Mototherapy is… Therapy!

A scientific investigation by the Regina Margherita Hospital of Turin published in the European Journal Of Integrative Medicine confirms the positive effects of Mototherapy

cover photo by Lorenzo Refrigeri.

A few days ago I received an email from my friend Vanni Oddera. He often updates me on how the appointments proceed Mototerapia and Freestyle Hospital and especially lately that for various personal matters I am participating less physically in these meetings, I am even more pleased to see their smiling faces and to know that everything is going great.

With the lockdown of course also the activities of Vanni and dei Daboot they stopped, therefore I did not expect updates. Instead, the news that we have been waiting for for a long time has arrived.

Vanni writes: “For eleven years I have believed in this project, there have been many difficulties, especially change people's habits and opinions. Not to mention the huge responsibilities that I have taken for years, but the road was the right one and all the smiles that I gave birth with my bike confirmed it every time.”

The effects of mototherapy

We have all been able to see the effects of mototherapy with our own eyes, or the smiles, the hugs, the desire to be together. This happened in outdoor appointments, those so to speak classics, but we realized how powerful it could be even inside hospitals, in particular of the pediatric oncology departments. As long as they say, however, motorcyclists and journalists like myself, however, has no validity except that of the news: carry what I see, that I feel, I try. But there is obviously no scientific evidence.

Well, it is appropriate to say that it was not there. Now there is.

In the last year an important investigation has been carried out on Mototerapia – o Freestyle Motocross Therapy (FMX Therapy) to use understandable language in all countries – and the results have now been published on the European Journal Of Integrative Medicine. The medical team led by Dr. Franca Fagioli at the pediatric oncology department of the’Regina Margherita hospital in Turin and fundamental was the study support given by Allianz Human Mind Foundation who has long believed in the quality of the project.

The investigation at the Regina Margherita in Turin

The protagonist of this investigation was a sample made up of 50 patients, of middle age 9,2 years, of which the 43% males and the 73% suffering from Leukemia, the 50 parents of middle age 33,2 years of which 83% females e 25 health workers between doctors and nurses of which the 95% female.

During the various appointments in the hospital with Freestyle Motocross champions, questionnaires were submitted to evaluate especially the emotional state before and after the moments of Mototherapy.

In particular, for small patients the goal was to measure theirs perception of pain, le emotions and sensations, the sense of autonomy and self-sufficiency. For parents, the focus was on stress level and on emotions and finally, the operators measured the perception of the effects of mototherapy on patients.

The results in the European Journal Of Integrative Medicine

The data and considerations that are published in the article of the European Journal of Integrative Medicine leave no doubt: the effects of FMX Therapy are there, they are tangible and they are all positive.

After Mototherapy, patients show a clear reduction in the perception of pain and the parents see that of stress decrease. For both there is an increase in positive emotions at the expense of negative ones, while operators can only underline a positive perception of the effects. Ultimately the data tell how much we had already been able to experience in person, or that an activity such as Mototherapy or FMX Therapy that you want, although it is not medicine it can represent an integration in order to improve the quality of life of patients and family members. In a difficult moment, being able to get distracted and do something outside the box, even a little’ as crazy as Freestyle Motocross, increases self-esteem and the will to live.

This for me, as an observer, it was already doubtless at the first time. But now I can only be personally happy with the result obtained by Vanni, by the Daboot and all the health personnel not only of the Regina Margherita Hospital but of all the hospitals that have been able to welcome this extraordinary message.

Vanni concludes: “There is no greater joy than seeing such a dream come true. Thanks to all the people who have always believed in all this“.

Here you can download the full report published in the European Journal Of Integrative Medicine:


P.S.: Unfortunately in so much joy for this news, the great family of Mototherapy in the same hours had to face a great loss. He passed away Davide Ciceri. Davide fought like a lion with the disease and was an example for many young peers and above all younger, even with his book “From the seventh heaven to the seventh floor”. He faced that bad monster with his head held high and punched us. A few rounds even took him home and he was always on his feet. And when he cashed, he always did it with a smile and a unique and contagious self-irony. David will be missed, but his example will always remain in our hearts and in our memory. Hello, crossista.


I am convinced that an informed motorcyclist is a more aware motorcyclist and in his own small way he will act for a better world. For this reason, the articles and videos that I publish on Motoreetto.it are accessible to everyone and without advertising banners because the information must be open and shared.
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