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Call center 93 253 21 00

Monday to Sunday, from 8 am to 8:30 pm

Scheduling or change of appointment +34 93 253 21 00

Monday to Friday, from 8 am to 7 pm

Private Care - International Patients +34 93 600 97 83

Monday to Friday, from 8 am to 7 pm

SJD Barcelona Children's Hospital

Passeig Sant Joan de Déu, 2, 08950 Esplugues de Llobregat

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Rehabilitation and Physical Medicine

Rehabilitation and Physical Medicine
 Una paciente realiza ejercicios de rehabilitación con ayuda de un dispositivo en el Hospital Sant Joan de Déu Barcelona

We treat patients who are suffering from any sort of disability and help them to recover as much functional capacity as possible to facilitate their rapid reintegration.

The Rehabilitation and Physical Medicine Department seeks to prevent, diagnose and treat disability in children and adolescents. Our team is made up of various rehabilitation specialists, and we engage in coordinated efforts and simultaneous multidisciplinary collaboration with experts from other disciplines.

We take a comprehensive, personalised, highly scientific and human approach to each patient. Our goal is centred on the interests of each child and the involvement of the family in our programme. We start with intensive care in the acute phase during admission and follow-up with outpatient care when the child has returned home.

We take part in scientific studies, with a particular emphasis on innovation, and later apply the results to our treatments.

Who are our patients

Children and adolescents with secondary temporary or permanent disabilities of different origins. The most common are:  

  • Acquired brain damage due to traumatic brain injury, stroke and infectious or tumoural processes.
  • Neuromuscular diseases. Muscular dystrophies, including Duchenne muscular dystrophy, spinal muscular atrophy and neuropathies such as Charcot–Marie–Tooth disease and myaesthenia gravis.
  • Spina bifida and neural tube disorders.
  • Congenital and acquired child spinal injury. 
  • Musculoskeletal diseases and deformities.
  • Polytrauma and sequelae of fractures in general.
  • Malformation syndromes (arthrogryposis and achondroplasia).
  • Missing limbs and amputation. 
  • Obstetric brachial palsy.
  • Cerebral palsy.
  • Congenital muscular torticollis.
  • Rheumatic diseases.
  • Cystic fibrosis and other respiratory system conditions.
  • Oncological diseases: central nervous system tumours, leukaemia and bone tumours.
  • Bladder and anal sphincter dysfunction in children and adolescents.

Why SJD Barcelona Children's Hospital?

Wide experience

We are the largest child and youth rehabilitation department in Spain and the only one exclusive to these populations in Catalonia.

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Highly specialized team

We implement specialised programmes for complex diseases and have accrued recognised experience.

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Multidisciplinarity and social support

We work in collaboration with all medical and surgical departments to plan the best treatment and its subsequent evaluation.

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Innovation and excellence

We have developed different systems, devices and designs to facilitate patient recovery.

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Specialties and services

The rehabilitation physician is a specialized professional in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, which has extensive training in brain, spinal cord and musculoskeletal injuries. It aims to enhance and restore functional ability and life quality of people who have some kind of disability. Is an expert in the development of comprehensive treatment programs focused on the patient and performs the coordination of the entire team of professionals involved in it.

Treatments we offer

Rehabilitation medicine
Physiotherapy
Occupational therapy
Speech therapy unit
Early stimulation

Our professionals

Natalia Rodríguez Nieva
Paediatric Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Physician
Julita María Medina Cantillo
Paediatric Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Physician
Meritxell Vigo Morancho
Paediatric Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Physician
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Ariadna Riera Castelló
Paediatric Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Physician
Ana Cecilia Bisbal Haybo
Paediatric physiotherapist
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Inés Mata Múgica
Paediatric physiotherapist
Ismael Pajares Valera
Paediatric physiotherapist
Gemma Calaf Valls
Paediatric physiotherapist
Nuria Padrós Domingo
Paediatric physiotherapist
Obdulia Moya Arcos
Paediatric physiotherapist
Montserrat Juncà Carrasco
Paediatric physiotherapist
Andrea López Erdozain
Paediatric physiotherapist
María Eizmendi Alquiza
Paediatric physiotherapist
Elsa Povedano Bullo
Occupational therapist
Alessandra Zoccali
Speech theraphist

Research

Our professionals participate in different lines of research:

  • Multicentre clinical trials with new drugs for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, spinal muscular atrophy and nemaline myopathy.
  • European multicentre studies on outcome measures in children with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA).
  • Validation of the Spanish version of the Hammersmith Functional Motor Scale (HFMS) for children with SMA and of the EK and EK2 for neuromuscular patients in general. 
  • Project to study the natural history of spinal muscular atrophy.
  • Project to study the natural history of collagen diseases.

Innovation

The Rehabilitation and Physical Medicine Department is constantly evolving thanks to its capacity for innovating and devising new support systems 

  • Development of an innovative computer game, Funny Friends, to make respiratory physiotherapy more fun.
  • Participation in developing a robotic exoskeleton to facilitate walking in children with spinal muscular atrophy. Project in development, in collaboration with the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)
  • Development of a low-cost robotic system to aid in gait rehabilitation in children with serious motor disorders in collaboration with the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC), in a RecerCaixa project. 
  • Use of virtual reality with the "hand tutor" for arm rehabilitation in children with hemiplegia. 
  • Design of a virtual platform to develop an exercise programme focused on speech disorders. The goal is previwed to be able to work from home under the supervision of speech therapists from the Hospital.

Teaching

SJD Barcelona Children's Hospital is a university hospital affiliated with the University of Barcelona, with which we share our knowledge and train professionals so that they may specialise in high-complexity medicine. Each year, 10 resident physicians are trained in the Rehabilitation and Physical Medicine Unit. In addition, we offer various undergraduate and postgraduate courses.

Undergraduate:

  • Theory classes at several universities given by professionals from the department.
  • Practical training programme for students from university schools of physiotherapy and students from university schools of occupational therapy in Catalonia.  

Postgraduate:

  • Training of Resident Physicians (MIR) specialising in Rehabilitation from other Spanish and international hospitals with no rehabilitation unit for children.
  • Training of physiotherapists from postgraduate diploma and master's degree programmes in Paediatric Physiotherapy and Respiratory Physiotherapy.