Localized in Pousada de Saramagos, Nelson Azevedo – Global Therapies is a specialized rehabilitation centre that has been exponentially growing since eight years now. The main reasons for this success lie on the continuous scientific developments which have been promoted by the work-team, as well as the integration of new knowledge in clinical practice based on evidence. “In addition to the scientific evidence in the field of rehabilitation, we seek evidence from other associated areas to promote the assessment and treatment of the individual in an integrated manner, from sports rehabilitation to rheumatologic rehabilitation not forgetting neurological rehabilitation nor the respiratory rehabilitation”, refers Nelson Azevedo, head of the centre. This rehabilitation centre handles either acute phase situations or more preventive approaches, with functional exercise classes as the clinical Pilates, and specific methods of postural correction as the Mezieres method or the Neuromodulation Fascial.

The company is formed by a young and dynamic team with professionals linked to specialized rehabilitation including physiotherapists, podiatrists, dieticians, exercise physiologists, speech therapists, and experts in traditional Chinese medicine, constantly working towards the objective of developing integrated rehabilitation focused on the individual as a whole. Besides, the centre works closely with other centres of excellence in healthcare, seeking complementarities and specificities in the solutions to be developed in each patient.

Innovation and Development at the vanguard of rehabilitation
The rehabilitation sector is becoming more and more competitive each day, and for that reason is vital to be able to provid differentiating elements to stand out in the market. When we asked about what would be the distinctive elements of its rehabilitation centre, Nelson Azevedo was confident that “what differentiates our centre is the innovation and development of new rehabilitation techniques, combined with techniques far and widely validated and used as effective therapies.” The technical development and investment in continuing training are issues that he considers of utmost importance and, according to him, the company seeks to encourage these values, covering all stakeholders and services provided. Furthermore, “the consolidation of our own identity, with assessments and different treatments, are features of extreme importance when positive differentiation is pursued in an increasingly competitive market,” also emphasised the director of the rehabilitation centre.

Creating synergies with other reference entities, mainly in the assessment of physiological high performance and with biomechanics labs, contributes to promote a better differentiation in the sporting evaluation. And it is in this sense that this rehabilitation centre has been collaborating on several research projects with higher education institutions, in areas such as new intervention systems in neuromuscular disorders and postural evaluation studies, standing to prepare a large scale work on evaluation of spinal deformities in young people, through a pioneering technology. It was in this context that the partnership with Fibrenamics came up, in consequence of some R&D projects that had began in 2013.

“Many solutions with real impact on the market”
In Nelson Azevedo’s opinion, the working methodology developed by Fibrenamics is extremely dynamic and therefore he feels that there is an identification with the philosophy of his own company concerning to know how to be in the health market. “It is a very important partnership for us as it expands and consolidates the most important vectors of our growth which are the technological and the scientific development.”

This rehabilitation centre is guided by permanent technical and methodological improvement, therefore, through partnerships like this, it is possible to follow and promote this type of development. “There are other collaborations with other research groups our centre is part of”, but, according to Nelson Azevedo, they do not have the dynamism that Fibrenamics shows in each project. “The demand for differentiated knowledge in health along with a deeply understanding of the current problems in the market, as well as their needs in terms of new products, make this synergy an added-value for both organizations”, argues the head of the company.

Currently, the centre is working together with Fibrenamics in developing postural correction sweaters, whose purpose is the correction of the major spinal deformities due to bad postures, and sports socks filled with injury prevention components and proprioceptive control, as well as clinical studies of products in development for their validation.

The main goals of this partnership are to create synergies through common projects from which we can create know-how and use this knowledge into useful purposes for health sector and society in general.

Nelson Azevedo ensures that there are more projects that will be launched in the future in order to create solutions that aim to change the paradigm of rehabilitation, creating alternatives that enable continuous rehabilitation (24/7) so that the patient can quickly reintegrate its active role in an increasingly demanding society. In addition, he states that one of the challenges that currently subsist in rehabilitation relates to the modulation of connective tissue in the functional recovery process. This tissue, with particular interest the fascial tissue, is of an increasing importance in physical rehabilitation. One of the most interesting characteristics of this tissue is the behaviour of the fibres that make up its nature.

“We are developing new techniques that allow us to perform more effective and faster treatments for diseases that involve the fascia (type of fibrous connective tissue that spreads throughout the body continuously). In this area, Fibrenamics will have a particularly important role in the development of new technologies that allow better knowledge and bigger effectiveness in those treatments, since we’re dealing with ‘fibres’. Regarding medium and long term goals, we expect to value-added solutions to the market, as a result of this partnership,” ensures Nelson Azevedo.

Date: April/2016
Interviewed: Nelson Azevedo, Clinical Director - Nelson Azevedo