Raoul Saggini

• Professor
• chief of PRM at University of Chieti-Pescara

Abstract Good fundamentals of posture and balance are essential for the efficient performance of both simple daily tasks and more complex movement patterns. In particular, postural balance is the ability to keep the body in equilibrium and to regain balance after the shift of body segments: postural control mechanisms of integration of the visual,...

Lymphedema is a chronic disease with an evolutionary and often disabling nature, which represents an abnormal and excessive accumulation of lymphatic fluid on the interstitial side, both due to altered morphology of the lymphatic vessel and excessive lymph formation with difficulty in drainage. This condition is characterized by stasis of water and...

[Purpose] Our study aimed to estimate the effects of a supervised, intensive, home-based-pulmonary-rehabilitation (HBPR) program for mild and moderate chronic-obstructive-pulmonary-disease (COPD) patients. [Participants and Methods] A retrospective, case-control study. Forty-three (N=43) patients were observed, divided into Treatment-Group (TG) and...

Background Aging has been associated with the progressive depletion of lean mass, reductions in muscle strength and the coordination of the lower extremities, accompanied by decreased gait assurance and balance control. Also, less balance control favors falling which is the leading cause of injury among the elderly. The aim of this systematic revie...

Background: Fibromyalgia is a chronic pain syndrome which occurs in the absence of an organic damage, whom causes is still unclear. Aims of this pilot study were to investigate the neural correlates of fibromyalgia in response to pain-related visual stimuli and explore the psychological differences among fibromyalgia, chronic low back pain (CLBP) a...

Introduction: By 6 months following a stroke, approximately 65% of stroke survivors cannot incorporate into daily activities, resulting completely dependent. The aim of this study is to assess the overall outcome in psychological and physical well-being, increase in residual abilities, reintegration and social inclusion for people with chronic disa...

Introduction: By 6 months following a stroke, approximately 65% of stroke survivors cannot incorporate into daily activities, resulting completely dependent. The aim of this study is to assess the overall outcome in psychological and physical well-being, increase in residual abilities, reintegration and social inclusion for people with chronic dis...

Background: Breast cancer survivors report negative impacts of cancer, augmented by specific vulnerabilities to body changes, negative self-assessment, and quality-of-life concerns. The main objective of our work was to test the effect of a rehabilitation program on breast cancer patients by evaluating the change in their physical well-being durin...

Fatigue is a multidimensional symptom with both physical and cognitive aspects, which can affect the quality of daily and working life activities. Motor Imagery (MI) represents an important resource for use during the rehabilitation processes, useful, among others, for job integration/reintegration, of neurological pathologies, such as Multiple Scl...

Background: Non-specific neck pain (NNP) affects 30-50% of the general population, and it often leads to severe disability. Several manual therapy techniques are available to reduce pain and disability and to improve cervical range of motion and functional activities. Muscle Energy Technique (MET) showed more evidence for treating such a disorder....

Good fundamentals of posture and balance are essential for the efficient performance of both simple daily tasks and more complex movement patterns. In particular, postural balance is the ability to keep the body in equilibrium and to regain balance after the shift of body segments: postural control mechanisms of integration of the visual, vestibula...

Neck pain is defined as perceived pain, originating in an area bounded above by the nuchal line, below by an imaginary line passing through the spinous process of T1 and laterally by the sagittal plane tangent to the lateral edges of the neck. Our purpose is to investigate the effectiveness of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) in p...

Background Determine the effects of an integrated rehabilitation protocol, including botulinum toxin and conventional rehabilitation exercise plus end-effector (EE) robotic training for functional recovery of the upper limb (UL) compared to training with the robot alone in post-chronic stroke patients with mild to severe spasticity, compared to tra...

Objective To examine the pain-reducing effects of intra-articular oxygen–ozone (O 2 O 3 ) injections and mechanical focal vibration (mFV) versus O 2 O 3 injections alone in patients with knee osteoarthritis. Methods Patients with chronic pain (>6 weeks) due to knee osteoarthritis (II–III on the Kellgren–Lawrence scale) were consecutively enrolled...

In this study we used a combination of measures including regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) and heart rate variability (HRV) to investigate brain–heart correlates of longitudinal baseline changes of chronic low back pain (cLBP) after osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT). Thirty-two right-handed patients were randomised and divided into 4 week...

ABSTRACT Background: Telerehabilitation (TR) in chronic stroke patients has emerged as a promising modality to deliver rehabilitative treatmentat- home. The primary objective of our methodical clinical study was to determine the efficacy of a novel rehabilitative device in terms of recovery of function in daily activities and patient satisfaction a...

