Physiobase pointed out the background of voita therapy. What is though not mentioned is that it has become over the years a rather controversial method of treatment although its results are rather dramatic. I will try to explain.
Voita method uses positioning of the child (the method is by the way also used within stroke treatment and treatment of other neurological conditions) in a pattern, e.g crawling pattern, and by using stimuli, call it triggerpoint alike points, the child wil try to get out of this position. This in fact has actualy caused a storm because it is not known if these stimuli are painful or just irritating. This made the Norwegian society of physiotherapy decide to start a research into the effect and to my disappointment at the time (1997-1999)the society withdrew the courses from their curriculum. I had at the time a good contact with a physiotherapist working within psychiatry and she reported that there was evidence that rather a large part of 'Voita' children (as well as carers), to her opinion, suffered from mental problems caused by the treatment.
This needs an explanation. Voita alike Wikipedia reference-linkBobath is a 24/7 treatment. This means that carers are a lot of time involved in the treatment since it is imposible for a therapist or a assistant to do 6-7 times a day 7 days a week the treatment. In case a carer does the treatment it will interfere with his/hers personal contact, which becomes rather ambigious, as the attention is devided between treatment and care. Keep in mind that it is not known if it is painful or just irritating for the child. So there you have a child screaming under your hands and you still are a carer and a large percentage of these children have some form of mental handicap? I myself have used some of the method treatment e.g. for Wikipedia reference-linktorticollis and felt it benificial although I have my doubts about the claims of fellow therapists that it was just irritating and not painful. But you have to understand that unless you are a sadist you would not like to hear and/ or know that you hurt someone deliberately (unless you know that the benefit is so much that you can justify the treatment). So in this age of sueing I would not know......
Also keep in mind that the standards of treatment in Norway are much higher than e.g. UK since their healthcare is well organised and last but not least it is in reality one of the richest countries in the world and willing to splash out for good care. Voita as well as other 24/7 treatments are in reality not a good option unless you are willing to use money and capacity for treatment. Cheers!