First Inter-hospital Sports Games for people with spinal cord injuries in Spain
First Inter-hospital Sports Games for people with spinal cord injuries in Spain
From swimming pool to archery and from rugby to cycling, curling or basketball. 47 people with spinal cord injury from 10 hospitals in Spain have shared three days of sport, coexistence and exchange of experiences in the first edition of the ActivaT Interhospital Sports Games, organized by Guttmann Hospital for Neurorehabilitation from September 8 to 10.
This has been a pioneering initiative in the State to promote physical activity and adapted sport as a fundamental part of the rehabilitation process and, above all, of life after discharge.The 47 people with spinal cord injury have been accompanied by 33 professionals from their reference hospitals: Complejo Hospitalario Universitario de A Coruña, Complejo Hospitalario Universitario Insular de Gran Canaria, Hospital Universitario Cruces de Barakaldo, Fundación Lesionado Medular (Madrid), Hospital Nacional de Paraplejicos de Toledo, Hospital Sant Joan de Déu Palma-Inca, Hospital Universitario Los Madroños (Madrid), Hospital Universitari Vall d’Hebron, Hospital Universitario Virgen del Rocío (Seville) and Guttmann Neurorehabilitation Hospital.
During the three days, 21 sports disciplines were practiced at the l'Hospitalet Nord Municipal Sports Complex and at the Guttmann Neurorehabilitation Hospital, in Badalona.The program has also included the participation of leading athletes: Sergio Garrote, Paralympic medalist in cycling and Paula Leitón, Olympic medalist in water polo.
Sport as an essential part of rehabilitation
With this initiative, Guttmann reinforces its role in promoting physical activity and adapted sport and takes another step so that sport can become, beyond rehabilitation, a tool for health, autonomy, inclusion and a life project. In fact, the Paralympic Games were created following the initiative of Sir Ludwig Guttmann, a neurologist who in the 1940s incorporated sport into the treatment of people with spinal cord injury at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in the United Kingdom.
This first edition also aims to be the starting point of a collaboration network between spinal cord injury units and rehabilitation centers in the State, sharing knowledge and strengthening the role of adapted sport inside and outside the hospital. The Games are born with a biennial vocation, with the idea that each edition will be held in a different hospital.
The ActivaT Games have the main support of the Provincial Council of Barcelona and the City Council of l'Hospitalet de Llobregat, as well as the collaboration of the l'Hospitalet Nord Municipal Sports Complex, Fundesplai, Ambulancias Tomàs, the Catalan Federation of Sports for Persons with Physical Disabilities, Sodexo, Coca-Cola, Coloplast, the College of Physiotherapists of Catalonia, Kern Pharma and Enovis. In addition, there is the involvement of clubs, federations, organizations and sports teams.
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