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[ulsterkeith]

Muscle Activation Techniques (MAT) is still a relatively unknown therapeutic modality in both the general population and medical community. It was developed over a decade ago by Greg Roskopf and its practice has mainly been in the U.S. by professional sports teams like the Denver Broncos and Nuggets. MAT uses range of motion assessments that cover every joint in the body and specialists are equipped with over 190 muscle tests to custom tailor the treatment to your weak links or positional instabilities. Once people realize how powerful this tool is at helping people get and stay strong, the topic of Muscle Activation Techniques will be greeted by enthusiastic recognition rather than looks of confusion.
MAT is an effective tool in increasing a person’s function by activating muscles and producing stable and necessary motion at each joint treated. There are specific range of motion assessments and muscle tests that are performed, followed by palpation or specific massage at both ends of a muscle. The end result of a successful treatment is greater muscle firing ability and increased range of motion. Generally, the goal is to find out what you can’t do and help you do it by continually assessing and treating all the muscles that will help get you there. Treatments can range in success but overall within a session an increase in range of motion and strength can be achieved and maintained. Clients generally leave my table feeling stronger and more balanced. One extremely active client describes it as “everything working together as it should” when he gets on the tennis court.

The short answer is muscles don’t fire optimally because of stress, trauma and/or overuse. When muscles shut down, your brain shuts down certain ranges of motion due to perceived instability or lack of strength to protect that joint. Just like a road closure due to construction, if there isn’t a safe way through you have to take a detour. The detour of your body is referred to as compensation. It allows you to get movement via other muscles that are working well while avoiding or minimizing use of the muscles that have been stressed, traumatized or overused. Just like the detour, compensation isn’t always the most efficient route but it does get you there, eventually. Your body’s ability to compensate is the best solution it has at the moment so it’s a good thing but over time that can cause wear and tear, instability and pain.
Timing is everything when controlling the body and each muscle is necessary to the proper functioning of the whole. Can your muscles fire when you need them? If not, there is going to be compensation and stress on your joints and muscles.

How much time needed for healing depends on many factors and isn’t predictable from person to person but there are trends. A few of these include your willingness to heal, adhere to your rehab regiment including exercise and corrective isometrics and how long your body has been out of balance. Many people think when did this happen? What did I do to get this injury? They often think back to the past week or at most the past month and look for what big event might have injured them. The answer is that your current physical state is a result of the accumulation of activity/force application over your entire life not just big falls and broken bones! It took some time to get where you are now and it will take some time to heal. The one trend I’ve noticed is the sooner a client comes in once they’ve noticed something is wrong the sooner they get better. When a client commits to a treatment plan, they often heal and become independent and only need me sparingly. If your body isn’t able to heal itself then you will simply get worse over time as your options for compensation run out. The positive way of looking at it is: no matter where you’re starting from; there is always a healing path to take.

Many have found that MAT is extremely successful in increasing strength and works well at balancing muscles to decrease wear and tear on joints and increased mechanical balance and integration of movement. Some issues that benefit from MAT treatment include:
Acute Injuries i.e. sprained ankle or torn rotator cuff
Chronic injuries i.e. Bad back or neck over 6 months in duration
Arthritis
Huntington’s disease
Chondromalicia Patella
Joint Dislocation/Subluxation
Scoliosis
Repetitive strain injuries
Broken bones
Sports injuries
Motor vehicle accidents
Stroke
Multiple Sclerosis
Sprains and Strains

Imagine you have a car and you only take it in to the garage when while driving on the highway you feel like one of your wheels is about to fly off! This tendency to wait until something is really wrong ends up costing us more money in the end, right? The same goes for your body. It is an infinitely more complex machine with many more factors influencing its proper functioning. But the same applies; If we wait until we have pain, lost function, poor performance, decreased strength or even interrupted sleep, then we’re going to incur higher costs to get back to optimal health. MAT is a modality that helps correct muscle imbalances that naturally occur because of stress, trauma and overuse. Every person assessed has limitations and every person treated can be made stronger and better able to tolerate stress; it’s just a matter of degree.
We’ve all seen people walking on the street in an unconventional way or perhaps it is you that feels like one wheel is about to fly off! We adapt and that altered state starts to feel normal, like you’ve always walked or ran this way or gone up or down the stairs this way. We all suffer from muscular imbalances to some degree because we work, play and therefore undergo various forces on our body. We may feel weaker than we used to, we may have pains where there weren’t and we may sometimes fatigue earlier than we would like. This is where Muscle Activation Techniques comes in. I believe part of the problem is that we forget how good we felt years ago or when we were in better shape. The even more glaring problem is that we’ve stopped believing that we have the option of feeling that strong again. I have witnessed more than a few people over 50 that are in better shape now than they ever have been simply by getting MAT sessions regularly and working out strategically (See Wayne Groom before and after). Once you become aware of your body and listen to it, it will tell you when something is off.

Muscles are the display units of the body so If you have a problem in your body, it will show up first in the muscular system. It doesn’t have to cripple you to be noticeable. Do you feel like you did 20 years ago? Why not? The maintenance of your muscular system is a huge component to feeling good. I was a figure skater for 13 years and never felt any pain whatsoever. After I quit, my knee started bothering me, then a few years later there were days where I was in so much pain I couldn’t walk. I was the perfect example of what not to do. Ignoring my body for over a decade and training really hard finally led to my body breaking down at the age of 28! The issue was present the whole time but I only felt it a decade later! MAT treatments and strategic training made that possible for me so I have a personal reason to believe in this technique and its ability to heal. When executed properly, MAT may be able to help you get strong and stay strong.