Purpose: The Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation (PNF) concept structures the rehabilitation intervention, addressing both body function/structures and activity limitations. This scoping review aimed to identify and summarize existing research on electromyographic muscle activity during PNF patterns in healthy individuals. Methods: A comprehensive search was conducted in PubMed, PEDro, SCOPUS, and Web of Science databases for studies published between 1980 and October 2025. Studies were included if they: (i) involved healthy individuals aged 18–65 years, (ii) applied PNF diagonal patterns and basic facilitation principles, and (iii) used electromyography to assess muscle activity. Study quality was examined descriptively using the NIH Quality Assessment Tool for Observational Cohort and Cross-Sectional Studies. Results: A total of 11 cross-sectional studies involving 250 participants were included. Of these, nine studies did not specify any predefined or standardized criteria for EMG electrode placement. Overall methodological quality ranged from poor to good; however, most studies were of low quality and exhibited bias. Common limitations included the absence of a priori sample size calculations, inadequate definition of the study population, unspecified participation rates among eligible individuals, and failure to assess key potential confounding variables. Despite these limitations, the findings indicated that the middle and lower trapezius muscles play a significant role during the upper-limb Flexion–Abduction–External Rotation pattern. However, it concluded that the PNF patterns did not significantly affect the activation of the serratus anterior muscle. Additionally, the gluteus medius muscle demonstrated significant activation during the lower-limb flexion-abduction-internal rotation pattern. Conclusion: Based on electromyographic data, PNF patterns tend to induce varying degrees of muscle activity in the target muscles, depending on the choice of pattern. However, the findings of this scoping review underscore the need for further research with a standardized design.
Olgun et al. (Sat,) studied this question.