Guttmann Barcelona Life is an initiative that is promoted and guaranteed by the Fundació Institut Guttmann, owner of the neurorehabilitation hospital of the same name which opened in the Sagrera neighbourhood of Barcelona in 1965, and which was the first hospital in Spain dedicated to the medical rehabilitation of patients with spinal cord injury to introduce techniques used by Dr. Ludwig Guttmann (Stoke Mandeville - UK) that changed the hitherto fatal consequences of this pathology. In addition to continuing to care for people affected by a spinal cord injury, the Institut Guttmann currently cares for people with acquired brain injury (mainly ABI or stroke), as well as any other pathology of neurological origin that leads to a disability.

Since 2000, the Institut Guttmann has been located in Badalona in a modern purpose-built building of over 18,000 m2 which provides the best facilities and equipment needed to do its specialist work, as well as the very latest technologies applied to the field of neurorehabilitation.

It now treats about 5 thousand people a year who are affected by a spinal cord injury, acquired brain injury or another neurological disability. This figure is one of the highest in Europe in terms of the number of cases, meaning that the Institut has significant experience in the field of disability both in terms of the knowledge of its professionals and in the use of cutting-edge therapeutic techniques and the most advanced technologies in the field of neurorehabilitation.

In line with its wish to continue improving the care and quality of life for people with physical disabilities, the Institut Guttmann has opted to create a unique and innovative residential clinical complex on the site of the old Barcelona hospital in the neighbourhood of La Sagrera, at the junction of Calle Garcilaso and Avenida Meridiana, and where it began its journey over 50 years ago.