New Directions in Manual Therapy

Muscle Energy Technique

Muscle Energy Technique (MET)

The Muscle Energy Technique was developed by Fred Mitchell, Sr., D.O., in the 1950’s as an osteopathic alternative to high velocity manipulation. It is basically a neuromuscular mobilization system for all motion segments of the body. That is, it engages and regulates the sensorimotor impulses and any musculature that moves a particular body joint. We had the good fortune to learn this technique from Dr. Ed Stiles, D.O., who was part of the first small group of osteopaths that Dr. Mitchell later instructed in his approach.

MET uses precise, three-dimensional positioning of joints, followed by specific isometric muscle contractions of a patient against the manual resistance of a therapist. By employing the principles of Post-Isometric Relaxation and Reciprocal Inhibition on the relevant hypertonic musculature, dysfunctional joint mechanics and their associated mechanoreceptor hyperactivity can be normalized.

Immediate results include:

The MET Advantage

The Muscle Energy Technique is a mobilization tool with many facets. It is simultaneously a neuromuscular method, geared toward resetting muscle spindle activity and resting length; muscular re-education, stimulating muscles intrinsic to a joint towards functional balance and fine-motor redevelopment; postural re-education, whereby these intrinsic fibers reclaim duties adopted by the longer extrinsic musculature; and a passive approach to mobilization of the various joint surfaces. And as MET was developed by an osteopath, it offers its greatest advantages when applied from a holistic perspective.

When we first see a patient, do we see a normally competent, self-correcting body that has momentarily become systemically overloaded and thus stuck in its attempts to return to homeostasis? Or do we see one or several symptomatic parts of a body that are simply breaking down and in need of our well developed injury management skills?

In the former outlook, we are investigating the root causes of overload and intervening there, helping the body to release the main load on its systems, while neither neglecting nor obsessing over symptomatic sites. In the latter, we are restricting ourselves to treating painful effects, and in the best scenario, trying to reverse the last link in a causative chain.

When the Muscle Energy Technique is ideally used to mobilize a primary dysfunction, what follows is not an isolated increase in ROM but rather a bodywide event. A chain reaction of interdependent restrictions, some symptomatic and some not, can spontaneously progress toward normalcy.

Of course, for the Muscle Energy Technique this assumes:

The alternating passive mobilization, active contraction mechanism of MET brings a distinct advantage over pure passive facet or joint glide or high-velocity manipulation. And self-mobilizing through exercise alone, whether strengthening routines aimed at “weak” musculature or stretching programs for shortened tissues, tends to leap over the very structures most in need of mobilization; the body is very adept at protecting its primary dysfunctions, once established, and dictates compensatory routes to movement.

Since MET combines both passive and active mobilization cycles, and focuses precisely at these primary restrictions, it offers an efficiency and synergy difficult to achieve by other individual methods.

These courses include three distinct aspects:

Learning Objectives :

The participants of this course will learn:

WHAT to treat:

MET Treatment

HOW to treat:

WHERE to treat:

Course Contents

Please Note:

These courses provide 18 Continuing Education contact hours for Oregon therapists.

A complete course manual will be provided.

M E T: The Thorax

With Adjunct Manual Therapy Modalities

THE THORAX, considering that it contains the circulatory system of the lungs and heart upon which life depends, remains largely undertreated in manual therapy. The fact that the body’s greatest loss of mobility is more often than not located in the thorax, demanding compensatory hypermobility in joints elsewhere to keep the body functioning, is simply overlooked. And immobility within the ribcage is especially problematic, activating sympathetic nervous distress and referring pain to widespread and unexpected areas. Thoracic mobilization is most often the key to resolving the compensatory symptoms in the neck, shoulder, low back, etc.

Within this cavity originate sympathetic nerves which influence the whole digestive and eliminative process, inhibit hormone and enzyme secretion, and even enervate the organs of procreation. Spinal nerves enervate the heart, lungs and the ribs that must move in order to accommodate their expansion-contraction rhythms. Thus restriction and compression here have widespread detrimental effects, especially sympathetic overstimulation.

And musculoskeletal articulations here are by far the most numerous of any region of the body, presenting complex restrictions that challenge the therapist to sort it all out:

This course will demonstrate the biomechanical and neurological relationships and priorities of the thoracic spine and ribcage with adjacent areas, diagnostics to make sense out of a systematic palpatory evaluation, and suggested treatment sequences interweaving various therapies with emphasis on the muscle energy technique.

Course Dates:
FridayMar. 9, 20125 pm - 8 pm
Saturday Mar. 10, 20129 am - 6:30 pm
Sunday Mar. 11, 20129 am - 5:30 pm
Cost:$395-including course manual.
350 -Facility "3 or more" discount
295 -Student discount.

50% tuition to repeat this class.

Registration

Please download or contact us for a registration bruchure.

Location