THE INSTITUT CATALÀ DEL PEU TAKES PART IN THE SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT OF “LA VANGUARDIA” BECAUSE OF “THE HEALTH WORLD DAY”

Mr. Miguel Angel Baños Bernad, Manager of the Institut Català del Peu, was interviewed by “La Vanguardia” newspaper because of “The Health World Day”.

http://comunicacionempresarial.net/mono_articulo.php?ida=5415&idpb=312

INSTITUT CATALÀ DEL PEU

“Biomechanics and 3D help us to treat in a particular and effective way every case”.

Doctor Miguel Angel Baños Bernad, Manager of the Institut Català del Peu, Professor of the UB and Academician of Sciences and Technology International Academy.

Podiatric troubles may cause all kinds of pains and lesions in our joints. In order to find some answers in  this medical field, we have here the knowledge of the head of the Institut Català del Peu, the first multidisciplinary centre in Catalonia focused on solving any pathology related with feet.

• Which is the background of the Institut Català del Peu?

 I have been working as a podiatrist for almost three decades, and having a wide experience, I decided a few years ago to set up an entity with a new concept for the treatment of foot. The Institut Català del Peu is the first multidisciplinary centre in Catalonia which gathers in a global way all the public health specialities that take part in the cure of the foot. It is very important the collaboration of the different public health specialities with the aim of contributing their knowledge in our patient’s improvement. Other fields of the Institut Català del Peu are the research area in where we nowadays collaborate with companies related to foot, as well as our teaching area where we give courses to public health professionals, having the presence of the best experts on each subject.

• Are feet the part of the body which have less relevance in health?

 Unfortunately it has been like this for a long time. Nowadays, people have more conscience of the relevance of going to the podiatrist not only to follow any treatment, but as a prevention, which is very important to avoid any kind of pathologies. Detecting and treating in time a postural disturbance of the patient will avoid lesions or pains, not only in foot but in other parts of the body like knees, hip and back.

• Which is your therapeutic methodology?

 It doesn’t exist an only therapy. We will use different kind of treatments depending on each patient. We use silicone orthesis for the deformation of toes or surgical treatments; for muscular or ligamentous lesions we use bandages; we cure all kinds of dermic lesions and we palliate and correct disturbances of the foot and the lower extremity through orthopedic treatments, as for instance, insoles.

• Which technological breakthroughs does your Center have to apply novel and more effective treatments to your patients?

 We have a great quantity of biomechanical teams which allows us to get information in a wide way in order to be able to make a more effective treatment. We have pressure platforms to our disposal to assess how the pressures in foot are distributed when wandering about and being scanned in 3 dimensions of foot to get all sizes of foot, up to the VICON system, the only tool guaranteed by the International Scientific Community for its scientific reliability and it reproduces the patient in 3D through some sensors to study disturbances of articular source, disorders during the growth stage, muscular and osseous cuttings and to improve the performance and to prevent lesions, particularly among sportsmen.

• What would you suggest to people about the significance of taking care of their feet?

 I would suggest a first flying visit to rule out any kind of disturbance in foot, as well as all the complains which generate a wrong support of the foot at the level of the joints, as important as the knee, the hip or the spine. It is better to treat the pathology in an early age, when bones are forming in order to correct them and put them in a correct position. We will not be able to make structural corrections in the adult but we will be able to make compensations through insoles, so it is important to prevent previously before it appear deformities or pains in toes, subsequently. It is very important to carry out a biomechanical study to every person who practices any kind of sport, mainly those people who are nearly professionals, because all the movements and articular rotations in sport get bigger and can appear lesions or they can make worse if the position of foot and body it is not corrected.

www.institutcataladelpeu.cat

Rosselló street, 335.08037 – Barcelona

Phone number 93 458 23 75