What’s muscle activation and why is it necessary?

Muscle activation is an idea that lends itself to confusion and that can be found on the Web under the proposal of a series of techniques to enhance posture and soothe the pain. The truth is, there are even training courses and international certification for individuals who need to train on this modality.

In itself, muscle activation is the process by which a muscle contractsthat’s, it does its work, either voluntarily or involuntarily. We activate the buttocks and abdominals to do the plank, for instance, in order that we hold the posture for the stipulated time.

But we even have MAT (muscle activation techniques) or muscle activation techniques. This can be a type of treatment for neuromuscular disorders that cause pain, weaknesses, and imbalances.

What’s MAT or muscle activation?

Within the early 2000s, Greg Roskopf, a master in health and fitnessproposed a theory to clarify why many individuals had muscular discomfort that was not resolved with the standard physiotherapy techniques. For him, the effective way was to search for imbalances that will explain the pain from one other perspective.

So he suggested that some patients suffered pain on one side of the body, for instance, because they didn’t activate the other side accurately enough. And this might be traced back to a foul connection between the neurons and the muscle tissue, or to an inhibition within the communication of the nervous system with the muscle.

He developed specific techniques to resolve what he determined to be an issue. These techniques start with a diagnosis made by the TMA specialist, through which he manages to discover the non-activated areas.

Then, the treatment goals on the muscular activation of those regions forgotten by the nervous system. With different approaches, contraction, and tension are stimulated within the areas that might improve the patient’s quality of life.

The explanations for the issue in response to TMA

So, summarizing the idea of muscle activation, we might say that there are 3 ways through which neuromuscular pain might be generated that might be solved with TMA techniques:

• Inhibition: the brain would find a way to inhibit nerve transmission in certain neurons which can be accountable for activating the muscles. Why wouldn’t it achieve this? Generally, to guard the structures or since it detects that they are usually not getting used. That’s, because there may be an injury or a repetitive movement that will cause damage, or because a sedentary lifestyle warns the nervous system that this part will not be getting used.
• Weakness: it’s possible that you’ve weak muscles. This may mean that they are usually not capable of fulfill the particular function that corresponds to them. They don’t contract with the sufficient force required within the anatomical context through which they’re inserted or they don’t execute the movement that we ask of them in an exercise or sport. This weakness will cause the brain to activate other nearby or distant muscles to perform the motion. This favors injuries, because the opposite activated tissues are usually not trained for this recent function.
• Imbalance: muscular imbalance can be a consequence of the 2 previous problems. One a part of the body develops rather more than the opposite. Subsequently, there are muscles with good tone and strength that overshadow the remainder and don’t allow them to activate. It’s as if the weaker part enters a chronic energy-saving mode.

Muscle activation techniques

TMA techniques are performed by people trained on this area. Depending on the country and the health laws in force, the skilled will sometimes be required to be a physiotherapist, while in some places this will not be indispensable.

It could subsequently be a specialty inside kinesiology or an alternate treatment. In either modality, the technician or practitioner performs a preliminary diagnosis to discover inhibited, weakened or unbalanced areas. Then she or he applies the MAT techniques.

But there are also some muscle activation exercises which can be useful to perform at home. Before proceeding to a more intense routine, these alternatives function a warm-up.

1. Isometric movements

Isometric movements are capable of activate the musculatureavoiding among the disadvantages of concentric exercises. The latter are people who shorten the muscle fibers against resistance, as happens when lifting a dumbbell towards our shoulder.

The issue with concentric exercises is that, in the event that they are repeated too often, they strengthen some fibers while leaving others out of recruitment. Because of this, one area of the body becomes stronger, but the opposite is weakened.

Isometric exercises don’t change the length of the muscle fiber. That’s, the person stays in a static contraction and there isn’t a noticeable displacement. This improves neuromuscular balance and could be executed with ease if we do the isometric plank or a static squat.

2. Knees lifts without impact

Before heading out for a running session, runners can do some warm-up movements that activate the whole lower body. One in every of them is to lift the knees above hip levelbut without jogging in place and returning the foot to its starting position without impact.

The key to this muscle activation is a calmness to finish the arc of the joint and never to descend with an excessive amount of power. We wish to stimulate the muscle tissue, not to start out running. Then, with the running session, the standard muscles might be used.

3. Palpation

With palpation, we stimulate muscle tissues that might be inhibited. Just touching inactive muscle masses sends a signal to the brain for some contraction.

It’s difficult to discover which regions to the touch if we are usually not trained in TMA. Still, a superb idea is to palpate those areas that we all know we use less often.

If we all the time do strength work within the gym, focus on the upper body, and never go running, we could spend minutes palpating the glutes, quads, and calves. It’s a way of warning the brain not to change off those lesser-used muscles.

MAT still has a approach to go

The muscle activation technique will not be accepted by all health professionals. There continues to be an extended approach to go and more scientific studies are needed to determine its true scope.

For now, we all know that it’s not the identical for kids as for adults. Within the pediatric age, there are usually not the identical vices as with aging, just as there will not be often strength gym work, which limits the incidence of inhibition or sports injuries.

For older people, the abdominal muscle activation that reduces back pain is of interest. Nevertheless, there’s research that clarifies that not everyone advantages from it and that there needs to be a personalised prescription.

In the interim, seek the advice of a trusted health skilled. Start with a physical therapist or a trauma doctor who can guide you, diagnose you, and recommend a TMA session or not.

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