Neonates and infants as well as older children and adults are being treated with the neurophysiologic Rota – Therapy.

During a preventive medical examination (a so-called "U") the pediatrician verifies reflex responses of the body analysing position and changes in space. Treatment is recommended if this shows abnormalities. These abnormalities exhibit for example to disruptions or delays of the (movement-) progress. They are, however, not only limited on the motor function, but also relate to sensorial, vegetative and emotional areas. We call this condition "central coordination disorder" (ZKS), since the occurring disorders proceed from central – i.e the brain.

Originally responsible is a too high or too low muscle tone (hypertonic or hypotonic). With the Rota – Therapy the ZKS is treated holistically, it is not a matter of the symptoms (see indications) being treated in isolation, but to affect their origins curatively. If ZKS is not recognized and treated during infancy there may develop profound health problems.

The target organ is the brain

The target organ of the neuro-physiological therapy is the brain, in concrete the areas that develop and regulate the movement progress and the, for the movement and posture necessary, muscle tone. All muscles, keeping the body in a certain position in space, as well as in movement from one position to another, must be properly coordinated.

If there is a disturbance in the sensory-motor movement progress, a child moves over the months leading up to crawling using reflex-controlled movement patterns. In the newborn child up to the third month of life these reflexes are still physiological. During the burdened development, these reflexes will not be automatically removed.

Any active movement will then be performed with uncoordinated muscle tone. Without therapeutical help this happens continuously. Consequently the brain exerts a false and primitive movement pattern and then they form the basis for the subsequent development until full straightening. Thus, the active movement will always be characterized by immature ones.


It is therefore useful to identify these physiological stresses as early as possible and treat them, so that no fixation will occur in the brain.


The Rota-therapy is based more on the primary needs of the child, in relation to his physical, mental and spiritual development status.

A basic need of a little child is to be with his mother. It follows that in the first treatment, the mother has her baby on her lap, and carrying out the motions (see below). The task of the therapist is to teach the mother in everything that takes her child to a healthy development in help and support.

The practical implementation

The basis of Rota - therapy for the infant are rotation exercises conducted by the mother with her child on her lap.

In rotational motion, the child is moved in a particular order specified by the mother. It is rotated around its own body axes in space, by being placed in different always recurring items (these are: the prone position, lateral position, supine, sitting in the arm).


These movements are initially passive, with the child, later becoming increasingly active only carried out in proper, controlled not by reflections, but by physiological motion. Due to the constant, comfortable repetition, these healthy movement and postural patterns will be memorized in the brain. They will be taken instead of the previous "wrong". The false (that is always the reflex-controlled) movement pattern will occur less frequently, withers and will be buried into oblivion.

How long and how many times a day the help of the exercises on her lap are necessary, is determined by the seriousness of the developmental disorder.

 
The young child often falls asleep while being moved on the lap. The curative and regulatory effect of the exercise will be unaffected. Increasingly, however, it begins to participate actively in the position changes, to look to tell, listening and laughing. It recognizes its surroundings, feels his body and the mother in recurrent, steady succession. It teaches is that the change of body position in space, leads to a change of its own perception and the environment. And by seeing and feeling the same over and over again, it acquires a deep safety for the body control and for all subsequent fine and gross motor functions. In this whole process of learning and feeling the mental activity of the child is raised.

 

Depending on the seriousness of the concern, it may initially be a bit tedious work to lead the child into the circular motion. Especially when the reflex movements are very strong, and consequently a too high muscle tone resistance has already been developed.

At this stage the child is definitely crying. Also, the change to good, to a better, must initially be overcome as a strange, uncharted own perception.

However, when the constant repetitive help reduces significantly the false tensions and normalizes, mother and child can enjoy the movements, both experiencing the time of the exercise as a period of undisturbed and intimate affection.

Thereby one aspect in the rotation exercise has to be especially referred to since it is of fundamental importance for all later sensor motor development:

the so-called "diagonal eye-hand-foot-mouth contact”.

In the healthy development this contact begins independently at the age of 4-5 months of life and remains well beyond the first year of life. By "watching the foot, grabbing with both hands, then taking each one foot in the mouth" especially the coordination of the two halves of the brain that are responsible for the healthy development of the child are being promoted, which are of great importance even on a spiritual level.

   

During the months the foot is never "boring" for the child because he is, referring to the spiritual maturity, recognized more sophistically. While being grabbed frequently it is well integrated into the body schema. Therefore it is necessary that the feet are always bare.

A child, who will experience this phase at close, will be able to run well and safe later on, not constantly stumble and fall, because it knows very well the feet down there on the floor. The “Eye Hand-Foot-Mouth Contact” is being promoted and supported in the rotation exercises in all positions except the prone position.

These are, in this context only a few aspects of this important phase.

 
The implementation in everyday life

 

In the second important component of the neuro-physiological therapy, parents learn not to trigger any of the false reflex responses in everyday dealings with their child. Otherwise, the symptoms were still reinforced.

The parents learn how to carry their baby best to pull it or lay down, how the mother handles it during breastfeeding, feeding it with a spoon and letting it drink from the glass, how it is swaddled on her lap, pulled on and off and how it will be held during bathing.

The parents learn to recognize and understand why all this makes sense and also still is very convenient.

These are all simple and easy-to-learn drills which shall soon no longer be considered.

