This study examined the effect of proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF) coupled with an internal mental imagery technique (PNFI) on both the attainment and retention of increased range-of-movement (ROM) at the hip joint. Twenty-four young adult subjects were randomly allocated to PNF, PNFI, and control treatments administered in fifteen sessions over a three-week period. ROM was asses...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF) stretches are widely used in athletics and rehabilitation. Although it has been shown that they produce better range-of-motion (ROM) increases than the slow or static stretch, the mechanisms responsible remain an enigma. This study was conducted to determine whether the previously proposed neurophysiological mechanisms of re...

Sheard, PW and Paine, TJ. Optimal contraction intensity during proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation for maximal increase of range of motion. J Strength Cond Res 24(X): 000–000, 2009—An informal review of literature on the use of postisometric relaxation (PIR) type proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF) indicates that the force of contraction requested from the athlete ranges from ...

PURPOSE The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of PNF and manual therapy methods in the treatment of patients with cervical spine osteoarthritis, especially their efficacy in reducing pain and improving functionality in everyday life. Long-term results were also compared in order to determine which method of treatment is more effective. SUBJECTS AND METHODS Eighty randomly se...

Objective. To correlate visual and neurologic clinical scores and treatment of optic neuritis and multiple sclerosis (MS) patients with assays of serum phosphorylated neurofilament heavy chain (pNF-H) and optical coherence tomography (OCT) measurements of axonal loss. Design/Methods. The Optic Neuritis Treatment Trial (ONTT) randomized 457 patients with acute optic neuritis to intravenous methy...

OBJECTIVES To compare the effects of proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF) and isokinetic training on fibre type distribution and cross sectional area of the vastus lateralis muscle. METHODS Twenty four male university students were divided into two equal groups: PNF training and isokinetic training (ISO). The training regimen for the PNF group consisted of three sets of 30 repetiti...

PURPOSE Chemotherapy-induced cognitive impairment (CICI) is a clinically significant problem. Previous studies using magnetic resonance imaging indicated structural changes in the cerebral white matter of patients with CICI. Phosphorylated neurofilament heavy subunit (pNF-H), a major structural protein in axons, was recently reported to be elevated in the serum of patients with some central ner...

[Purpose] The aim of this study was to investigate the change in standing balance of younger persons after neuromuscular joint facilitation (NJF) treatment. [Subjects] The subjects were 57 healthy young people, who were divided into three groups: The NJF group, and the Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation (PNF) group and the control group. [Methods] Functional reach test and body sway were...

Cervical spine compression with cervical radicular or cervical spinal cord compression is a common neck condition caused by inflammatory diseases, cervical disk degeneration, neck injuries or other less common causes (tumours, infections etc.). The phosphorylated form of the High-Molecular-Weight Neurofilament Subunit NF-H (pNF-H) in Cerebro-Spinal Fluid (CSF) is a specific biomarker for spinal...