It is becoming evident that early intervention and collaborative care is crucial in the management of spasticity.  The evolution of multidisciplinary spasticity clinics in Canada over the last 10 years has made us realize the importance of collaborative care with physiatrists and their surgical colleagues.

Most academic centres have the ability to collaborate with their surgical colleagues (orthopedics, neurosurgical, plastic surgeons) in enhancing the care provided to patients with spasticity. However, there are many centres who wish to create such collaborations.

There has never been a conference involving physiatrists and our surgical colleagues focused on Spasticity management in Canada or the United States to date.

This inaugural CANOS neuro-orthopedic symposium will highlight the importance of collaborative care between physiatrists and their surgical colleagues and to help enhance the delivery of care between these specialist groups in order to enhance spasticity management.

Bringing together teams of physiatry-surgical teams from across Canada will help us improve our ability to conduct research regarding the importance of this collaborative care and also to enhance the professional camaraderie to help improve the physiatry-surgical relationship in the treatment of patients with spasticity.