Mirror Therapy Adria Holds Successful Mirror Therapy Workshop in Fojnica

From left to right (standing) as Emira Klisura-Bosnia, Samra Karač-Bosnia, Antonela Pavić-Croatia, Tarik Žetica-Bosnia, Matej Bedenik-Slovenia, Edis Kozić-Bosnia; (seated) Jasmin Avdović-Mirror therapy Adria MT trainer, Nikola Dobrijević-Croatia

On October 17, 2015, Mirror Therapy Adria organized a Mirror Therapy Workshop for Physical Therapy Practitioners in the central Bosnian town of Fojnica. The town is well known for the biggest thermal and rehabilitation spa center in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Most amputees in Bosnia and Herzegovina have used the services of this thermal spa center at least once. Most return on a regular annual basis for continuing treatment.

Recently this thermal spa become the site where all persons with war related injuries including traumatic amputations are transferred from Libya to receive proper rehabilitation treatments. So it is not strange that there is a high interest in Mirror Therapy education and implementing it as regular daily based treatment at the spa.

Participants of the full day MT education according to End The Pain Project guidelines, received MT certificates entitling them to practice as mirror therapists. The Workshop was successfully led by Adria Mirror Therapy trainer, Jasmin Avdović.

The participants came from Bosnia and Herzegovina and neighboring Republic of Croatia and Republic of Slovenia. The participants from Croatia and Slovenia are the first mirror therapists in their countries.

Mirror Therapy Workshop for Amputees at Bisesero Village Rwanda

Bisesero Village Amputees  Participating in Mirror Therapy Workshop

June 20, 2015 found 40 Rwandan refugees who returned to Rwanda from the Congo attending an outdoor Mirror Therapy workshop led by ETPP Rwanda representative, Jean Luc Ngarambe at  Bisesero Village, a refugee camp. 

 Enthusiasm to learn the effective Mirror Therapy procedures was very high among the 20 amputees and their 20 family members. Many questions were posed and were able to be answered by the ETPP representative, who is a certified physiotherapist.

A Teaching Moment with the Amputees of Bisesero

Amputees said that they appreciated this practice to reduce pain because though they feel phantom  limb pain, when they explain their pain to clinical health providers, none understand phantom limb pain. Often they return home without any treatment. 

They also realized the importance of teamwork in helping the amputee practice Mirror Therapy to reduce the phantom limb pain.  

This Mirror Therapy workshop for amputees is the second successfully conducted by Ngarambe at Rawandan refugee camps. 

 

Certified Mirror Therapy Practitioners Now In Montenegro

Montenegro Physiotherapists Learning Mirror Therapy

MT Trainer, Jasmin Avdovic & Workshop Attendee

in cooperation with The National Physiotherapy Association of Montenegro and The Faculty of Applied Physiotherapy, U of Montenegro, Mirror Therapy Adria and  ETPP organized a full day Mirror Therapy Workshop for nine Montenegro Physiotherapists at The Faculty of Applied Physiotherapy's multimedia education amphitheater on Sunday April 25, 2015. These Physiotherapists became the first certified mirror therapists in Montenegro, four from Herceg Novi, and one from each of the following cities: Kotor, Niksic, Petnjice, Danilovgrad and Cetinje.

There is a growing recognition of mirror therapy by medical professionals in the Balkans as the treatment of first choice for relief of post-traumatic neuropathic pain and stroke. Mirror Therapy Adria is even more convinced that these workshops should be organized in each local area of the Balkans, where its been seen and recently reported that an increasing number of people who suffer the fore mentioned problems.

Certified  MT Therapists & Jasmin Avdovic  Montenegro April 2015

First Mirror Therapy Training Workship in Macedonia

Šejla Imamovic

Mirror Therapy Adria member, Šejla Imamovic, recently conducted a Mirror Therapy Training Workshop  as part of the official First Physiotherapy Congress of the Republic of Macedonia in the capitol city of Skopje.

Macedonian physiotherapists at Mirror Therapy Training Workshop

All twenty-five attendant physiotherapists participated interactively during this workshop, showing great enthusiasm for using this technique with both amputees suffering phantom limb pain and clients suffering hemiparesis.

