Neuro-developmental treatment (NDT) is a hands-on therapeutic approach used with people who have central nervous system insults such as cerebral palsy, stroke, or head injury.  Therapists who use NDT are experienced Occupational Therapists, Physical Therapists or Speech-Language Pathologists who have completed advanced training in the techniques to help patients become as independent as possible.

It is a problem-solving approach using clinical reasoning, which deals with the management and treatment of movement dysfunction.  It is based on a thorough understanding of normal movements and knowledge of its variations.  The whole body is considered and each person is treated as an individual.  Treatment is a collaborative process between the patient, therapist, caregivers, family, and interdisciplinary team.  The goal is to return the person to a functional life and increase independence and quality of life.

This approach was developed by Dr. and Mrs. Bobath in the 1940's.  Dr. Karel Bobath was a psychiatrist from Czechoslovakia. Mrs. Berta Bobath was a remedial gymnast and physiotherapist in Germany.  She moved to London in the 1930's, where she began working with neurological patients.  She pioneered techniques to reverse spasticity, which at that time was considered irreversible.  Her husband searched the literature to establish a theoretical basis for his wife's results.  Together they received many honors for their ground-breaking work.  They were brought to the United States in 1958 by the federal government to teach their techniques at the American Physical Therapy Annual Conference and Stanford University.  By the 1970's, the Bobath approach was being taught across the United States.

This website last updated on 31 July 2010

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