Niguarda Hospital Unveils State-of-the-Art Pool for Spinal Unit, Bolstering Rehabilitation
Milan, March 4, 2026 – The Niguarda Hospital in Milan officially opened a new swimming pool at its Unipolar Spinal Unit today, a crucial facility dedicated to the care and rehabilitation of individuals with spinal cord injuries. This development marks a significant step forward in strengthening the Lombardy region’s healthcare system, ensuring qualified assistance and high-level rehabilitative services.
The inauguration ceremony highlighted the extensive renovation work undertaken at the Spinal Unit, which has led to improved spaces and equipment specifically designed for rehabilitation. The newly added pool is set to enhance hydrokinesiotherapy, a fundamental component in functional recovery and achieving greater autonomy for patients.
Dedicated Support for the Paralympics at Santa Giulia Arena
During the event, an important announcement was made regarding the establishment of a dedicated Spinal Unit station at the Santa Giulia Arena during the upcoming Paralympic period. This initiative underscores the Lombardy Region’s commitment to providing specialized healthcare support during the Games.
Distinguished attendees at the inauguration included the Regional Welfare Councillor Guido Bertolaso, Niguarda General Director Alberto Zoli, Chief Medical Officer of Milano Cortina 2026 Giuseppe Massazza, President of CIP Lombardia Pierangelo Santelli, President of the Medical Commission of the Italian Gymnastics Federation Andrea Ferretti, and Vice President of Coni Lombardia Carola Mangiarotti.
Paralympic athletes Giulia Ghiretti, Lorenzo Bonicelli, Andrea Liverani, Rachael Watson, and Gabriele Gerevini were also present, sharing their powerful testimonies on the transformative power of sport as a tool for inclusion and rebirth. The ceremony concluded with a visit to the new facility and a symbolic first dive by Paralympic champion Giulia Ghiretti, a gold medalist in Paris.
“With this inauguration,” stated Guido Bertolaso, Lombardy Region’s Welfare Councillor, “we are reinforcing a center of excellence in Lombardy healthcare at a particularly significant moment, the start of the Paralympics. The Niguarda Spinal Unit represents a model of integrated care, where clinical expertise, technology, and patient-centered attention combine to guarantee quality rehabilitation pathways. The activation of a dedicated station at the Santa Giulia Arena during the Paralympic period confirms our commitment to ensuring high standards of assistance and safety. Paralympic sport is a concrete testament to resilience and determination.”
Niguarda Spinal Unit: A Comprehensive Overview
Since June 2024, significant interventions have been underway at the Niguarda Hospital’s Spinal Unit, already culminating in the creation of the new rehabilitative pool. This pool is directly connected to the gym and is also accessible from outside. The ongoing works include new beds for ventilated patients, monitored rooms, four single rooms for isolation or complex cases, reorganization of the interventional and outpatient areas, and the establishment of a single integrated rehabilitation area encompassing physiotherapy, occupational therapy, and robotics. Upon completion of all interventions, expected by the end of the year, the facility will boast 39 beds.
Purpose and Multidisciplinary Approach
The Spinal Unit provides comprehensive care for individuals with spinal cord injuries, addressing their assistance, therapeutic-rehabilitative, and psycho-social needs. The multidisciplinary team comprises physiatrists, urologists, and neurologists, supported by anesthesiologists-resuscitators, surgeons, and other specialists as dictated by clinical complexity. Interventions begin in the earliest stages of the injury, focusing on complication prevention, and continue with a structured pathway aimed at achieving the maximum possible recovery and greater autonomy.
Scope of Activities and Conditions Treated
The unit’s activities cover all consequences of spinal cord pathologies, including respiratory, motor, bladder-sphincteric, psychological, and sexual impairments. Key conditions treated include the outcomes of spinal cord injuries in pediatric and adult patients, traumatic and non-traumatic tetraplegia and paraplegia (including those requiring invasive ventilation), spina bifida outcomes, neurogenic dysfunctions of the sacral area, spasticity, and neurogenic pain. Over the past decade, there has been an increase in cervical lesions, the average age of patients, and clinical complexity, with a growing number of readmissions for chronic patients due to aging-related complications.
Hydrokinesiotherapy: A Key Rehabilitative Tool
Water physiotherapy is a highly valuable clinical rehabilitation tool. Buoyancy facilitates movement, improves respiratory and cardiovascular function, reduces pain and spasticity, and promotes motor recovery. This activity is conducted by specialized physiotherapists with the support of dedicated staff and can be offered individually or in small groups, both for inpatients and outpatients, always within an Individualized Rehabilitation Project shared with the physiatrist.
Aquatic physiotherapy is developed integrally across three levels. Therapeutically, it aims at recovering residual functions and treating the outcomes of congenital or acquired conditions, with objectives such as reducing pain (neuropathic and non-neuropathic), improving motor skills and joint range, facilitating early ambulation when possible, enhancing respiratory and cardiovascular function, and managing spasticity, with positive repercussions on psychological well-being. Preventively, it promotes health education, self-efficacy, and self-management of one’s condition, contributing to preventing complications and maintaining the best possible quality of life over time. Finally, recreationally, it fosters socialization, strengthens self-esteem, and stimulates coordination and active participation, supporting the person’s overall well-being.
Source: https://www.lombardianotizie.online/piscina-unita-spinale-niguarda/
