Joan Ars Ricart

I am a physiotherapist specialised in ageing at Parc Sanitari Pere Virgili (Barcelona, Spain), an intermediate care hospital, where I have worked since 2017. I provide sustained clinical practice in geriatric rehabilitation and care for older adults with complex chronic conditions, including advanced chronic disease and end-of-life situations. In this setting, I contribute to interdisciplinary care plans, safe mobility pathways, and transitions to home, with therapeutic exercise prescription as a core clinical tool.

I lead the research line “Geriatric Rehabilitation and Movement Patterns” within the Research Group on Ageing, Frailty and Transitions in Barcelona, affiliated with the Vall d’Hebron Research Institute, and I am an affiliated researcher at the Aging Research Center within the Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society at Karolinska Institutet and Stockholm University (Sweden), in an environment focused on multidimensional health in old age.

I received a PhD in Medicine (2024) from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (international mention; cum laude) with the project “Movement, cognition and health in aging”. I also hold a Master’s degree in Therapeutic Physical Activity Prescription in chronic conditions, ageing and disability, and a Bachelor’s degree in Physiotherapy (geriatrics track). I completed clinical and research stays at Universidad de Santa Paula (San José, Costa Rica), Erasmus University Medical Center (Rotterdam, the Netherlands), and the Aging Research Center in Stockholm.

My research focuses on geriatric rehabilitation and movement patterns, with a particular interest in objective assessment of movement behaviour (device-measured physical activity and sedentary behaviour). I study how these patterns relate to function, cognition, and clinical outcomes in older adults, and how rehabilitation strategies can be designed to be interpretable, transferable, and implementable in real-world care settings.

I lead an applied research line within the Research Group on Ageing, Frailty and Transitions in Barcelona, with an orientation towards clinical epidemiology of ageing and implementation science. I have led and contributed to competitive projects such as FRONT STAGE, PROFIT, IMAGINE, DIALCAT and +AGIL, and collaborated in national and international initiatives on frailty, multicomponent exercise, falls prevention, and integrated care models, including contributions through international consensus work and book chapters. I am an active member of the Special Interest Group in geriatric rehabilitation within the European Geriatric Medicine Society, and I serve as a board member (vocal) for the geriatrics and gerontology section of the Spanish Association of Physiotherapists.

A central aim of my work is to translate movement data (for example, accelerometry) into actionable clinical targets and practical procedures (training materials, workflow templates, safety protocols, and fidelity criteria) that support adoption by care teams. In particular, I work on rehabilitation approaches that increase physical activity levels, reduce sedentary behaviour, and consolidate therapeutic exercise prescription as a core therapeutic tool for older adults, supporting sustainable habits after discharge.

I have teaching experience across undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in physiotherapy and therapeutic exercise for ageing. I have been an adjunct lecturer at Tecnocampus, a centre affiliated with Pompeu Fabra University, where I taught Physiotherapy in Geriatrics. I have also taught in the Physiotherapy degree at Blanquerna, Ramon Llull University, and I currently teach in the University Master’s Programme in Therapeutic Physical Activity in Chronic Conditions, Ageing and Disability (Blanquerna, Ramon Llull University), where I also supervise master’s theses.

Internationally, I collaborate as a lecturer in postgraduate programmes at the University of Chile on clinical exercise physiology and physiotherapy in ageing. In the clinical setting, I supervise students during placements and contribute to continuing professional education and dissemination through national and international conferences, particularly in therapeutic exercise, geriatric rehabilitation, and healthy ageing.