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Seas: how it evolves to move forward

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Due to the Coronavirus emergency and the consequent restrictive measures, our SEAS courses, foreseen in different countries of the world in the next period, cannot be done: we are ready to reschedule them as soon as possible.
In some cases, however, SEAS has been able to evolve in online mode in order not to stop completely.
After the four-handed course in Moscow when Michele Romano, director of physical therapy in Isico, was connected online from Milan, we were invited to hold a theoretical Webinar in Turkey, a few days ago, on April 22nd.
In both cases it was a success beyond expectations, considering that the Webinar had 600 participants. During the Webinar, Dr Michele Romano explained what SEAS is, the scientific evidence of this type of approach to the treatment of idiopathic scoliosis and how it will evolve after the epidemic.

About Seas Course in Moscow, the lessons were given by our director of physiotherapy, Michele Romano, who linked up with 21 participants in Moscow, together with the course organiser Dr Dimitri Gorkovsky, who is a sports physician and specialist in physical and rehabilitation medicine.

“As the current situation prevented me from going to Moscow in person, as originally planned, we took a last-minute decision to switch from a residential to an online course” Romano explained. “A fundamentally important role in the success of this event was played by Dr Gorkovsky, who, since 2016, has worked with us on the staging of eight previous courses in various Russian cities: Moscow, St. Petersburg and Novosibirsk.”

On all these previous occasions, Dr Gorkovsky flanked Romano, translating from English into Russian.
“Those past experiences certainly helped me this time, as I am now familiar with the topic” he said. “Michele gave practical demonstrations using a dummy, which we watched via Skype, and I then replicated these exercises with volunteers from among the participants. Instead, Michele was able to answer the participants’ questions and clarify their doubts directly, as though he were here with us. The course was excellent, as usual, and the participants were very satisfied with what they learned. This remote modality could certainly represent an important opportunity for the future.”

Isis Navarro at Isico headquarter

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Could you tell us about your studies?

I am a PhD Student at Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul. Since 2017, after I completed the SEAS course, I started to have only patients with scoliosis and work just with these patients. In my master’s degree I studied the surface topography as a possibility of easy and three-dimensional tool to evaluate scoliotic patients. I had some publications based on this primary subject.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0966636218303126

http://www.fortunejournals.com/articles/thoracic-idiopathic-scoliosis-establishing-the-diagnostic-accuracy-and-reference-values-of-surface-topography.html

And I have also some articles accepted for publication:

NAVARRO, ISIS J.R.L.; CANDOTTI, CLÁUDIA T. ; FURLANETTO, TÁSSIA S. ; DUTRA, V. H. ; AMARAL, M. A. ; LOSS, JEFFERSON F. . Validation of a mathematical procedure for the cobb angle assessment based on photogrammetry. Journal of Chiropractic Medicine (Print), 2019.

NAVARRO, I. J. R. L.; CANDOTTI, CLÁUDIA T. ; AMARAL, M. A. ; DUTRA, V. H. ; Gelain, G. ; LOSS, JEFFERSON F. . Validation of the measurement of the angle of trunk rotation in photogrammetry. JOURNAL OF MANIPULATIVE AND PHYSIOLOGICAL THERAPEUTICS, 2019.

What is your profession?

I am a physiotherapist.

Why did you register for the SEAS  course?

I was looking for the SEAS course, and my plan was to travel to Italy to attend the course, but fortunately Michele and Alessandra came to Brazil to teach for the first group in Brazil. I discovered the SEAS approach doing lots of researches on internet, searching for consistent methods of treatment to scoliotic patients to offer to them the best possibility of treatment and results.

What makes the SEAS learning course different from other educational courses and programs?

The more significant advantage of the SEAS course is the clarity of the reasoning behind the technic and the facility to apply what you learned. The SEAS approach allows doing physiotherapy with all type of scoliotic patients, independent of the type or classification of the curve. The teachers were always ready to answer all the questions and help with difficult cases I asked separately.

Are you satisfied with what you have learned? 

Yes. But when you start to practice more and more always news doubts arise. 

If you were asked to recommend the course, what would you say?

The SEAS course is an excellent way to understand the world of scoliosis, its characteristics and the reasoning to treat adequately and accurately. After the course, you will be able to evaluate and treat scoliotic patients based on a method easy to understand and to apply with a high level of scientific evidence.

Michele Romano, professor for a day at the University of Québec

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A few weeks ago, Michele Romano, Director of physical therapy at Isico, gave a workshop at the prestigious University of Quebec in Trois-Rivières, Canada.
The lesson was devoted to SEAS (the Scientific Exercises-based Approach to Scoliosis) and took place during a conference organised by the University as part of its annual scoliosis month (this year being held for the ninth time).

“It was a wonderful opportunity” remarked Dr Romano. “The invitation coincided with my recent stay in Quebec, where I was leading a course devoted to our scientific exercises-based approach. The workshop was attended by 60 or more students in the last year of a chiropractic degree course. They gave me a really warm welcome and participated very actively, especially in the practical part of the lesson, asking me numerous questions. They were extremely enthusiastic, to the point of inviting me back next year, perhaps to lead an entire course tailored to their particular training needs”.

Living “In self-correction”. Is it possible?

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First of all, what is self-correction?

Kids who have scoliosis and perform SEAS exercises regularly know well what it is.
Scoliosis modifies the physiological position of the column and causes a deformity in the three planes of space.

Seen from behind, there is that curve that is easily recognizable in radiographies: the spine, instead of being straight, bends to the side.

Seen in profile, the curves that are normally present (lumbar lordosis, dorsal kyphosis, cervical lordosis) and which guarantee elasticity and the ability to absorb the recoils, are modified, often diminishing: those who have scoliosis usually seem more straight than the other kids. Finally, seen from above, the column rotates on itself, making the so-called “hump” come out, which is nothing but a part of the ribs or back muscles that move backwards to the side. Practically back, while bending sideways, twists. All these changes result in a loss of height.

Self-correction is a correction of all these anomalies. The goal is to take back the spine where it should be if there was no scoliosis, in a physiological position.

Self-correction allows the patient to achieve greater symmetry and a more well-balanced back in the sagittal plane. 
Acquiring the technique from the outset and applying it as often as possible in daily life should be the goal. 

The movements that make up the self-correction have strange names: translation… derotation… kyphotisation… antigravity support…

At the beginning, performing them is as difficult as pronouncing them. Still, starting with a good awareness of your body and your deformity in space, you gradually become confident, and kids manage to “unroll” their column by straightening it in a few tenths of a second.

It is the self-correction that makes every single scoliosis-specific exercise effective, because without it every exercise would be devoid of the therapeutic purpose, thus becoming a simple sport exercise.

The difficult thing for physiotherapists is not so much choosing the most suitable exercises, but the best self-correction for that particular kid in that moment of his growth and his therapy. Unfortunately, a poorly chosen, poorly adapted, poorly performed self-correction, could even make the exercises harmful.

As soon as kids learn how to perform their self-correction in the exercises, the therapist begins to ask them something that seems difficult to achieve: maintaining this correction in everyday life.

The first step is to do it here and there during the day: it is suggested to remember it for example at the sound of the bell at school, in the elevator, walking… Slowly, one is simply asked never to relax completely, until he accomplishes to live in self-correction.

But… is it possible?

Many kids confirm that it is possible, so much so that towards the end of the therapy many say: “Relaxing on the side of the curve annoys me, I don’t feel right on that side…”.

At this point, the most important goal of the therapy has been achieved, and the back of these kids will remain stable, without the risk of starting to bend again during adulthood.