LV was recently invited to give a talk at the closure symposium for the ‘Rehabilitation and Injury-prevention Techniques for Musicians’ Occupational health’ (RITMO) project, which took place on February 24th 2026 at Sapienza Università di Roma (Italy). It was a pleasure to hear from experts in rehabilitation, physiotherapists and occupational therapists, neuropsychologists, as well as musicians.
LV photographed during her talk by Francescaroberta Pannuccio
Although the RITMO symposium was mainly focused on musicians health, the symposium organizers wanted to also include a perspective on the use of music for health and wellbeing. Hence, LV gave a brief overview of past projects to show some examples evidencing brain plasticity after music experience; then, she dedicated most of the talk to explain the SMART project with its preliminary results, as an example of music used mostly with a preventative purpose; and ended by mentioning some of the projects in which she has been involved as a collaborator –OPTIMUS and RehArt projects- where music is used as a therapeutic mean.
It was very inspiring to see such an interdisciplinary group of speakers and attendees to be involved in an area that still needs much more attention, awareness and resources: the specialized prevention and treatment of musicians’ occupational injuries.
In addition, the organizers also invited renowned local musicians to perform in different musical intermezzos between the different sections of the scientific program. Overall, the symposium was very stimulating and interesting, and attendees were happy to hear about the neuroscientific perspective and projects that LV discussed during her talk.
We want to restate how thankful we are to the main organizer and leader of the RITMO project, Dr. Francescaroberta Panuccio, from the Research group ‘Rehabilitation Evidence and Development’ within the Department of Human Neurosciences at Sapienza Università di Roma, for inviting LV to participate in the RITMO symposium. Grazie!
The musicinas playing at the RITMO symposium. From left to righ: the band Shylock; on the upper right: M. Castronovo & L. Iacobacci; on the bottom right: the pianist A. Idà. All photographed by LV during the event.
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