"Back to the origins" is the name of the initiative, promoted by the Institut Guttmann , which has led 4 patients to travel to England to participate in the WheelPower Inter Spinal Unit Games at the hospital of Stoke Mandeville.

For a week, patients, accompanied by professionals from the Institut Guttmann, competed in this event in the UK, taking part in a wide variety of sports including athletics, archery, badminton, boccia, canoeing and basketball, among others.

In 1945, Dr. Ludwig Guttmann, as director of the spinal cord injury center at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, was the driving force behind these sports days, the WheelPower Inter Spinal Unit Games, which were the forerunners of the Paralympic Games.

This opportunity has been made possible thanks to the support of Motocard, a company that has not only financed the expenses of this event but has also supplied promotional material with the slogan "Back to origins".

The history of the Institut Guttmann is closely linked to Stoke Mandeville: When Mr. Guillermo González Gilbey (1926-1987) at the age of 32 had a traffic accident that caused him quadriplegia, he traveled to England to receive treatment after experiencing the absence in our country of adequate medical and neurorehabilitative care. There, thanks to the techniques developed by Dr. Ludwig Guttmann, found that it was possible to achieve the degree of rehabilitation necessary to regain an active and satisfying life. Upon returning to Barcelona, together with his friends, he promoted the creation of a  center where people with spinal cord injury could receive the specialized care he had received abroad.

Learn more about the history of the Guttmann Institute here.