In
Bologna, more than thirty-five years ago, a medical group became
internationally renowned and specialised in the diagnosis, treatment and
rehabilitation of orthopaedic and sports injuries. Today the Isokinetic Medical
Group is made up of 200 professionals divided between the general management
and the eight centres. A success story born from a young doctor who flew to
America and then returned to the Emilia-Romagna region to make a difference.
Giampaolo Colletti interviews Francesco Della Villa, Scientific Director
of Isokinetic for FARE INSIEME
of Giampaolo Colletti
@gpcolletti
Photocredit: Giacomo Maestri e Francesca Aufiero
This story begins with a
phone call. One of those phone calls that change the life not only of the
person doing it, but also of thousands of people in Italy and around the world.
Because a phone call can make the difference when you are a free, curious,
tireless spirit. The phone call is the one made by a young physiatry specialist
at the Rizzoli Institute in Bologna. His boss in the ward suggested that he
inquire about isokinetics, that is, the methodology for testing muscle
strength. It was the year 1986 and that word was still unknown in Italy. Yet
the isokinetic entry appeared in an American health journal. Chi la dura la vince, they say in
Emilia, that is Where there's a will, there's a way.
And
never is a saying more appropriate than the case of Stefano Della Villa. As
Stefano starts calling and calls back, without giving up. And in the end from
America they offer him an internship. So he took a flight and went to the
United States. «At the time my father was twenty-six years old and was a
doctor-entrepreneur on the hunt for an innovative idea. He bet on the
isokinetic machine that measured strength and his story became a success story», recalls Francesco Della Villa, Scientific Director
of Isokinetic, an international medical group engaged in private healthcare.
A
story of excellence. Numbers that tell a story of success: today the team
is made up of 200 professionals divided between 8 physical centres (seven in
Italy and one in London), to which is added a virtual centre, i.e. the
Isokinetic Virtual Plus clinic, a fully functional corporate start-up model.
The turnover is around 20 million euros and in 2022 the growth was between 7
and 8%. It is the international reference for orthopaedic and sports
rehabilitation, centred on a great medical culture at the core of the
entrepreneurial project. «We are a private healthcare company, therefore we
operate in a purely private channel, preferring the "out-of-pocket"
services. We refer above all to sports patients of all levels who have suffered
a trauma and who want to go back to practising their activities. We also work
closely with the professional athlete market. Our approach is simple: we always
try to offer excellence to our patients. The goal is that the injury can be an
opportunity to take care of one's health and arrive at a state of physical
shape that is better than the one prior to injury», explains Della Villa.
Everything starts from culture and from its practical declination. There is
great attention to the patient as a person and not just to the specific injury
because for example – explains Della Villa – we do not treat the knee, but the
patient who has a bad knee, and this is what makes the difference. «We apply
the values of medicine and of high
performance culture. Our vision is based on four concepts that we summarise
in the acronym of "CIAO", which stands for Culture, Image, Atmosphere, Organisation», explains Della Villa.
The history of Isokinetic is one made up of significant steps, such as the
creation of the Education & Research Department in 2000. And then there are
the clinical successes, the international relations with FIFA and the accreditation
as FIFA Medical Centre of Excellence. And continuing the ultimate
internationalisation of the congress. Then in 2012 there was the opening of
Isokinetic London, with the subsequent creation of the innovative Green Room
treatment spaces.
Education Research Department. Research is crucial
to Isokinetic. «Technically, we've recently been studying the applications of
neurophysiology during functional recovery. There are really interesting
perspectives when all possible points of view are explored. More in general,
however, in our work what matters most is human capital, i.e. our people, who
are the real pillars of the organisation. These are professionals who have
invested and continue to do so by sharing the company's dream and by applying
the culture of high performance», says Della Villa. The Education Research
Department, we were saying before. It is the beating heart of the company. «The
key objective is to maintain the company as an international reference,
continuing to update our method and to develop the careers of our people».
Activities range from R&D and scientific research with the relative
publication of scientific articles on pier-reviewed journals. Isokinetic has
always claimed that the best medicine is exercise, but in the meantime we are
working on new research related to Sports Medicine. Trends have shifted the
focus more and more to the prevention of injuries and relapses. «All of this
can happen thanks to a very careful study of the mechanism of injury – that is,
how injuries occur – and then by implementing exercise programmes to reduce the
possibility of getting injured. This is the approach we use in our Green Rooms.
We analyse the way patients move and then we modify the way they move with
targeted exercises. Exercise is the basis of everything, always», says Della
Villa bluntly. In the meantime, to look to the future, the Isokinetic Campus project was born, a spatial reorganisation of the
headquarters with the Education and Research Department at the centre of focus.
«The Campus will act as a family home
for our people and will provide solid foundations for future development
through an enhancement of training and refresher courses and of research and
development. It will be surrounded by greenery, even in a context of
environmental sustainability», concludes Della Villa. Because after all, health
is circular, with body and spirit closely interconnected.
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