INDIAN FEDERATION OF NEUROREHHABILITATION

3rd

Annual Conference Report IFNRCON-2015

was held in Mumbai from March 7th to 9th 2015 “Neurorehabilitation TEAM – Together Every One Achieves More” At MET Main Auditorium & Parallel Session MET/ADAPT/AYJNIHH

DAY 1 Session 1: “Neurorehabilitation an Overview”

This session was chaired by Dr. Deepak Palande, eminent neurosurgeon & Director, IFNR from Mumbai. The first talk was on Holistic Multidisciplinary Centre Approach by Dr. Sharan Srinivasan, a neurosurgeon from Bangalore who runs a dedicated neurorehabilitation centre.

This was followed by a live web relay from Abu-Dhabi in the “Meet the Experts” session. The stalwarts of World Federation of Neurorehabilitation WFNR committees answered questions posed by experts from India. The session was co-ordinated by Dr. Narendra Kapoor and Dr. Urvashi Shah from India and Dr. Sabahat Wasti and Dr. Nirmal Surya from Abu Dhabi. The

international experts were Dr. Stephanie Clarke, President, WFNR, Dr. Volker Hoemberg, Secretary General WFNR, Dr. Leonardo Li, President Elect WFNR, Professor Barbara Wilson, Chair of Chairs WFNR, Professor Robin Tate, Co-chair Neuro-psychology SIG, Dr. M. Loffredo

In the next session, five guest lecturers from eminent experts from WFNR were relayed live from the Abu Dhabi neurorehab conference. This session was chaired by Dr. Abhishek Srivastava Secretary IFNR and

Dr. Anupam Gupta, Senior Neuro-Rehab specialist from Bangalore. The first talk was given by professor Leonardo Li, who spoke on “Global Burden of Neurological Disabilities”, Professor V. Hoemberg on “The Neurological Disabilities Spectrum” and “Transition in Neurology- How to Deal with Cerebral Palsy Problems Across the Life Span”, Professor M. Loffredo on“ Multi Disciplinary Approach for Evaluation of Patients with Severe Spasticity” and Professor Robyn Tate on “Measures of Outcome in Chronic Neurological Disability”. Dr. Nirmal Surya and Dr. Apoorva Pauranik were moderators from Abu-Dhabi in

this session and the lectures were followed by live interactive discussion via web relay.

Session 2: “Evaluation for Neurorehabilitation: The Tool Box”. This session has six invited speakers from different specialities in neuro-rehab and was chaired by a multi disciplinary panel consisting of Dr. Rajendra Sharma, Director, AIPMR, Mumbai, Dr. Jamuna Rajan, Neuro-psychologist, Ms. Shashi Oberai, Occupational therapist, Ms. Roshan Vania, Physical therapist and Ms. Vinaya Keer, Speech pathologist. Dr. Anupam Gupta Senior Physiatrist from National Institute of Neuro Sciences, Bangalore spoke on “Medical Evaluation in Neuro-rehab”, Professor Narendra Kapoor

from London spoke on “Evaluation of CoreCognitive Domains” and Professor Judith Underwood on “Functional and ADL Evaluation” via Pod cast as she couldn’t attend the meeting. Dr. John Solomon spoke on “Physical Evaluation”, Ms. Jyoti Mohite on “Speech & Language Evaluation” and Mr. Mohammed Shamim on “Hearing Evaluation”. This was followed by multi disciplinary interactive

discussion.

Session 3: “Novel Interventions in Neurorehabilitation: Music & Dance Therapy”.

This session was chaired by Pandit Shashank Katti from Mumbai Education Trust and Dr. Shantala Hegde from NIMHANS Bangalore. The session was based on “Sur Sanjeevan Music Therapy – the Healing Power of Music”, devised by Pandit Shashank Katti. Dr. Himalaya Pantvaidya, Dr. Sanjay Chajjer and Dr. Anju Jagasia deliberated on the concepts, the need and effectiveness of this novel approach in

neurorehab and was followed by live demonstration of different healing Ragas played on the Sitar by Panditji which have been used by him for improving outcomes in people suffering from various neurological ailments.

Following this there were four lectures music and dance therapy in specific conditions and the session was chaired by Dr. R. K. Dhamija, Senior Neurologist from New Delhi and Dr. U. N. Nair Senior Physiatrist from Trivandrum. Dr. Shantala Hegde delivered talk on “Music and Cognitive Remediation”, Dr. Maria Barretto on “Dance therapy in Parkinson’s Disease”, Padamshree, Professor Kanak Rele on “Dance Therapy: The Rhythm of Life” and Ms. Shabnam Rangwala and Ms. Asha Kumar on “Dance Therapy: Celebrating Life”.

