President’s Message

Chief Coordinator and Editor

Dr. H S Chhabra
President - ASSI
Chief of Spine Service & Medical Director,
Indian Spinal Injuries Centre, New Delhi, India.

Globally, there have been rapid developments in the prevention, diagnosis, and comprehensive management of various spinal ailments. This assumes importance since spinal problems pose a grave challenge to humanity. Despite significant developments over the last few decades, there exists a substantial gap between what is “possible” or “needed” and that “actually available” to the common man. Changing this scenario does not require a large effort or economic resource. Awareness and availability of knowledge amongst health professionals, as well as all others concerned with spine management should also make a significant impact, as is obvious from various studies. Ever increasing availability and access to digital technology necessiates smart options to make information avaiable for all. Recognizing the great need for a landmark educational resource, ASSI had conceived ASSI.elearnspine.org with a view to disseminate knowledge & improve the quality of lives of people living with spinal ailments. ASSI.elearnspine.org is thus a global educational initiative of ASSI.

"Let’s accelerate the movement to serve our constituency."

The Proposal for ASSI.elearnspine.org was approved by ASSI in January 2019. A company was finalised to develop web interface. Module coordinators, subcommittee coordinators & members were appointed. Editorial & Editorial Advisory Committee meetings were held in Mangalore & Delhi. In addition, there were several Core-group Meetings. The content was developed by Subcommittees and improved with feedback of ISIC & Elearn Editorial Committees

The educational resource was pilot run in an elearning workshop in February 2020 in Delhi. The content was discussed thread bare in the Editorial Committee meetings. The feedback was then circulated to Subcommittee coordinators. The revised submodule was recirculated to Editorial Committee before the content was uploaded on Website.

The comprehensive e-learning resource will comprise of 10 professionals and 7 consumers modules. Each professional sub-module covers a specific component of management and includes a presentation giving an overview of the topic, activity based learning exercises, references and self assessment questions. Each Consumer sub-module covers a specific component of management and includes in addition to the content of the professional sub-modules, sections on frequently asked questions and busting Myths about Spine. Other components of ASSI.elearnspine.org include glossary, FAQs, User Guidelines, Log in, About us, Messages, Audio Visual on elearnSCI.org, Contact us, Disclaimer Certificate, Copy right statement, Rights & undertaking of contributing experts and Feedback.

ASSI.elearnspine.org is unique on several counts. It is the first such educational resource and is available globally totally free of charge. There has been consumer input on the resource. 356 experts and 123 Sub-committees have contributed.

It is not possible to acknowledge by name everybody who has contributed since the list is exhaustive. However I would want to acknowledge all the experts who have voluntarily contributed to the educational resource, Past Presidents, ASSI.elearnspine.org Editorial Committee, ASSI.elearnspine.org Editorial Advisory Committee, ASSI Executive and Project Coordinators and ISIC Editorial Committee. Of course I would want to acknowledge ASSI General Body for supporting the whole project. I would want to also express gratitude to Himanshu and his team from Grapes Software for developing the web platform and uploading the educational resource.

The Successful launch of the project brings to fruition the unparalleled global contribution of a large number of experts. Hope you enjoy going through this innovative ASSI initiative and provide us with your feedback. However the launch should not make us complacent. In fact we have just stepped out and the journey has to begin. We should not be daunted by it as well. Since "Together We Can….