Paul Cavendish, Polio Australia’s Clinical Health Educator, attended the 12th World Congress of the International Society of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine from 8 – 12 July 2018 in Paris.

One of the themes of the conference was poliomyelitis:

“Poliomyelitis is still a health issue. Thanks to the vaccination, the acute Poliomyelitis has disappeared from most of the areas around the world, while remaining in some parts. But the polio survivors are young, with a strong vitality despite motor deficiencies which can be severe. They are estimated by WHO to be 20 million around the world, 5-600,000 in Europe. The consequences of paralysis and secondary orthopedic disorders make up real changing challenges all over the life, with the issue of aging and the one of the Post-Polio Syndrome. Research on pain, fatigue, weakness and social consequences are needed. Poliomyelitis is a special topic for PRM” (ISPRM, 2018)

Paul has written informative overviews of each of the polio-specific lectures, which can be viewed by clicking the links here:

Lecture 1: PPS – from a clinical to genetic syndrome
Presenter: Prof. Kristian Borg, Karolinska Institue, Sweden

Lecture 2: Polio History and BMR
Presenter: Thefant Laurent, Rehabilitation Specialist, France

Lecture 3: Compliance with, and barriers to achieving exercise guidelines in people with a history of polio under the age of 65 years
Presenter: Claire Formby, Polio Services of Victoria, Australia

Lecture 4: Sleep Disordered breathing with history of Polio
Presenter: Antoine Leotard, Rehabilitation Specialist, France

Lecture 5: Correlation between Sarcopenia and osteoporosis in patients with PPS
Presenter: Mark Lissens, Rehabilitation Specialist, Belgium

Lecture 6: Low Back Pain in PPS
Presenter: Anne Laure Roy, Rehabilitation Specialist, France

Lecture 7: Effects of tDCS stimulation for PPS patients: protocol for a RCT
Presenter: Yasuyuki Matsushima, Rehabilitation Specialist, Japan