This was followed by an excellent dance performance by children with multiple disabilities from ADAPT (formerly known as Spastic Society of India), Mumbai.

DAY 2 The second day started at 8am with a session on “Adult Neurorehabilitation: Principles, Practices and Technology”. The session was chaired by Senior Physiatrist, Prof. Dr. U N Nair from Trivandrum and Assoc Prof Dr. Rajesh Pramanik from Kolkata. The first talk on “Barriers in Neurorehab: Understanding the Comorbidities” was given by Dr. R K Dhamija, Prof & Head, Dept of Neurology, LHMC, New Delhi. The second speaker was Prof Robyn Tate from Australia on “ The Importance of Estimating Outcomes for Effective Planning of Neurorehabilitation” followed by Prof Barbara Wilson, Chair of Chairs, SIG, WFNR on “General Principles and Best Practices in Neuropsychological Rehabilitation”, followed by Dr. E S Krishnamoorthy, Eminent Neuropsychiatric from Chennai on “Role of Stimulants in Neurorehabilitation. The lectures were followed by an interactive discussion with all the speakers and chairpersons.

Inaugural function The inaugural function was held with traditional lamp lighting and Ganesh Vandana and the occasion was graced by Chief Guest, Hon. Dr. Deepak Sawant, Minister of Public Health and Family Welfare, Govt of Maharashtra, Guest of Honour, Shri. Chhagan Bhujbal, MLA and ex Deputy Chief Minister, Govt of Maharashtra, Prof Barbara Wilson from WFNR, Prof. Narinder Kapoor from UK, Prof Robin Tate from Australia, Dr. Nirmal Surya, President IFNR and Dr. Abhishek Srivastava, Secretary IFNR.

Honourable Health Minister spoke on need of Neurorehabilitation & are example of how his mother who had Alzheimer in eighties & at that time no specific treatment was available. He complimented Dr. Surya on effort to organise such conference and assured him that he will take up the issue of Neurorehabilitation centre to be established in city of Mumbai on a personal note

Mr. Bhujbal who has been kind host to provide the MET Auditorium free of cost for the IFNR. Spoke about the need of Neurorehabilitation to change the quality of life of patients in his speech he gave personal example of how his grandmother suffered from stroke & lost speech and right side of body and could only be treated with physio & speech therapy in nineties, today there are better treatment & technology to deal such situation. He complimented Dr. Surya & his team for arranging such dialogue between renound International faculty & Indian Specialist for benefit to Society by such conference. He also highlighted how Dr. Surya Has used the technology (Video conferencing from Abu Dhabi for the benefit of our doctors from across country.

The next session was in continuation of “Principles and Best Practices in Adult Neurorehabilitation” and had 5 speakers. The session was chaired by Prof. Ali Irani, President IAP, Ms Snehal Deshpande, eminent Paediatric Physical Therapist from Mumbai, Dr. T Sridhar, Senior Physiatrist from Hyderabad and Dr. M A Khan, Senior Neurologist from Mumbai. The first speaker, Phinoj Abraham spoke on “Upper Extremity Rehabilitation”, Assoc Prof Gajanan on “Lower Extremity Rehabilitation”, Prof. Narinder Kapoor

on “Memory Aids in Neurorehab” and Mr. Geeson Arumbur on “Robotics in Neurorehab”. The session

ended with an interactive discussion with all chairpersons and speakers.

The next session was invited presentation chaired by Dr. Sharan Srinivasan, Neurosurgeon from Bangalore and had two presentations. Dr. Deepak Sharan, Eminent Orthopaedic Surgeon from Bangalore spoke on “Single Event Multi Level Corrective Surgery in Cerebral Palsy” and Dr. Rajesh

Pramanik on “Early Rehabilitation”.

This was followed by a special session on ‘Gandhi Scholarship Awards’. Prof Narinder Kapoor, Eminent Neuropsychologist from UK had sponsored ten ‘Gandhi scholarships’ to provide young deserving students and professionals an opportunity to attend the conference. The session was attended by eminent

personalities like Ms. Smita Shah a Gandhian Scholar and writer-journalist, Mr. Hiro Hingorani, well known freedom fighter and internationally reputed artist and Mr. Anil Jain, Trustee of the Gandhi Ashram and Museum in Jalgaon. Prof Kapoor conducted a stimulating fun quiz on Gandhi, Brain and Bollywood Facts that was widely appreciated. The ten scholarship winners received cheques for Rs. 10000 each and the remaining 20 applicant’s efforts were also appreciated and each was given a cheque of Rs 2000. Prof. Kapoor was felicitated by Shri. Anil Jain with the statue of Gandhiji for his encouraging work to promote Gandhian Philosophy.

