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Associate Professor
Ismael Sanz Esteban is a professor and researcher in the Department of Physiotherapy.
He holds a diploma in physiotherapy from Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca, a degree from Universidad Europea de Madrid, a master's in neurological physiotherapy from Universidad Europea, and a PhD in advanced physiotherapy from Universidad Europea de Madrid.
He teaches the subject of neurological physiotherapy in the physiotherapy degree program and in the dual degree program in physiotherapy and CAFYD. He is a professor and director of the master's in neurological physiotherapy and the expert course in pediatric neurorehabilitation.
His research areas include: neuroscience of the nervous system, sensory stimulation, and postural control. He is the author of more than 20 communications and presentations at national and international conferences and has contributed to 12 book chapters and articles in specialized journals.
This work is the result of a long research work on the influence of tactile sensory stimuli on the central nervous system, which led to the award of a doctorate in advanced physiotherapy. The study is a reference in the field of neurological physiotherapy and opens the doors to the knowledge of the influence of manual stimulation and the responses that the brain makes to certain stimuli.
The brain is stimulated by Vojta Therapy through selected areas of the body that activate stored innate motor programmes that are exported as coordinated movement and muscle contractions to the trunk and limbs. The aim of this pilot study was to find out the differences in the cortical response to a specific tactile input, assessed by electroencephalography (EEG), versus simulated stimulation in healthy subjects.
Vojta therapy describes stereotyped generalised motor responses as a pattern of tonic muscle contractions during peripheral pressure stimulation. The present work proposes to characterise the muscle-level responses to a specific tactile input based on Vojta therapy, assessed by sEMG, in comparison to a simulated stimulation in healthy subjects.