Different devices for mechano-acoustic muscle vibration became available on the market in the last ten years. Although the use of these vibrators is increasing in research and clinical settings, the features of their stimulation output were never described in literature. In this study we aimed to quantify and compare the stimulation output of the f...

Background: Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome (BWS) is a genetic overgrowth syndrome. The excess growth can manifest as whole-body or regional overgrowth in approximately 25% of patients. Purpose: The aim of this case report is to show an original rehabilitation protocol in BWS for improving the recovery of postural control in asymmetric body growth o...

Objective To investigate whether chronic pain (CP) patients with somatization reported higher alexithymic traits than those without somatization and to study the different relationships between psychological characteristics, pain, health-related quality of life (HRQL), and somatization. Method A consecutive sample of 134 CP treatment-seeking outpa...

Objective: To determine whether asymptomatic flexible flat feet show specific postural assessment with respect to neutral feet in 6-year-old children. Methods: In this cross-sectional observational study, 164 subjects were observed and divided into two groups: 57 with flexible flat feet and 107 with neutral feet. A non-quantitative inspection by...

Idiopathic facial palsy is the most common disease of the VII cranial nerve. There are many treatments to facilitate recovery from this condition: pharmacological, surgical, rehabilitative, but the effectiveness of some of these treatments, especially the latter, is still under discussion. The purpose of this umbrella review of systematic reviews i...

Electromagnetic fields (EMFs) provide a non-invasive, safe, and easy method to treat pain with respect to musculoskeletal diseases. The purpose of this systematic review was to describe the use of electromagnetic therapy in the rehabilitation field by investigating the efficacy in acute and chronic pain in the musculoskeletal disorders. A database...

Parkinson disease (PD) is a chronic neurodegenerative condition that leads to progressive disability. PD-related reductions in muscle strength have been reported to be associated with lower functional performance and balance confidence with an increased risk of falls. Progressive resistance training (PRT) improves strength, balance, and functional...

Purpose Facet joint syndrome (FJS) is an arthritis-like condition of the spine that can be a significant source of low back pain (LBP). Ozone therapy (OT) could be an additional treatment method. We evaluated the therapeutic results of percutaneous injection of ozone to ablate acute LBP caused by FJS. Methods A 73-year-old Caucasian woman was trea...

The present randomised placebo controlled trial explored the extent to which osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT) affects brain activity, particularly the insula, during both an “interoceptive awareness” and “exteroceptive awareness” task in a sample of 32 right-handed adults with chronic Low Back Pain (CLBP) randomly assigned to either the OMT...

PURPOSE: The Interventional Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine (IPRM) is the possibility by physiatrist to insert in the individual rehabilitation project, with the most appropriate timing, an interventional procedure to support the conservative applied methods. As other techniques of interventional physical medicine that use needle, oxygen-ozono...

Dysfunctions of the pelvic floor related to mixed urinary incontinence in women are pathologies extremely limiting for patients bodily and psychosocial conditions, altering their quality of life. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of focal mechanical vibrations in mixed urinary incontinence. In this retrospective observational case–...

Objective: Capacitive and resistive electric transfer therapy (CARE) reduces pain and improves quality of life for many orthopaedic degenerative and inflammatory disorders. The research aim was to determine the effects of CARE on painful shoulder. The outcomes were pain reduction and recovery of shoulder function. Methods: A retrospective, obser...

Background: Posture and somatic structure could positively influence athletic gestures for their biomechanical implications. Working on neuromuscular activity, offers the possibility of intervention on postural control. The aim of this study was to demonstrate the possibility of interacting with the human body system through the spinal reflex path...

Introduzione: L' Apnea Ostruttiva del Sonno (OSA) e' una patologia caratterizzata da ripetuti episodi di occlusione delle alte vie aeree che si verificano durante il sonno, che determinano condizioni di desaturazioni periodiche con una frammentazione del sonno. Una delle cause fisiopatologiche dell'OSA e' il restringimento delle vie aeree durante i...

This study aims to verify whether an integrated rehabilitation protocol comprising neuromuscular manual therapy and focused mechanical-acoustic vibrations can significantly reduce pelvic floor dysfunctions in women affected by stress, urge, or mixed urinary incontinence. Sixty-two women were treated with a combination of neuromuscular manual therap...

Background Mesotherapy can be included as an ancillary treatment in the management of localized pain in rehabilitation, but there are no definitive treatment protocols for this approach. Objectives The purpose of this review was to examine new indications for more standard protocols of mesotherapy in rehabilitation. Materials and methods This sys...