There was a separate poster session with poster viewing and formal interaction with poster presenters with six eminent judges during coffee breaks and lunch time. There were total 52 posters of which judge’s shortlisted 15 posters which were presented in a separate session where each presenter was given 2 minutes to explain the research in a power point presentation. The best poster award was given to Mr. Dinesh Chavan for his poster titled “Development of equipment to improve neural control & eye hand coordination- a Pilot study”, there was a tie for second best poster and three presenters got the second best poster prize. Ms. Ankita Bhutada for Is “Instrumental Evaluation and Oral food trials warranted in Neurologically Severely Impaired Individuals”, Ms. Stephanie Da Cruz for “Equilibrium composite index- diagnostic tool for benign paroxysmal positional vertigo using computed dynamic posturography”.

This was followed by four parallel interactive workshops. Workshop I : “Orthotics in Neurorehab” co-ordinated by Dr. T Sridhar and Mr. P S Dantala from Orthotic and Prosthetic Society of India. The workshop had two lectures; Ms. Swagatika Mishra spoke on “Gait Analysis in Stroke Patients Using AFO” and Mr P S Dantala on “Wheelchair Solutions in Neurorehab” and was followed by an interactive discussion.

Workshop II : “Aphasia Rehabilitation” coordinated by Dr. Apoorva Pauranik eminent Neurologist from Indore and Dr. Gayatri Hattangadi, Head of Speech Pathology from BYL Nair Hospital, Mumbai. The workshop had 3 presentations from Dr. Pauranik on “Advances and Challenges in Aphasia Rehab”, Ms Sonal Chitnis on “Cognitive Linguistic Therapy Strategies across Different Aphasia Subtypes” and Ms Mansi Jagtap on “Specific Treatment Strategies on Aphasia Rehab”. This was followed by illustrative case studies and panel discussion.

Workshop III : “Neurocognitive Rehabilitation” co-ordinated by Dr. Jamuna Rajan, Neuropsychologist from NIMHANS, Bangalore and Dr Ashima Nehra, Neuropsychologist from AIIMS, New Delhi. There were five case presentations on “Cognitive Rehabilitation – My Approach” from Prof. Barbara Wilson, Prof. Narinder Kapoor, Prof Robyn Tate, Prof Jamuna Rajan and Dr. Ashima Nehra. This was followed by case

illustrations and rehabilitation planning by the participants in conjunction with all the faculty members.

Workshop IV: “Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation” and was co-ordinated by Dr. Rajendra Sharma, Director, AIIPMR, Mumbai. The workshop had six speakers discussing the various facets of neurorehab and highlighting the multi-disciplinary approach. Dr. Amit Mhambre, Asst Prof Rehab Medicine spoke on “Medical Evaluation and Rehabilitation”, Ms Vimal Telang on “Role of Physical Therapy, Ms Priya Tawade on “Occupational Therapy”, Mr. Ashok Indalkar on “Role of Orthotics”, Mr. Kailash Goswami on “Role of Medical Social Worker” and Ms Geeta Toley on “Need of Psychologist”. The workshop ended with an interactive discussion.

DAY 3 The third day started with a comprehensive session on “Pediatric Neurorehabilitation: Identification and Interventions”. The session was chaired by Dr. K N Shah, Senior Pediatrician from Mumbai and Ms Asha Chitnis, Senior Neurodevelopmental therapist from Mumbai. The session had 7 speakers covering the multi-disciplinary need of interventions in paediatrics neurology. The first speaker was Dr. Pradnya Gadgil, Pediatric Neurologist from Mumbai who spoke on “Early Identification and Interventions for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders”, Dr. Anaita Hegde, Senior Pediatric Neurologist on “Pharmacotherapy in Children with Neurodevelopmental Disorders”, Ms Snehal Deshpande on “Early Interventions in Pediatric Neurorehab”, Ms Varsha Hooja and Ms Shabnam Rangwala on “Diagnosis and Early Interventions in the Classroom”, Ms Asha Chitnis on “Recent advances in Therapeutic Management” and Ms Asha Kumar on “Language Development in Children with Neurodevelopmental

Disorders” and was followed by an interactive discussion.

The next session was titled “Research for Clinicians: Combining Clinical Work with Research”. The session was chaired by Prof. Narinder Kapoor from UK, Dr. Anuradha Sovani and Dr. Shubha Thatte from Mumbai. Prof Barbara Wilson spoke on “Need of Research and Small Group Studies” and Prof Robyn Tate on “Reducing Bias in Single Case Experimental Designs”. This was followed by an interactive discussion.

