The Barcelona International Convention Centre (CCIB), managed by Fira de Barcelona, will host the second edition of the International Congress of Physiotherapists (FTP’22) on 27 and 28 May. The biannual event, organised by the Col·legi de Fisioterapeutes de Catalunya (Catalan Association of Physiotherapists), will bring together 1,800 professionals and feature nearly 100 national and international speakers. All branches of physiotherapy will be represented at the Congress, and one of the main themes will be long COVID, which, according to the organisation, is demonstrating the urgent need to incorporate more physiotherapists into the public healthcare system.
After a pause due to the pandemic, the second edition of the congress has sold out and will turn Barcelona into the world capital of physiotherapy, with a programme including presentations by several national and international experts to offer a broad and comprehensive view of this discipline. “We want to celebrate that physiotherapy is very much alive and more present than ever in society, and to shape a future in which it is more integrated into primary care and in the system as a whole,” says Ramon Aiguadé, president of the Col·legi de Fisioterapeutes de Catalunya.
In this regard, the emergence of long COVID, after two years of the pandemic, will be one of the focal points of the event. Physiotherapy, with its many contributions and with the existing scientific evidence, is also emerging as a key element for a therapeutic solution. According to the organisation, patients present a set of symptoms that overlap with other post-infection conditions, such as chronic fatigue syndrome, and further progress in terms of diagnosis and treatment is still needed to ease the path to recovery for patients.
100 experts and 11 conference rooms over two days
The event will be opened this Friday with the participation of the Minister of Health of the Government of Catalonia, Josep Maria Argimon. Over the course of two days, the Congress will bring together nearly 100 experts, including leading physiotherapists such as Susan Whitney, Kary Bø, Emilio Puentedura, Tony Donegan, Lars Andersen and Alfio Albasini, who will address topics from all areas of physiotherapy, such as neuromusculoskeletal medicine, geriatrics, sport, neurology, pain, respiratory medicine, therapeutic physical activity, pelvic floor, long COVID, invasive physiotherapy, and inclusion and disability, among others.
In this second edition, several spaces have been created to facilitate the active participation of the 1,800 attendees. For example, a room exclusively for therapeutic physical activity has been added next to the exhibition area, an example of the great paradigm shift in physiotherapy and the way the profession has evolved in the 21st century. Activities will include the opportunity for patient associations and other health professionals to learn first-hand about what physiotherapy can offer them.
Barcelona, 25th May 2022
CCIB Press Release
David Jiménez
93 230 10 00 – 674 033 249 / djimenez@ccib.es
