In recent year, proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation(PNF) is being widely applied in the field of sports medicine as well as in the sector of clinical recovery. In particulary, it is regarded as one of the most important methods to enhance the flexibility of players.
Proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation(PNF) is a technique which is used to improve the lower-limb muscle strength and gait function.
Neuromuscular Joint Facilitation(NJF treatment) is used to increase strength, flexibility, and range of motion(ROM). NJF treatment is a new therapeutic exercise based on kinesiology. It integrates the facilitation element of proprioceptive neuromusclar facilitation and the joint composition movement, aiming to improve the movement of the joint through passive exercise, active exercise, and resistance exercise.
A lot of therapeutic values of this method are being reported in the function recovery of bone joint trauma .however, those who were studied were all patients and there is just a few cases of sports truma of health people, especially sports players.
In the Sports Medicine Department, Pyongyang Medical College of
Adolescent basketball players(16 female, aged from 16 to 18), who had acute or chronic shoulder pain, were selected as targets and ROM was measured in comparision with a control group that used anodyne(aspirin ect).
As a result, the increase of ROM was significantly in the control group using anodyne, while in the treatment group the effect was evident with about 30 minutes of NJF treatment.
The shoulder pain of sports players is usually closed injury of soft tissue, therefore, it can be caused by excess extension of muscle or ligament and tiredness of local parts.
Using NJF treatment, the ROM was increased from 30° to 150° in flexion and from 40° to 120° in abduction.
From this, we can know that NJF treatment is an effective method for caring shoulder pain of players and increasing ROM of shoulder joint.
There will be further studies on both recovery of exercise-induced fatigue of players and on improving the capacity for motion using NJF treatment treatment.
