Sebastiano Nutarelli

PhD student at University College Dublin, MS Biomechanics, Sports PT & Clinical Research CAS (2), S&C Cert., CSMS, PT
Clinical Researcher at the Service of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, Department of Surgery, EOC Lugano (Switzerland)
Sports Rehab co-founder, Lugano & Bellinzona (Switzerland)
European Knee Arthrofibrosis Center coordinator (Switzerland)
Program Coordinator & Scientific Committee member for the Master in Clinical & Sports Biomechanics at the University of Camerino (Italy)
Scientific Coordinator for the Sports PT/medicine, Exercise, Scientific Research area at PhisioVit
International Arthrofibrosis Association Committee member

Sebastiano was born in Turin, Italy, in 1980. Always into sports, played a variety of them, eventually hitting high levels alpine skiing first, eventually becoming a pro as a futsal player.

At the beginning he studied ICT & digital communication, became a multimedia systems designer, and worked for the 2nd most important Italian ICT company as Web Accessibility Engineer (newly projecting and/or evolving existing e-gov web portals to be accessible for people with disabilities).

At 27 years old, at the peak of his professional and sports career, his life took a complete U-turn; due to a serious knee injury he was forced to stop any activity for more than 4 years to dedicate all his efforts on the recovery from knee arthrofibrosis, with many surgeries and daily rehabilitation for 365 days a year. After several consultations with European knee experts, he moved to the United States for more than 1.5 years to become a patient of top notch orthopedic surgery and sports medicine rehabilitation centers, mainly in Colorado and Florida, then briefly in California.

Throughout this extended U.S. stay, he had the opportunity to directly experience the marked differences between the EU and the U.S. clinical-rehabilitative approaches, with the chance to do this directly with worldwide renowned surgeons and PTs, that later became mentors. This experience led him to choose pursuing a new path once back on his feet.

He enrolled for a 4 years BSc in Phisiotherapy in Switzerland, and accomplished it with the highest GPA of his course. During his studies, he went back to the U.S. for his clinical rotations in order to furtherly expand his own educational developement with the American approach (Cincinnati SportsMedicine & Orthopaedic Center / Noyes Knee Clinic in Cincinnati, OH and TIRR Memorial Hermann c/o Texas Medical Center (Houston, TX). Since 2015, he joins several surgical teams observing in the O.R. in Italy, Switzerland, and U.S.

He completed a series of postgraduate specializations:
•    Certificate of Advanced Studies in Sports Physiotherapy at SUPSI University (Lugano, Switzerland)
•    Sportsmetrics™ Certification program (certified Sportsmetrics™ instructor)
•    Master degree in Biomechanics at San Raffaele University (Rome, Italy)
•    Postgraduate stand-alone 'Statistics in Health Research' module (part of the MSc in Evidence-Based Health Care) at the University of Oxford (UK)
•    Certificate of Advanced Studies in 'Clinical Research (Clinical Trial Planning and Conduct)' at the University of Basel (Basel, Switzerland)
•    Strength & Conditioning certifications (UK)

And he's currently pursuing:
•    PhD at University College Dublin (Dublin, Ireland) on the rehabilitation of the ACL of the knee

Sebastiano was the co-founder and President of the non-profit company NFC, which organised CPD courses for PTs & MDs in Italy. During this experience he started covering the role of consecutive translator from English to Italian of some of the best experts traveling over from all over the world.

In 2017 this evolved co-founding NOVAVIA Project, a company that acted in the field of professional Evidence-Based education (CPD courses, workshops, etc.) for MDs, PTs, and ATs mainly in Italy, Switzerland, and France. The organized courses involved some of the most talented and renowned clinicians and clinical researchers from all over the world, with him acting as their interpreter from English to Italian and assistant for some of them during courses.
In the summer of 2022, Sebastiano became the Scientific Coordinator for all the CPD training projects in the ‘Sports Rehab/Medicine, Exercise, and Scientific Research’ area for PhisioVit (an Italian company leader in organizing CPD courses) keeping up with the continous effort to organize top-notch post-graduate professional training for health care professionals and athletic trainers.

He now teaches and/or co-teaches CPD courses himself all around the knee rehabilitation, lower limb muscular injuries, injury risk reduction/prevention, blood flow restriction, and biomechanics in Switzerland, Italy, Romania, Sweden, and the United States.

