Effect of the Vojta Therapy in Patients Multiple Sclerosis

Overview

Multiple sclerosis is the most common disabling neurological disease in young adults. Inflammation, demyelination, neurodegeneration, gliosis and repair processes are involved in its process, which are responsible for the heterogeneity and individual variability in the expression of the disease, the prognosis and the response to treatment. Clinically, MS manifests itself with the following symptoms: sensory focus, motor focus, spasticity, balance disorders, visual disturbances such as loss of vision or double vision or sphincter dysfunction. The main subtypes of MS are relapsing-remitting, secondary progressive, primary progressive, and progressive relapsing. Clinically, RRMS presents the initial inflammatory phase, characterized by reversible flares with neurological dysfunction, followed by periods of remission. Approximately 40-50% of these patients progress to SPMS, where the disease gradually progresses from intermittent flare-ups to steadily progressive worsening, resulting in permanent disability due to massive axonal loss. PPMS is the most severe subtype, affecting approximately 10% of all cases, and manifesting as progressive degeneration without any remission.

From the field of Physiotherapy, one of the main tools for the treatment of MS is physical exercise. Numerous studies show that exercising is safe and beneficial in people with MS, as long as it is done correctly and supervised by health professionals. Physical exercise is considered an important part of symptomatic and supportive treatment for people with MS, since it induces improvement of physiological functions affected by lack of physical activity and helps to manage some symptoms, such as spasticity, fatigue and lack of balance There are therapies within Physiotherapy that help treat MS such as the Vojta Method and the Bobath Method.