When rehabilitating people after stroke, physiotherapists often favour a particular “approach”. An “approach” is a theoretical construct based on a series of ideas and hypotheses about the retraining of movement that influences the content, structure, and aims of a therapy session.1 In this edition of the journal (see pp 503–8), van Vliet et al2 compare two approaches, “motor re-learning” and the “Bobath concept”, the latter presently being the preferred approach within the United Kingdom.1 The emphasis of “motor re-learning” is on context specific functional training using principles derived from motor learning theory, while that of the Bobath concept is on observational analysis and facilitation of normal movement using principles derived from neurodevelopmental and neurophysiological theory.