Introduzione: L'Apnea Ostruttiva del Sonno (OSA) è una patologia caratterizzata da ripetuti episodi di occlusione delle alte vie aeree che si verificano durante il sonno, che determinano condizioni di desaturazioni periodiche con una frammentazione del sonno. Una delle cause fisiopatologiche dell'OSA è il restringimento delle vie aeree durante il s...

The recovery of the orthostatism after a severe acquired brain injury (sABI) is an essential objective to pursue in order to avoid the occurrence of secondary complications resulting from prolonged immobilization to which the patient is subjected during the acute phase. This randomized controlled trial aims to evaluate the effect of verticalization...

In recent times the survival possibilities of cancer patients have increased because of an evolution in diagnostic and therapeutic techniques. Because of that modern medicine have to face new problems related to cancerous pathologies such as cancer outcomes, particularly pain, and recurrences possibilities. These new horizons go hand in hand with t...

Pelvic floor is a complex of muscles, membranes and structural and suspensive ligaments that creates a base plane for the abdominal-pelvic cavity. The role of this structure is really important in the genesis of specific pathologies affecting the psychological, physical and social sphere of the patient. One of the major problem connected to pelvic...

Lung cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer death worldwide. Surgical removal remains the best option for most tumors of this type. Reduction of cigarette consumption in patients with lung cancer candidates for the surgery could limit the impact of tobacco on postsurgical outcomes. Breathing exercises appear to help combat cigarette cravings...

Background: The "contralateral effect" phenomenon refers to the strength gain in the opposite, untrained homonymous muscle following unilateral training. Previous studies showed that neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) of the right quadriceps facilitated maximal voluntary strength and efferent neural drive of the left knee extensors, while...

The aquatic environment has a high potential in rehabilitation treatment of acute lesions and in chronic diseases. The Safe Bearing Back method is proposed to stimulate the reorganization of deteriorated sensory neuromotor skills. The aim of the present study was to verify the effectiveness and the long-term maintenance of the benefits of a specifi...

Low back pain frequently involves a multifactorial etiology and requires medical attention. The aim of the study was to assess the associations among pain, posture, and autonomic nervous system function in patients with low back pain, using neuromuscular manual therapy versus a generic peripheral manual stimulation (back massage therapy). Twenty yo...

Background The cause of heel pain among soccer players is multifactorial and is related to repetitive microtrauma due to impact forces involving technical moves, but also the playground, the exercise mode, the recovery time, the climatic conditions and the footwear used. Aim To investigate the aetiology of plantar heel pain of soccer players with...

Introduction: Osteoporosis is a systemic disease of the skeleton characterized by a reduction in bone mass and alterations in microarchitecture accompanied by increase in fracture risk, with a relevant decline in quality of life and important social, economic, and health implications, representing one of the most common causes of disability and a...

This review updates the knowledge on the use of bioprogressive philosophy in current rehabilitation paradigms, focusing on age-related ailments and antiaging strategies. It is a holistic approach that combines aspects of biology and function into the realm of rehabilitation therapy. The bioprogressive philosophy, with assistance of modern technolog...

The "Quality of Life" project arises from the need to observe and define the existing interconnection between a "healthy" lifestyle and the quality of life perceived by people. Starting from the W.H.O. (World Health Organization) definitions of quality of life and health, and analysing the studies that describe the benefits of both movement physica...

Rehabilitation interventions represent an alternative strategy to pharmacological treatment in order to slow or reverse some functional aspects of disability in Parkinson's disease (PD). To date, the neurophysiological mechanisms underlying rehabilitation-mediated improvement in PD patients are still poorly understood. Interestingly, growing eviden...

Objectives: This study aims to verify whether neuromuscular therapy (NMT) or pharmacology therapy (PT) is more effective for reducing symptoms in women affected by primary dysmenorrhea and the effects associated with each treatment. Design: A controlled, randomized, single-blind clinical trial within the framework of the chair of physical medici...

To Whom It May Concern: Following the decisions taken during the last IBRC Conference in Genevea it has been established that: 1)The next lBRC Conference will be organized thank to the disposability Of Professor Zebrowska in Poland (Ustron); 2)The Biophilia workshop will be organized (always thank to the disposability of Professor Zebrowska) in Ust...

This study, underwent in the Chair of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation of “G. d’Annunzio” University of Chieti-Pescara, have the purpose to evaluate the immediate effects on spasticity of lower limbs of two different therapeutic approaches on a single session in patients affected by cerebral palsy. 30 patients has been recruited and divided in...

We intend for Stroke a focal or generalized neurological deficit, which signs and symptoms are showed for at least 24 hours. It is a high incidence and mortality illness, which involve a large number of people, especially the elderly population. Following a stroke, patients are commonly left with debilitating motor and cognitive impairments. This w...

