PNF means proprioceptive - neuromuscular - facilitation. It is a form of treatment in physiotherapy. As we just discussed, we made a distinction between active and passive stretching. In active stretching, PNF can serve as a tool for us to work more efficiently and effectively.
What does PNF mean roughly?
Proprioceptors are deep sensitivity receptors whose task is to determine the position and position of joints in space.
Neuromuscular includes the neural pathways and affected muscles.
Facilitation includes the initiation of movement (neuromuscular) in space (proprioceptive). (BIKA®; 2015 (in Anlehnung an IBITA 2008).
In practice, it basically means that a movement is initiated by external stimuli (facilitation). The proprioceptors send the information about joint position and position in space to the cerebellum, where it is processed subconsciously. Movement learning takes place in the muscles (neuromuscular) and cerebellum.
Back to our example, the split. If we simply do the split without doing anything, the structure is passively stretched.
But if we use, for example, a wall and push with one leg against it while being in the split, we are working against an external stimulus. The advantage is that movement learning takes place. In this case, the pressure (facilitation) is built up via the hip muscles (neuromuscular). If this process is repeated over a certain period of time, the muscles learn to build up pressure against the wall more effectively in the respective joint (e.g., hip).
If a good force value is achieved in the joint position, you can continue to work with a higher degree of movement (the splits are spread further apart). The strength is repeatedly trained in the new position until the desired ROM (range of motion) is reached.
In addition, there was always active movement learning, which will facilitate the transfer to other movements, as muscles were actively built up.
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