Physiotherapists experience Mirror Therapy for themselves

Though the Republic of Macedonia suffered a only a brief time of conflict in the 90's, numerous land minefields were laid down, which caused some Macedonians to lose limbs.

According to its director, Jasmin Avdovic, Mirror Therapy Adria plans to certify physiotherapists from the Republic of Macedonia starting this this year, so that mirror therapy as initiated by End The Pain Project can continue to be spread throughout the former Yugoslavia.

Mirror Therapy Training Workshop held in Macedonia a first!

Šejla Imamovic

Mirror Therapy Adria member, Šejla Imamovic recently conducted a Mirror Therapy Training Workshop  as part of the official First Physiotherapy Congress of the Republic of Macedonia in the capitol city of Skopje.

Macedonian physiotherapists at Mirror Therapy Training Workshop

All twenty-five attendant physiotherapists participated interactively during this workshop, showing great enthusiasm for using this technique with both amputees suffering phantom limb pain and clients suffering hemiplegia.

Though the Republic of Macedonia suffered a only a brief time of conflict in the 90's, numerous land minefields were laid down, which caused some Macedonians to lose limbs.

Mirror therapy Adria plans to certify physiotherapists from the Republic of Macedonia this year so that Mirror Therapy as initiated by End The Pain Project will be spread throughout the former Yugoslavia.

Rwandan Amputees Volunteer for Peer-To-Peer Mirror Therapy Programs in Refugee Camps

Rwandan Kiziba Refugee Camp Amputees and Family Supporters

In a first for Rwanda, 17 refugee amputees volunteered to become active in a Peer-to-Peer Mirror Therapy Group for End The Pain Project. They were part of a group of 50 amputees and family members who attended a recent Mirror Therapy for Phantom Pain Workshop held at the Kiziba Refugee Camp.

The idea of the peer-to-program was introduced by ETPP Representative for Africa, Jean Luc Ngarambe, who sees it as an effective limited budget model that can be extended to the greater African continent.

On a scale of 1-10, with '1' indicating no pain and '10' indicating excruciating pain, most of the volunteers had endured pain levels that hovered around '8'. Those who had limbs chopped off during the Rwandan genocide have endured intense levels of recurring phantom pain for over twenty years. Practicing with mirrors for thirty days, their pain levels will now be lowered to the point where they can function more effectively, below the 5-level, or no longer experiencing phantom limb pain.

Kiziba amputee at start of Mirror Therapy demonstration

Amputees watch the Mirror Therapy demonstration

Family members take notes on how to support amputees

These are the courageous and generous KizibaVolunteers who will become Certified ETPP Trainers, leading other amputees in Rwanda's refugee camp away from suffering phantom limb pain.

Gentille M., 24, lost right arm as a child in 1994 Rwandan genocide

Jean Leo B., 39, lost left leg in car accident

Agnes M., 36, lost left leg as a teen in 1994 Rwandan genocide

Alexandre N., 40, lost right arm in accident

Donatha N., 31, lost right arm as a child in 1994 Rwandan genocide

Emmanuel S., 48, lost left arm in 1994 Rwandan genocide

Evariste G., 44, lost left leg in 1994 Rwandan genocide

Andre M., 44, lost right leg in car accident

Tite M., 33, lost left hand as a teen in 1994 Rwandan genocide

Gerome N., 58, lost right leg in Rwandan genocide 1998

Herman N., 55, lost right leg in 1994 Rwandan genocide

Jack H., 35,  lost right leg as a teen in 1994 Rwandan genocide

 Jean Bosco R., 45, lost left leg in 1994 Rwandan genocide

Jean Bosco H., 39, lost right leg due to disease

Felician M., 43,  lost left hand due to a car accident

Pierre M., 26,  lost right hand as a child in 1994 Rwandan genocide

Jean Bosco U., 56, lost left leg in 1994 Rwandan genocide

Inspiring Amputee Peer-To-Peer First Review Meeting, Hai Lang, Vietnam

Amputee Peer-To-Peer 1st Review Meeting, Hai Lang, Vietnam

One month after a peer-to-peer group in Hai Lang, Vietnam, learned how to use mirror therapy at home to relieve the symptoms of phantom pain, they met to share their progress and the impact of the therapy on their lives.