Posture, balance and dynamic movement as during gait need continuous integration of signals coming from visual, vestibular, and proprioceptive apparatus, which are part of the sensory-motor system. All these informations travels along myelinated long nervous fibers belonging to the central nervous system (CNS). So the mechanism underlines impairmen...

Inflammation is an immediate response to damage; in acute phase, it is a form of defense for body and it aims to restitutio ad integrum, in the chronic form itself becomes disease. This mechanism determines inflammatory diseases that are a group of clinical disorders which are characterized by abnormal inflammatory responses such as osteoarthritis,...

Background: Recent studies have highlighted a new use of electrical stimulation called electroceutical therapy that uses electrical stimulation similar to frequency modulated electromagnetic neural stimulation (FREMS) that influence and modify the functions of the body. A pilot study was designed aimed to evaluate the efficacy of “Software Controll...

Sarcopenia is a complex problem and an important emerging field in rehabilitation of the elderly. In 2010, the European working group on sarcopenia in older people (EWGSOP) described sarcopenia as a syndrome characterised by progressive and generalised loss of skeletal muscle mass and strength, associated with a risk of adverse outcomes such as phy...

Walking and balance disturbances and fatigue are key symptoms in patients with MS, and major causes of discomfort, even in patients with mild disability since the early stages of the disease. The aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of end-effector robot-assisted gait training (RAGT) and proprioceptive sensory-motor exercises on unsta...

In rehabilitation medicine, the therapeutic application of vibration energy in specific clinical treatments and in sport rehabilitation is being affirmed by a growing number of medical professionals. Clinical applications of mechanical vibrations exist in a variety of forms: mechanical vibrations, ultrasound therapy, extracorporeal shock waves ther...

The interaction between the body system and a microgravity environment influences the biomechanical behaviors allowing the reorganization of sensorimotor relations through “unique” stimulation of the functional hierarchies of the central nervous system, thus changing the motor gesture as a whole. The physical characteristics of the aquatic environm...

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a chronic immune-mediated disease of the central nervous system, most often diagnosed in young and middle-aged subjects (two-third of which are women). Walking disturbances and fatigue are key symptoms in patients with MS, and major causes of discomfort, even in patients with mild disability since the early stages of the...

Introduction: cerebral palsy (CP) is a condition determined by a damage occurred in the developing brain of children during the first year of life, resulting in cognitive alterations and motor disorders like spasticity. It is known in Literature the efficacy of integrated rehabilitative treatment for CP. The aim of this study, conducted in the Chai...

The mechanical vibration is the simplest and purest form of vibratory energy application in physical and rehabilitation medicine. After the first observations of the effects of vibrations, the scientific research has been directed to the identification of the molecular mechanisms that mediate signal transduction at the tissue level. Although these...

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a chronic immune-mediated disease of the central nervous system, most often diagnosed in young and middle-aged subjects (two-third of which are women). Walking disturbances and fatigue are key symptoms in patients with MS, and major causes of discomfort, even in patients with mild disability since the early stages of the...

Introduction: cerebral palsy (CP) is a condition determined by a damage occurred in the developing brain of children during the first year of life, resulting in cognitive alterations and motor disorders like spasticity. It is known in Literature the efficacy of integrated rehabilitative treatment for CP. The aim of this study, conducted in the Chai...

From a cibernetic approach, the body system can be defined like a net of structural and functional related subsystems with motor equifinality inside the concept of balance, energetic economy and comfort: therefore the ideal posture is the one that allows the maximum effectiveness of motor gesture, in absence of pain with the maximum energetic econo...

Objectives: Comparison between manual and mechanical methods of stimulation in diaphragm and pelvic floor therapy in lymphatic stasis and concomitant irritable bowel syndrome. Material and Methods: 60 subjects were divided into 3 groups: group A underwent a neuromuscular manual therapy of diaphragm and pelvic floor and endospheres therapy in the lo...

Introduction: Proprioceptive postural instability is often the most common presenting symptom of atypical parkinsonism. It leads to deviations of the column, musculoskeletal pain and risk of falling. Alterations of sensorimotor integration can occur, as an increased reliance on visual and auditory information, so the suppression of visual input and...

Extracorporeal Shock Wave Therapy (ESWT), after its first medical application in the urological field for lithotripsy, nowadays represents a valid therapeutical tool also for many musculoskeletal diseases, as well as for regenerative medicine applications. This is possible thanks to its mechanisms of action, which in the non-urological field are no...

