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The Bobath Concept 

 

 

Sub-group: Neurology

 

Philosophy

The Bobath Concept was conceived and developed in the early 1940s by Dr Karel and Mrs Berta Bobath who came to Great Britain as Jewish refugees from Germany in the 1930s. They taught the Bobath Concept as a clinical treatment approach for adults with stroke, and for children with cerebral palsy, from their London treatment centres for almost 5 decades. They took their post graduate courses to the United States, where it subsequently became known as Neuro-Developmental Therapy (NDT), and were invited to lecture extensively in Europe. They wrote many papers and books and were showered with National and International honours.

 

 

Bobath therapy is a problem solving neurodevelopmental approach for the assessment and treatment of individuals with cerebral palsy and other allied neurological conditions. It addresses the problems that occur as a result of impairment of the developing central nervous system that affects the individual’s sensory-motor, cognitive, perceptual, social and emotional development.

It recognises that all clients with neurodisability have potential for enhanced function, emphasises a realistic approach, i.e. what is necessary for the person, and/or possible for the person to achieve, addresses the changing needs of the child with cerebral palsy as the lesion has occurred in an immature and still developing central nervous system, and in all treatment, emphasises the need for the person’s own activity.

It addresses the following impairments associated with the lesion within the central nervous system due to cerebral palsy:

  • Abnormal muscle tone

  • Muscle weakness

  • Loss of selective movement

  • Abnormal co-contraction of agonist and antagonist pairs

  • Problems of postural control

  • Musculo-skeletal problems

  • Additional sensory, perceptual, visual and/or hearing impairments, learning difficulties, etc.

 

Online certification: No

 

Certificate programme

Basic Course: The Assessment and Treatment of Adults with Neurological Conditions -The Bobath Concept. (3 weeks)

Advanced Course on "The Bobath Concept" as applied to the treatment of Adults with Neurological Conditions. (1 week)

 

Certificate Title: None

 

Price

Duration: 4 weeks. 

 

Special equipment required No

 

Publications 

Books:

 

Bobath Concept: Theory and Clinical Practice in Neurological Rehabilitation, 2009, by Sue Raine, Linzi Meadows, Mary Lynch-Ellerington

 

The Bobath concept in adult neurology, 2007, by Gjelsvik, Bente

 

Products 

 

Official website ibita.org/

 

Recommendations

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