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Rehabilitation in MS (RIMS) - the European Network of MS Centres meeting in Finland:
This March Rosie Jones and Angela Davies Smith attended the RIMS meeting entitled Mobility and Rehabilitation in MS that was held in Masku, Finland. Masku is a village just outside Turku on the west coast of Finland where a large rehabilitation centre for people with neurological conditions has been built. Most of the people treated at this centre have MS and the Bristol MS unit has strong links with the centre thanks to several valuable research collaborations with centre staff funded by the EU over the last 8 years. Angela says “it was a very early start for us to get to Heathrow and we were well prepared for the freezing temperatures taking snow boots and warm clothing. In Finland the snow falls in November and stays until early April. This poses an extra mobility problem for people with MS. We had the opportunity to try various walking aids including tandem walking poles so that two people can walk together, one in front of the other, making the person feel more stable. The picture shows me trying out a seated skiing device for going across the snow, easier downhill than uphill!”
The main reason for our visit was to learn about the different research activities that are being carried out in MS rehabilitation in Europe and to plan future research activities and collaborations. We presented recent research on developing and testing a more advanced Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) device. Some of you may have been involved in this study. The presentation given by Angela was very well received, in fact we have been asked to present more of this work at the RIMS main annual meeting in May. Other presentations at the meeting covered assessment of walking and general mobility, muscle fatigue and the special demonstration of adapted devices for having fun in the snow and coping with difficult terrains. We particularly enjoyed trying out the hand cranked three-wheeler cycles, testing the sledges and attempting an adapted computer game to help with balance exercises. We hope to adopt some of the ideas we saw for use in the Bristol MS Unit although we probably don't get enough snow to make best use of the sledges and adapted skis!
Finland is a large country with a small population and it makes sense to have one centre where most people who have MS can go for treatment and advice once a year-and we were certainly envious of the extensive facilities provided there. In the UK we make more use of the many smaller scale treatment resources based in most large hospitals to provide outpatient and linked community-based care or inpatient care when required.
We enjoyed our trip and the opportunity to talk to our colleagues from all parts of Europe over glasses of Finnish beer in the warm friendly pubs!