Through these real life handles the rotation exercise is more effective, since even during the same time, outside the specific movements on the lap, the wrong movement patterns can be stored as little as possible in the brain and the effect of "forgetting” will not be strengthened  

 

If the above mentioned symptoms during infancy are not recognized and treated, it may sooner or later lead during the further development to more or less severe disorders. (see Indications)

 

Although, of course, the earlier is always the better , Rota - therapy is also effective in helping even beyond infancy.

At any age and with any severity of symptoms.


Older children or adults are able to learn physical exercises, which they perform every day at home on the floor.

The basic principle is, as in the movements of the infant on her lap, the rotation of the body (rotation of the spine) and the rotation of the body about the axes in space.

Concretely, this means lying in a certain way on his belly on the side on his back, sitting in a certain way, while the positions are being changed in a necessary and comfortable rhythm. For the effect of the movements it needs to stay in one position and moving around the body axis.

Also in the treatment of "the Grown-Ups" there is a rule that in the movement and posture, none of the early childhood reflex patterns that are still active are allowed.

Similarly, the idea is to learn certain helping behavior in everyday life, e.g. when sitting, studying, doing sports, sleeping. Or the improvement of leaving out interfering and inhibiting activities. This raises the effect of one daily practice as soon as possible.

Imperative is the daily practice. No pain, no gain.

 

If, due to the therapy, no objective as well as subjective symptoms are shown any more, it is appropriate to maintain the movement training once a day, so to speak, as a personal care. Just as healthy teeth are trimmed so that they remain healthy. In this way people, regardless of age, can do all the steps of development taking place in all areas of his humanity stable and healthy.

 

 

 

 

Rota Therapy Basics

 

 

Rota-therapy, I've never heard of.

Is this something new?

 

 No, I have not invented anything new.

It has long been known in medicine that the rotation of the body in space and the rotation of the spine in itself has an orderly and - where there is illness - has a healing effect on the voltage regulation of the body.

This knowledge is implemented in a variety of so-called neuro-physiological therapies.

Rotation - learned passively or actively implemented - is an impulse to the brain, a good, normotonic regulation of tension (tone) to coordinate all body structures. As well as the muscles (smooth and the striated) and all tissues.

The good functioning of all muscles, and thus the joints, and the good functioning of all organs is dependent on the good tone.

 

Then the New

 

The ROTA-therapy uses these findings therapeutically in a separate, empirically evolved way. It is indicated for functional and developmental disabilities, whose cause lies in a central (= proceeding from the brain) perturbed tone regulation. Insufficient or impossible basic function within the meaning of milestones is not practiced. Through sufficient and proper rotation of the body the proper functioning and development occurs spontaneously. As already mentioned above, it is always about the basic functions within the meaning of the milestone development of the newborn to the attainment of physiological crawling.

Specifically, it means, for example:

Playing the piano must be practiced. However, if the hands are very cramped, not letting their fingers stretch well and are therefore awkward, it is not exercised on or with your hands because the cause for an excessive flexor tone (spasm) is not in the hands but can be located in the brain. In this case, playing the piano or other fine motor activity is not practiced (Assuming, of course, is the effect of a central load and not a peripheral lesion in the area of the arm or hand.)

 

This example can be applied to all other similar situations:

- When a child is not crawling, crawling is not practiced - or a child with a spastic disorder will not be passively submitted to his feet, neither with the help of a prone board nor with ortheses, nor lying on a ball, etc.

It is, however, the knowledge of the curative effect of the rotation will be consistently implemented in practice. Again, the healthy function of the brain is known as applied and therefore it is not trained to.

 

- So  babies will not get any hip abduction bandage in case of a disturbed development of the hip, because the reason for this is also located in a disturbed tone regulation of the whole body -  i.e. in the brain. The hip is growing and developing healthily with the help of the rotational therapy. That is the causative assistance.

- The same goes for foot deformities in the overall picture of a central coordination disorder (ZKS) (sickle occur, hoes, and or clubfeet).

- Also a too close jaw in which teeth do not have enough space, is associated with an increasing tone of the entire body and undergoes an improvement in the holistic therapy. So – with a timelier outset - an expensive and quite stressful braces treatment for the organism can be circumvented.

- In case of bad balance no balance exercises are made.

This principle can be extended to many other symptoms.

 

For all these examples:

The "nuisance" wrong tone regulation in the brain - for early start - taken away by the rotations, or reduced, in a very serious disturbance or late onset. Then the body can develop well with all its functions  or with the still containing potential.

The same principle applies to all the symptom pictures (illness images) in the chapter "indications".

 

The therapy is called holistic therapy because through the mediation of a therapist, all the necessary tools for a healthy development in fine and gross motor skills are given into the hands of parents.

There is no need for weekly or monthly regular trips to various therapists because the child can be fully and responsibly treated at home.

Telephone conversations are useful and indispensable, especially in the first period. Inspection dates will be set by agreement and need.

In difficult situations, intensive daily therapy intervals may be indicated, during which I also treat a child until a good tone level is achieved and an adequate implementation of the exercises is possible.

 

Brand new

„ Rota -Table“. is a special table for the preschool and school children to paint, write, read and learn easier by optimal physiological posture if this is difficult due to a holistic co-ordination disorder.