Filum Disease treatment:
Rehab during Covid-19

Published by ICSEB at 4 February, 2022

Our neurosurgical centre is primarily dedicated to and highly specialized in the diagnosis and treatment of Filum Disease (FD) and the therein-included conditions, such as Arnold-Chiari I Syndrome, idiopathic Syringomyelia and idiopathic Scoliosis.

Unless halted with the Sectioning of the Filum terminale (SFT), Filum Disease is a congenital, latent, neurodegenerative, progressive and chronic disease. Despite the releasing surgical procedure applied to patients, the pathology can leave sequelae that evolve by themselves.

Medical assistance for Filum Disease patients can therefore require four types of specialists:

• A neurologist or neurosurgeon for the diagnosis.
• A neurosurgeon or orthopaedist for the application of the adequate surgical treatments for Filum Disease and associated disc herniations, canal stenosis or others.
• An orthopaedist for the very pronounced cases of scoliosis.
• A rehabilitator and a neurologist respectively for the vertebral and neurological sequelae that may persist after the surgical procedure.

Our team of specialists considers that physiotherapy following the intervention according to the Filum System^® method is fundamental for patients affected by sequelae, to maximise the benefit of the treatment.

Since the emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic however, many patients in different countries report how difficult or impossible it is to access rehabilitation centres, especially swimming pools and hydrotherapy, given the restrictions in place to reduce contagion.

We therefore encourage patients dealing with the mentioned logistical complications, in their short or long-term postoperative stage, to persevere, to move and continue to exercise as much as possible notwithstanding the restrictions. This should be done within the guidelines of a rehabilitator and taking into account what the patient’s autonomy allows, as well as the support available from their family and environment.

We remind you that for any questions that physiotherapists in your territory have regarding Filum Disease and our method, the Filum System^® has a team of certified collaborators, who can be consulted to receive indications based on our protocols for post- Sectioning of the Filum Terminale rehabilitation.

You can find their information in the following links:

https://institutchiaribcn.com/en/accredited-centres/centro-medico-mantia/

https://institutchiaribcn.com/en/neurofeedback-myotherapy-centre-belgium/

https://institutchiaribcn.com/en/accredited-doctors/dr-marco-di-gesu/