muscle activation

What do the NY Giants, Denver Broncos, Utah Jazz, Chicago Cubs, LPGA champion Beth Daniels, and Olympic Snow Boarding Gold Medalist Shawn White have in common? They, along with numerous other professional athletes, all work with Muscle Activation Techniques (MAT) therapists as part of their routine training. We believe this relatively new technique is critical to ensuring success in a performance-enhancement program, as it scientifically bridges the physical gap between fitness and rehabilitation.

Muscle Activation Techniques, developed by Greg Rokopf, is a system of evaluating and correcting muscular imbalances that can lead to injury, slow down recovery and affect athletic performance. It looks at muscle weakness as the root of a problem, not muscle tightness. Its checks and balances prove whether exercise is improving motion or further reinforcing compensation. Adding a MAT component to a perceived physical limitation can be the difference between fighting progress, going nowhere and making great strides in performance training.

While most exercise programs are designed to improve the body's function, improvement can only happen if the neuromuscular system is working correctly. Muscle Activation Techniques test the connection between the brain and certain muscles first, and then it can be used to repair the muscle if it isn't working correctly. We now know that traditional stretching has not been successful at preventing injuries and improving performance. Stretching looks at muscle tightness as the limiting factor in range of motion and a potential cause of injury. But the reason it hasn't worked is because, while an athlete may create mobility with stretching, the muscle may not be strong enough at that range. A muscle without strength is an unstable muscle. And unstable muscles lead to injury.

The purpose of MAT is to create mobility with stability, understanding that if the body is stable at a particular range of motion, it will allow for even more mobility. Also, Muscle Activation Techniques do not chase pain sites. It looks for the imbalances and knows that the pain sites are many times the result of compensations. By treating them, the real underlying problem is never solved. There may be times when someone's shoulder problem is due to a hip imbalance or when a back problem actually stems from the foot. The list can go on forever.

Understanding that our bodies are very complex and that each part can affect all the others is important. To simplify, think of the body as if it were a car. If all the pieces were disassembled and put in the driveway, the car wouldn't work. It also wouldn't work if just one small wire to the battery were disconnected. If the wheels are out of alignment, the car will wear down sooner, which will crate other mechanical problems along the way. MAT is the ultimate tune up for the human body. It gets the battery, sparkplugs, wiring, engine, fuel system, etc., working together so an athlete's body can fire on all cylinders.