Editorial.

Abstract

“When you discover your mission, you will feel its demand. It will fill you with enthusiasm and a burning desire to get to work on it,” wrote American businessman W. Clement Stone. The mission of the International Journal of MS Care (IJMSC) is to promote multidisciplinary cooperation and communication among all multiple sclerosis (MS) health care professionals globally. Good MS care must include partners in neurology, nursing, and allied health professions, including physical, occupational, and speech therapists. We believe that we can learn from each other to provide better care and maximize quality of life for people affected by MS. One of our international partners—Rehabilitation in Multiple Sclerosis (RIMS)—will soon be hosting an in-person annual meeting in conjunction with the upcoming European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS) Congress, taking place October 26–28, 2022, in Amsterdam. We look forward to this conference and hope to share more multidisciplinary work from RIMS and other organizations in the future.In this issue’s letter to the editor, Wasay et al expand our global perspective of MS care through an updated review and description of MS presentation and treatment in Pakistan. With disease-modifying therapy use increasing in the country, medication infusion was the most common reason for hospitalization in their cohort. We know that patients with MS can have various reasons for hospital admission, and that readmission within 30 days of discharge is associated with negative patient outcomes and higher costs. Expanding on this, Pardarti and colleagues reviewed readmission rates and reasons for readmission in a United States cohort. As expected, the presence of certain comorbid conditions increases the risk of readmission.The importance of overall health and incorporation of wellness practices is a significant component of MS care. Treatment for many MS symptoms begins with changes in diet and exercise. Gulick reminds us that this should be the first intervention in neurogenic bowel dysfunction, a commonly overlooked symptom in MS. While many people living with MS will agree that eating healthy, exercising, getting good sleep, and managing stress is important, this is often easier said than done. Wahls and colleagues explored factors affecting adherence to dietary interventions among persons with MS and their support partners. In this issue’s CE article, Briggs and colleagues sought to understand the cognitive, mental, and physical health factors associated with exercise in MS. Podda and colleagues found that parents with MS have specific risk factors for mood disorders that affect their mental health and well-being. The thoughtful work by these groups reinforces the importance of a holistic approach to care and for individualization of wellness recommendations.Technology is increasingly incorporated into MS care for not only intervention but also for assessment. Our conventional measures of motor function do not always tell the whole story. Persons with MS may perceive improvement or decline that our brief, standardized measures do not detect. Van Munster and colleagues describe an interesting video-assisted composite measure that enhanced ability to detect change in a small group of patients on fampridine. Azadvari and colleagues used conventional outcome measures of walking capacity to evaluate the effect of neuromodulation combined with stationary cycling. With this, we are excited to share more about technology-assisted rehabilitation and the incorporation of technology in broad MS care in the upcoming November/December 2022 IJMSC theme issue.