Bobath Method
The Bobath method is the method used in the treatment and therapy of patients with paresis and paralysis such as disorders in muscle spasm (spasticity) after acquired brain damage (brain, hematomas, craniocerebral injuries, brain hypoxemia, brain cancer and other brain cancers). central nervous system. The largest group of patients to whom this method is applied are patients after strokes.

Proprietary Neuromuscular Facility (PNF)
The proprioceptive neuromuscular facility * (PNF) was developed by the Kabat-Kaiser Institute over a five-year period, 1946-1951, by Herman Kabat, a clinical neurophysiologist, and physiotherapist Margaret "Maggie" Knott. Kaiser, whose son suffered from multiple sclerosis, funded and supported the Institute in Washington and California. The method was originally developed for patients with neurological deficits and especially for polio.

The method was then developed in such a way that it could be applied to both neurological and musculoskeletal problems.

The name of the method shows us which part of the human body is used during its application to improve its function.

Proprioceptive: is the body's ability to perceive changes that occur in it using nerve receptors, through which muscle contraction takes place. The main receptors used by the method are located in the muscles (muscle spindle and free nerve endings), tendons (Golgi tendon) and joints (Pacini and Ruffini’s bodies and free nerve endings). In addition to the above receptors, the method also uses receptive receptors (receptors that perceive changes in the environment through touch, sight and hearing). All of these receptors can be activated through the basic principles of the PNF method, through muscle contraction or relaxation.

Neuromuscular: is the neuromuscular junction which is the motor unit (muscle-nerve). During the treatment we try to include as many motor units as possible, because only in this way the movement becomes synchronized, accurate and possible.

Facilitation: means that the inflow of the stimulus to the motor cell in the spine reaches from any direction so strong that the muscle contraction is optimal.

Basic Principles of PNF

• The therapeutic approach is always positive, enhancing any possibility of the patient on a physical and psychological level.
• The primary purpose of all therapy is to help patients achieve the highest level of function.
• PNF is an integrated approach: each treatment targets the entire human body and not a specific problem or part of the body.

*Author: Filippos Gekis PT, MT