In the field of physical education and adapted sport, the main aim of the Institut Guttmann is to favour the participation of people with disabilities in the field of physical education and activity in their immediate environment. We therefore provide users with the necessary resources to ensure successful inclusion:
- Improving their functional capacities and motor skills.
- Promoting social inclusion and participation in activities in their community and environment.
- Getting them interested in physical activity; this helps them continue with the activity once the rehabilitation process is completed.
Sport is one of the most important social manifestations of our times. The social, cultural and educational values that playing sports provides for human personal and social development mean that sport is a source of health. This can be understood not only at a physical level, but in the broadest dimension of a person’s well-being.
Did you know that the Institut Guttmann was designated a Paralympic hospital during the 1992 Olympic Games?
Learn about the history of sport as part of neurorehabilitation treatment and the origins of adapted sports.
Therapeutic Physical Education
In the hospital’s sports facilities, patients receive therapeutic physical education and play sports to help contribute to their neurorehabilitation process. The hospital’s physical education teachers design a programme of activities based on the functional diversity of the people taking part.
In-hospital physical education for comprehensive therapeutic purposes is part of the therapeutic treatment used to improve conditional and coordinative capacities as well as psychological and relational capacities. By providing patients with a greater degree of functional independence and getting them playing sport, they develop healthy habits that can be maintained once the rehabilitation period is over.
Inclusive Physical Education
The Institut Guttmann promotes and organises various projects for Inclusive Physical Education in children, young people and adults with a neurological disability and in their community settings.
From the hospital to the municipal sports centre.
As part of Barcelona City Council’s inclusive physical education programme Esport Inclou (“Sport Includes”), the Institut Guttmann takes patients on outings to sports facilities in Barcelona to participate in one of its yoga or gentle gymnastics classes, and to exercise in the fitness room. This helps patients see how once their rehabilitation process is finished they are able to practise physical activity in a conventional facility and in their immediate surroundings. In turn, the instructors at these facilities are trained in working with people with functional diversity.
Mou-te... i Veuràs! (“Move… and You’ll See!” initiative)
Inclusive cooperative physical activity days for children and young people. These days are run at the hospital by specialist professionals, and children with disabilities take part along with their classmates in a normalised way. The days are also aimed at training future physical education teachers in schools to offer inclusive and cooperative sports activities.
Dofins de Colors
This project from the Institut Guttmann is designed for families, education professionals and instructors from sports centres. It aims to promote the inclusion and socialisation of children with disabilities through a cooperative pedagogical approach in physical education and sports.
Dofins de Colors promotes education in values with cooperative activities and methodologies through physical activity and play, offering inclusive activities so that children with different functional capacities can grow and have fun together while helping each other.
You will find a host of games and activities for everyone on the Dofins de Colors website. Get involved, take part, and do your bit to make a more inclusive society, together!
Camp Spinal H20
An international watersports camp for young people with spinal cord injury, co-organised by the Institut Guttmann and Norway’s Sunnaas Hospital. A group of people with functional diversity live together in the city of Barcelona for a week, carrying out a full programme of sporting, cultural, training and accessibility activities.
Adapted sport
At the Institut Guttmann, sporting activities are an integral part of the rehabilitation process for people with disabilities. Adapted sport has become a powerful therapeutic ally to improve their health, degree of functional autonomy, self-esteem, and relationship skills; all of these factors help improve better social integration.
Promoting adapted sports and the development of inclusive sports is part of the Institut Guttmann’s founding aims and, therefore, of its social activities and raising awareness in society.
“The noblest purpose of sports for people with disabilities is helping to restore the connection with the world that surrounds them.”
Dr. Sir Ludwig Guttmann
Adapted sport or inclusive sport?
Is adapted sport the same as inclusive sport? It’s not the same. Adapted sport consists of adapting a sporting discipline to the needs of people with a disability. In inclusive sport, on the other hand, people with a disability practise a sport recreationally alongside people without disabilities. In this case, the people themselves adapt to the sport, and the sport does not adapt to them. This form of exercise is highly recommended, since in addition to providing physical and mental well-being, it helps improve quality of life and social inclusion.
School for Adapted Sports for Beginners
In the Adapted Sports for Beginners Programme, patients and future athletes are trained in the sports disciplines that they are interested in and show skills in. Once the rehabilitation process is finished, the new athletes are referred to clubs and associations close to their home so that they can continue with their chosen sport.
The Guttmann Sports Games
Every year, the Institut Guttmann organises its Adapted Sports Games to show patients the great potential and existing options available to play sports after completing their rehabilitation process. A round table discussion is also held where elite athletes with disabilities share their experiences and explain the benefits of practising physical activity.
Outdoor excursions
Outdoor excursions are regularly organised so that patients (adults, young people and children) with disabilities come into contact with different sports and can practise them in the open air and in a different environment than usual, contributing to mental and health benefits.
These are also inclusive activities that can be shared with family and friends, making them more likely to continue with the activity in future. Some of the activities we offer are skiing, sailing, cycling, SCUBA diving and kayaking.
HospiSport
HospiSport is a rehabilitation programme for people with a physical disability who are in hospital or have been recently discharged. The aim is to provide an introduction to physical activities like swimming, boccia, athletics, archery, fencing, tennis, hockey, sailing and skiing to people with a physical disability. These activities work on physical factors like mobility, strength and agility, which are all important for the autonomy and quality of life of people with disabilities.
Trips are made to a municipal sports centre where people are introduced to aquatic activities in a conventional facility. With therapeutic, sports and educational objectives, and coordinated by the Institut Guttmann and the Catalan Sports Federation for People with Physical Disabilities (FCEDF), the activity gives people the chance to do regular physical activity in a normalised environment.
Sport & Life Guttmann Club
A programme of sporting, cultural and social activities for everyone. Join us and take part with your family and friends!