Stretching is often heralded as a fix-all for many aches and pains.
Hamstrings tight? Stretch.
Low back achy? Stretch.
Neck hurt when you move it? Stretch.
Shoulder pain when you lift your arm? Stretch.
Here’s the problem though…
While stretching may make your body more mobile, it won’t make your body more stable. In fact it is well-known to make you weaker and less stable, and this is a HUGE issue.
Stretching has been shown time and again to make people weaker. There’s no arguing that.
What is never said, though, is why this is such an issue.
When you make muscles weaker with stretching, your brain needs to figure out new ways to do the tasks you are asking it to do.
The muscles that get weakened go “asleep” and aren’t able to be accessed by your brain as easily.
Because your brain wants to keep things as easy as possible, it immediately starts using other muscles to do the work of the sleeping ones. This is what is referred to as compensation.
If the muscles that are working extra have to keep that effort up for long enough, eventually they become symptomatic–tight, sore, achy, painful, etc.
At this point, most people start stretching those muscles, too, because that is the only remedy they know of.
Unfortunately, this creates a cascading effect where your body has to keep compensating with new muscles, causing those muscles to have to do even more work, and ultimately leading to more intense symptoms.
If you have ever had a situation where you had pain or tightness in one area of your body and then it started bouncing around to other areas, you have experienced exactly what we are describing here.
If this keeps going on, more times than not it results in a significant injury–herniated disc, torn ligament or tendon, severe muscle pull, etc.
So how can you stop this downward spiral?
Simple. Instead of stretching the muscles that feel tight, activate and strengthen the muscles that are weak.
This is where Muscle Activation Techniques® comes into play.
Muscle Activation Techniques®, also known as MAT, is a bodywork process designed to detect exactly which muscles are not working properly and then strengthen them by improving the communication between your brain and those muscles.
Clients often experience their tight muscles completely calm down within minutes of doing MAT because it addresses the root cause of why their muscles are tight in the first place.
By activating the muscles that aren’t working well, the muscles that are having to overwork (and tighten up as a result) can finally relax and stay that way without having to stretch at all.
And the great thing about MAT is because it is focusing on the strength of the muscles, clients leave each session stronger and more stable while moving better than they ever did with just stretching alone.
If you would like to experience Muscle Activation Techniques® for yourself, we would love to see you at our studio, Muscle Activation Schaumburg, in Chicago’s northwest suburbs.
At Muscle Activation Schaumburg, we have been trained in the highest levels of Muscle Activation Techniques®–including MATRx, MATRx2, MATRx Stim, MAT Athlete, and MAT Athlete2–and are the most highly-trained practitioners in the Chicagoland area.
To try out Muscle Activation Techniques® for yourself, click here to schedule your initial consultation and assessment.
You don’t have to live with muscles that are constantly tight and achy no matter how much you stretch. There is a simple change you can make to how you doing things, and MAT will help you do just that.
We can’t wait to see you on our MAT table soon!
In strength and health,
Julie & Charlie