The next session had four invited presentations and was chaired by Dr. Abhishek Srivastava, Secretary IFNR and Dr. Sharan Srinivasan from Bangalore. Prof Barbara Wilson presented an “Interesting Case on Brain Injury”, Dr. Ashima Nehra on “CONTEMP – The Higher Mental Functioning Reahabilitation Program, Dr. Sameer Dalvai on “Muti-disciplinary Approach to Neurodevelopmental Disorder’ and Dr. Nirmal Surya, President IFNR on “Neurorehabilitation : Mission 2018”.

There were four parallel workshops on the third day. Workshop I The first workshop was titled “Neurodevelopmental and Sensory Integration Therapy” co-ordinated by Dr. Shashi Oberai, Dean, School of Occupational Therapy in Mumbai and Ms Shabnam Rangwala from ADAPT in Mumbai. Mr. Saif Bijliwala spoke on “Motion Sensor Games as a Tool for Neurodevelopment Demonstration”, Ms Jyotika Bijlani on “Neurodevelopmental Assessment for Babies at High Risk” and Ms Shabnam Rangwala on “Neurodevelopment and Sensory Integration Therapy in

Cerebral Palsy”. All the three speakers presented case examples and video demonstrations along with interactive discussion.

Workshop II The second workshop was titled “Cognitive Linguistic and Swallowing Rehabilitation in Persons with Dementia”, was co-ordinated by Dr. Gayatri Hattangadi and Ms. Bala Sriram from Mumbai. Dr. Aparna Dutt spoke on “Cognitive Linguistic Disturbances in Adults with Dementia”, Dr Alka

Subramanium on “Challenging Behaviours in Adults with Dementia”, Ms. Siddika Panjwani on “Counselling and Interventions for Caregivers” and Dr Gayatri Hattangadi on “Rehabilitation for Manifestations of Dysphagia”. All speakers presented interesting cases along with interactive discussion.

Workshop III The third workshop was titled “Psychosocial and Educational Rehabilitation” and was co-ordinated by Dr Urvashi Shah, Neuropsychologist and Ms Varsha Hooja Special Educator. The highlight of the session was the sharing by a young teenage boy with cerebral palsy who shared about his journey

of inclusion into a mainstream school and the barriers he experienced and solutions he found. The other speakers who were all pioneer founders of different patient support group shared their strategies and methods to address the various psychosocial challenges and provide opportunities to people with varying neurological disabilities to become participative and productive in life. Dr. Pravina Shah spoke on “Conquer Epilepsy: Case stories of epilepsy support group “Samman”, Dr Sheela Chitnis, President,

Multiple Sclerosis Society of India, Mumbai on “One Step at a Time: Case stories from the MS Society, Dr Maria Barretto on “I am not alone”: Case studies from the Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorder PDMDS Support Group and Ms Varsha Hooja on “Inclusive Education”: Case studies from ADAPT, Mumbai.

Workshop IV: “Botox Therapy in Spasticity Management” co-ordinated by Dr. Nirmal Surya and Dr. Abhishek Srivastava. This was a ‘hands on’ interactive workshop. Ms. Roshan Vania, Senior Neurodevelopmental Physical Therapist from Mumbai presented a patient of traumatic brain injury with

severe lower limb spasticity. Dr. Abhishek Srivastava and Dr. Nirmal Surya discussed the neurological examination, treatment planning, goal setting and post procedure care. Dr. Srivastava performed live injection in bilateral lower limbs to reduce spasticity.

The closing ceremony was graced by Prof. Narinder Kapoor, Prof Barbara Wilson, Dr. Nirmal Surya, Dr. Deepak Palande, Dr. Urvashi Shah and Dr. Abhishek Srivastava. Prof. Narinder Kapoor who had sold books and tests, donated by his colleagues, at subsidized price to young delegates; presented the money

collected to the charity SNEHA that works with underprivileged children and women in the slums of Mumbai. The dignitaries on the dais thanked all the speakers, chairpersons, participants, sponsors, supporting institutions for all the help in organizing this scientific gathering.

Special thanks were given to Mr, Bhujbal (MET) for their support for the conference.

The total no. of attendance 282 in which 188 Delegates, 84 Speaker & Chairperson, 10 International Speaker, 71 Scientific Paper & 54 Poster presentations. The next IFNR 2016 will be in held at Banglore as presented by Dr. Sharan Srinivasan & Dr, Jamuna Rajan. The meeting ended with National Anthem.