He currently contributes as Italian translator of rehabilitative guidelines and he's in the process of translating further scientific manuals - such as:
•    Derby Shoulder Instability Rehabilitation Programme (Derby Shoulder Unit, UK)
•    Melbourne ACL Rehabilitation Guide 2.0 (Australia)
•    Kinesiology of the Musculoskeletal System, Foundations for Rehabilitation, 3rd Edition (Prof. Dr. Donald Neumann - Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI - USA)
•    Kendall’s Muscles - Testing and Function with Posture and Pain, 6th edition (various authors)
•    “Advanced Strength and Conditioning - An evidence-based Approach, 2nd edition“ (A. Turner, P. Comfort)
•    “Brukner & Khan’s Clinical Sports Medicine Injuries, Vol. 1 - 5th edition“ (P. Brukner and other authors)

His university teaching assignments:
•    from February 2018 to January 2019: associate professor in the BSc of Physioterapy at L.U.de.S. Lugano Campus, Switzerland (Semmelweis University) - teaching "Kinesiology of the upper and lower limbs" & "Evidence-Based Physioterapy in Orthopaedics 2"
•    from February 2019 - ongoing: lecturer c/o 'Sapienza' Università di Roma, Italy - teaching “Evidence-Based Practice & Orthopaedic Evidence-Based rehabilitation”
•    from 2024 - ongoing: professor on contract c/o 'Università di Camerino, Italy - teaching “Sports Biomechanics of the lower quadrant” and “Biomechanical movement assessment methodologies in sport, exercise, and rehabilitation” in the Master in Clinical and Sports Biomechanics program

Sebastiano also is a:
•    member of the Clinical Advisory Board of KNEEguru (knee rehabilitation)
•    member of the International Arthrofibrosis Association’s Committee of Directors
•    International Partner of the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA)
•    Swiss Physical Therapy Association (Physioswiss) member
•    Swiss Sports Physiotherapy Association (Sportfisio) member
•    International Society of Arthroscopy, Knee Surgery e Orthopaedic Sports Medicine (ISAKOS) Allied Specialty Member
•    Italian Society of Arthroscopy, Knee, Upper Limb, Sports, Cartilage and Orthopaedic Technologies (SIAGASCOT) member 

In Switzerland he practiced as a physical therapist in a private practice for 3 years, then from August 2018 he also began working at the Cantonal Sports Medicine Center (CCMS). Moreover he was the team physio of the Swiss National Swimming Team for the Elite, Youth & Juniors teams, from 2018 to the Tokyo Olympics 2020 (2021 due to the pandemic). In 2018 he co-founded the Sports Rehab PT clinics, nowadays counting on a staff of 30+ physical therapists, occupational therapists, athletic trainers, medical doctors, health professionals, and administratives.

Since the beginning of 2020 he started working as a part-time clinical researcher at the Clinical Research Orthopaedic & Traumatology Unit of the EOC Regional Hospital in Lugano, Switzerland - mainly on knee-related research. He published on multiple Q1 peer-reviewed journals and presented in international conferences on the topic of knee rehabilitation, injury prevention, epidemiology and so on.

In his non-stop idea to set up a center in Europe to actually help people dealing with knee arthrofibrosis, which plagued himself eventually leading to his new life as a physical therapist, he founded the European Knee Arthrofibrosis Center in 2022, hosted in the Sports Rehab clinics, progressively training a staff of physical therapists and putting together a multidisciplinary team of skilled health professionals genuinely willing to join the project (knee orthopaedic surgeons, pain specialists, rheumatologists, psychologists, nutritionists, medical & caregiver coaches, clinical & lab researchers, and so on).

Sebastiano is a strong supporter of an evidence-informed practice in rehabilitation, and he takes care of the standardization of the clinical practice within the Sports Rehab & European Knee Arhtrofibrosis Center teams, sharing the guidelines and the constant updates, thanks to the exchanges with the international experts he's in contact with. He works with patients on a daily basis in order to help them in the process to recovery from an injury, whether they are professional athletes, "weekend warriors" or recreationals.

Since 2024 he was appointed as Program Coordinator of the Master in Clinical and Sports Biomechanics at the Università di Camerino, Italy.
His main focus is knee rehabilitation and the related research.