Without the intervention of muscular strength and proprioceptive function, humans would not be able to maintain the upright position , it would tend to fall. This continuous solution of instability promotes a more dynamicity , because an unstable balance structure can be put in motion more easily than a stable balanced structure. In fact, human bod...

The impedance is a vector physical quantity that represents the opposition power of a dipole to alternating energetic current or a variable one. The skin is a non-conducting tissue and hardly it is gone through by electrical current. Therefore,comparing the local impedance to ideals parameters, it can get information about the hydroelectric and tis...

Background: The rehabilitation after wrist surgery is extremely important. An instructed therapy in hospital is widely practiced. However, a dependent aging society and rush life style in younger generation have precluded patients to access to the frequent formal therapy. With the advancement in telecommunication technology, we have invented an app...

Abstract In the world, a million adults have peripheral artery disease (PAD), a number that is likely to escalate as the population ages. Lower-extremity PAD is a component of systemic atherosclerosis and confers a markedly heightened risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Material and Methods: Recruited 48 patients Exercise therapy combin...

Many authors analyzed the effect of direct current stimulation (tDCS), but the interest in tDCS effect on the human central nervous system for clinical application developed only in the recent years. Aim of current study is to evaluate the impact of tDCS on WM performance and better understand neuromodulatory effects of tDCS, in order to hypothesiz...

Vitamin B1 (thiamin) is considered to be the oldest vitamin and in 1936 R.R. Williams and colleagues determined its chemical structure and were able to synthesize this vitamin. Vitamin B1 influences pro-apoptotic proteins, mitochondrial membrane potential, cytochrome C release, protein kinases, p38-MAPK, suppresses oxidative stress-induced NF-kappa...

Prolonged and abnormal scarring after trauma, burns and surgical procedures often results in a pathologic scar. We evaluated the efficacy of unfocused shock wave treatment, alone or in combination with manual therapy, on retracting scars on the hands. Scar appearance was assessed by means of the modified Vancouver Scar Scale; functional hand mobili...

Inflammatory mediators, such as cytokines, chemokines and arachidonic acid compounds, lead to vascular permeability and dilation and increase sensitization and pain receptors. Proinflammatory cytokines, including tumor necrosis factor, are involved in the etiology of clinical neurological disorders. These cytokines activate nuclear factor-kappa B (...

Vitamin D has a major role in calcium absorption and maintenance of healthy bones. Vitamin D is also involved in cancer, cardiovascular system, allergic diseases, immune regulation and immune disor¬ders. Irradiation of food as well as animals produces vitamin D and more than 90% of previtamin D3 synthesis in the skin occurs in the epidermis. Vitami...

The shock wave has been widely recognized in literature as a biological regulator; therefore we carried out a review on the activity performed by shock waves on the bone-myofascial tissue system. To date, the application of Shock Wave Therapy (SWT) in musculoskeletal disorders has been primarily used in the treatment of tendinopathies (proximal pla...

Pes anserine bursitis strongly affects quality of life in patients with osteoarthritis. Treatment includes nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), physiotherapy, and injections of corticosteroid, with highly variable responses; recovery can take 10 days to 36 months. Mesotherapy is a minimally invasive technique consisting of subcutaneous in...

Plastic surgery modifies the distribution of mass centers of a person's body segments, changing his or her posture. The functional reorganization processes that lead subjects to re-integrate these body changes into a new stable body (posture) schema is poorly understood but current theories suggest the possible contribution of two components: a fee...

Vitamins are natural components of foods and are organic compounds distinct from fat, carbohydrates and proteins. Vitamin A is the generic descriptor for compounds with the qualitative biological activity of retinol. Unlike beta-carotene, vitamin A is not an antioxidant and its benefit is related to possible boosting of immune reactions. The effect...

Vitamin B1 (thiamin) is considered to be the oldest vitamin and in 1936 R.R. Williams and colleagues determined its chemical structure and were able to synthesize this vitamin. Vitamin B1 influences pro-apoptotic proteins, mitochondrial membrane potential, cytochrome C release, protein kinases, p38-MAPK, suppresses oxidative stress-induced NF-kappa...

Several treatments have been proposed for the management of spasticity. The injection of botulinum toxin type A is considered the gold standard treatment and appears to be safe and effective. The combination between botulinum toxin type A (BTX-A) and physiotherapy (FKT) is thought to be able to enhance the effects. The aim of this study was to asse...

In this study 50 subjects (mean age 48.5 years) were evaluated and treated because suffering from neuromotor cognitive and / or mental disabilities.Subjects underwent two evaluations, (T0) and (T1) through, FIM and Tinetti SCALE and Computerized Postural assessment .Considering the scores of the FIM scale, neurological patients went from a score of...