinary team of pedagogists. Navigating throughout the pre-, cross- and post-COVID scenarios, the manuscript summarised the evolution of the research and the results gained in the last two years from adolescents and teachers. The aim is to open a discussion upon results a...

During the Covid-era, we rethought our lives. The pandemic produced profound changes in the organization of the socio-economic tissue. The educational system, in particular, underwent a forced reconsideration of classrooms’ space and lessons’ time (Save The Children, 2020). We are going through a sort of “educational atopy” since the traditional co...

Before the pandemic, art-based teaching and learning approaches were used to enhance wellness and physio-social skills with adolescents and adults (Stueck & Tofts Paul, 2016). In March 2020, the rise of COVID-19 casualties in Italy required a national lockdown from which, a year later, schools and sports centres are still closed. According to the e...

The operational guidelines of the National Strategy and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development towards educational activities underline the importance of fostering creative, inclusive, and non-violent social-communities in resilient territories; for an educational action-oriented towards social sustainability development (Varga et al. 2007) an...

The operational guidelines of the National Strategies and the 2030 European Agenda for Sustainable Development towards educational activities underline the importance of fostering creative, inclusive, and positive communities in resilient territories; for an educational action-oriented towards social sustainability development and well-being. In th...

To stop the spread of COVID-19 in March 2020, the Italian government declared a health emergency, imposing the national lockdown. A year later, the pandemic still blocks the non-professional sports sectors, including gyms and dance schools, to reopen. The distance created with remote, online training session might deprive all the cognitive, emotion...

Coronavirus disease has imposed substantial modification in everyday life, forcing the educational system to reshape the teaching and learning characteristics, qualities, environments, forms, and times. From this experience, the educational outcomes are emerging mortified. The body experience is essential to educate, for an ideal of wellness that i...

Due to COVID-19 pandemic emergency, the Italian government has enforced a strict lockdown policy. Hence, schools had to transfer from face-to-face classroom to distanced learning (DL) with effects upon the learning experience. The following study aims to report the students’ perception during the DL. In particular, the relationship with PC and smar...

The first case of pneumonia was reported on 8 December 2019 and identified on 7 January 2020 as COVID-19. On 9 March 2020, to stop the spread of COVID-19 cases, the Italian government declared a health emergency, forcing all citizens to go into lockdown. Suddenly, schools were constrained to using distance learning strategies with little or limited...

The civil education approach uses sports practise as a preventive intervention to increase self-awareness and to help modulate emotion in adolescents. Indeed, sports participation results in a better quality of life, more favourable cardio-metabolic and sleeping profiles and a healthier body composition. Adolescents involved in sport activities als...