Background
Berta Ottilie Busse was born in Berlin where she first worked with gymnasts.
- Photos
- Works
- Photos
- Works
Berta Bobath
Edit Profile
Career
The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy believe "it is the most popular approach for treating neurologically-impaired patients in the western world."
Her first husband was Kurt Roehl. After the birth of a son and a divorce she left Germany in 1938. She re-met a Czechoslovakian psychiatrist called Karel Bobath whom she had known in Berlin.
She had an early success in restoring the abilities of Simon Elwes, who was a successful portrait painter who had suffered a large stroke.
With Bobath"s help he was able to recover sufficiently to continue painting. The Bobath technique was first described in 1948.
Bobath then took formal qualifications in physiotherapy in 1950. She opened her clinic in 1951 with Karel as an honorary consultant.
At the clinic, they ran courses for doctors and qualified therapists who want to learn about their particular approach to regaining capabilities.
She developed techniques that assisted patients to gain or regain facilities. In 1965 she published Abnormal Postural Reflex Activity Caused by Brain Lesions. In 1975 the clinic became the "Bobath Clinic" and it moved to Hampstead.
Boston University gave her a doctorate in 1981 and she and Karel were the first couple to be given the Harding award for their work in helping people with disabilities.
They were both ill, and they took drug overdoses. The Bobath clinic continues to run and the Bobath name is well-known.
Foreign instance, the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy has said of the Bobath concept that "it is the most popular approach for treating neurologically-impaired patients in the western world." There is a view that Bobath"s techniques may be no better than other techniques, although they may be no worse. Critics believe that therapists are not using evidence-based techniques.
Others believe that Bobath"s approach should be updated rather than abandoned.
Achievements
-
Born
-
Died
January 20, 1991 (aged 83) -
Nationality
Germany