The impact was profound; a solid model for a network of other peer-to-peer amputee groups to meet in Quang Tri Province, Vietnam.

Most of the amputees said that their pain was improved or reduced from at least 30% up to  80% and are thankful for the therapy. 

Several people revealed that they had drank a lot of alcohol to forget their pain, while others stated that their pain would drive them to anger easily when relating to family and friends. Now, they said, practice with the mirror has helped them in these matters. 

All of the participants look forward to further progress and are highly committed to remain in the project until it is completed in March, 2015. 

According to Nguyen Thanh Phu, the next step for Project Renew is to team up with the Quang Tri Provincial Disabled People's Association to seek resources for expanding the model into the Association's grassroots networks, so that more and more amputees can benefit from this effective, inexpensive treatment. 

Full-Day Mirror Therapy Workshop in Olovo, Bosnia

Jasmin Avdovic demonstrating mirror therapy to Olovo workshop participants

On January 24, 2015, nineteen Bosnian physiotherapists participated in a full-day Mirror Therapy Workshop at the hotel complex and spa center Aquaterm-Olovo, in the medieval Bosnian town of Olovo.

Jasmin Avdovic, founder of Adria, a pan-Balkan Mirror Therapy organization, started the workshop by demonstrating mirror therapy with a client with hemiparesis stemming from a cerebrovascular injury.

Many questions were asked by the enthusiastic participants, followed by truly professional interactivity for the remainder of the day.

Certified Mirror Therapists at Adria Mirror Therapy Workshop, Olovo, Bosnia

 The lively workshop ended with certification of the nineteen participants as Mirror Therapists & Trainers as defined by End The Pain Project guidelines. Hailing from many part of Bosnia & Herzegovina, those certified were Edina Lolic Ostojic, Srđan Šarenac,  Mila Emanuela Pranjic, Lidija Leko, Ozrenka Fisic, Lamija Sarajlija Mehanović-, Dženita Grebović Hidić,  Neda Vucetic, Muamer Oruc, Robert Badrov, Huseljic Kenan, Ajla Kanjić, Sead Bjelic, Samra Sokolar, Aldin Hodzic,
Dijana Tikvic, Suad Arzic, Sejla Imamovic, Ajdin Imamovic.

Avdovic believes that these needed therapists will help to alleviate the phantom limb symptoms of amputees  which is an ongoing problem due to fact that the highest number of landmines in the world lie in the Balkans.

In March, Avdovic will bring Adria Mirror Therapy to Belgrade, where the Republic of Serbia will officially gain its first Mirror Therapists.

Peer-To-Peer Amputee Program Launches in Vietnam

Pham Qui Thi, Ban Advocate, presenting peer-to-peer Mirror Therapy with upper limb amputees

 With a donation of 20 table-top mirrors, ETPP ToolKits translated into Vietnamese and pain scales from End The Pain Project as well as the joint sponsorship of Handicap International and Project Renew, a mirror therapy workshop for twenty amputees in Hai Lang district, Quang Tri Province, Vietnam was kicked off on December 18, 2014.

Cluster munitions survivor Pham Quy Thi presented the concept of mirror therapy at home, followed by an actual mirror therapy session that lasted for 20 minutes supported by Pham Quy Thi and Nguyen Thanh Phu of the Project Renew Mine Action Visitor Center.

The participants were divided into two groups, one with leg amputations, the other with arm amputations.

 four out of the five upper limb amputee participants had positive feedback. They can really feel their missing fingers moving exactly like what existed before.

Lower limb amputee concentrating on a reflection of his intact leg

A man whose leg was amputated, said  he really could see his missing leg in the mirror after many years, and felt as if he can walk with balance.

Only in one case, a woman reported that she could not feel anything.  Later, she said that she misunderstood what the team had told her. Instead of concentrating on the reflected image of her leg, she just looked at her intact leg. It was concluded that this was the reason why,she did not get any reaction during the session.

Participants of the Mirror Therapy Workshop with instructors Mr. Nguyen and Mr. Pham

All the participants were very happy and and committed to following mirror therapy sessions  at home for one month.