Muscle Activation Technique
Live Pain Free
Many of those participating in exercise or other sports expose their bodies to mechanical stress. If the mechanical stress crosses a specific threshold, the body will adapt by forming a protective compensation. These compensations protect the joint at risk. However, this is often done at the expense of muscle pain and stiffness.
Muscle Activation Techniques™ (MAT) looks at muscle tightness as a form of protection in the body. Weak or inhibited muscles can create the need for other muscles to tighten up in order to help stabilize the joints. MAT gets to the root of the pain or injury by addressing muscle weakness rather than muscle tightness. This helps to restore normal body alignment, thereby decreasing pain and reducing the risk of injury.
MAT can give you a new lease on your active lifestyle. With MAT, you can return to the golf course, tennis court, ski slopes, or athletic field with renewed strength and without pain. With MAT, athletes of all ages will perform at a higher level without injury, allowing them to "stay in the game".
What is Muscle Activation Technique ™ and how it can help me?
Muscle Activation Technique (MAT) ™ is aimed at restoring balance at joints. According to Muscle Activation Technique, pain and stiffness are symptoms of unstable joints. In order to restore balance at joints, a MAT specialist follows three steps to get there; assessment of range of motion (ROM), muscle test, and treatment of muscle that shows up weak.
Range of motion
The first step of Muscle Activation process is assessing range of motion (ROM). More specifically, we look at asymmetrical ROM. Asymmetry in ROM would indicate where the body has a fault in movement and where the problem originates. For example, if a client complains of pain in the knee, a MAT specialist would start comparing how both knees bend. The knee that shows less ROM is the knee that needs to be further assessed. It is important to note that it’s not always the painful joint that shows less ROM. Furthermore, a limitation in ROM may appear in other joints. For example, clients whose knees hurt often show limitation at the joints of the foot or trunk and spine while the knee and hip joints are symmetrical.
Muscle test
Once an asymmetrical ROM is identified, the MAT specialist begins testing every muscle that is associated with that ROM. For example, a MAT specialist would place a leg in a position where the hamstring muscle is most emphasized and then test the strength of that muscle. If the leg in such position does not hold, the muscle is determined weak and needs to be treated. It is important to point out that every joint in our body is moved by more than one muscle. So although hamstring muscle is the main muscle involved in bending of the knee, it receives help from other neighboring muscles. Consequently, ROM will not be fully restored until ALL muscles of that ROM are working properly.
Muscle Treatment
According to Muscle Activation Technique, a “weak” muscle is a muscle that is not effectively recruited by the nervous system. For a muscle to be recruited by the nervous system, and hence for that muscle to be involved in producing force at a given joint, it needs to send messages back to the nervous system. Weak muscles, for a variety of reasons, have ceased sending messages to the nervous system. Therefore, the nervous system does not recognize these muscles as ready to participate in force production.
By treating the muscle, a MAT specialist attempts to send message back to the nervous system. This can be done by applying light pressure at muscle attachments. Muscle attachments are rich in “mechanical receptors”. The mechanical receptors basically inform the nervous system on what is happening mechanically to the muscle.
Once a muscle is treated it is tested again. If the treatment was successful at sending information to the nervous system, the muscle is likely to show strong on the test.
Putting it together
Muscle Activation Technique is process where a ROM is tested for asymmetry. Once asymmetrical ROM is identified, then EVERY muscle that can mechanically contribute to that ROM is individually tested. Any muscles that appear weak are then treated. When all muscles are strong, the ROM should increase. This is what is meant by a balanced joint. It is at this point that pain and stiffens decrease. Once the nervous system recognizes the joint is stable, all tight and stiff muscles will loosen up, since the protection they were providing is no longer needed.
Frequently Asked Muscle Activation Technique ™ Questions
- How many sessions are needed to see results?
- How long should I expect the results to last after a treatment?
- Why do muscles tighten up and cause pain?
- So the tight and muscles are often not the problem?