Frequently Asked Questions
What is Muscle Activation Techniques MAT®?
- MAT® is a revolutionary approach to the assessment and correction of muscular imbalances and joint instability that lead to pain, dysfunction, and limited mobility.
- It is a process designed to balance the muscular system in order for it to function with maximum efficiency for day to day activity to strenuous training.
- It provides a unique look at the muscular system’s role in injury and performance enhancement.
- It recognizes that muscles lose the ability to tolerate forces as an adaptation to stress.
Benefits of MAT®:
- Help athletes of any level prevent injuries
- Help speed up recovery from minor injuries to post-surgical
- Alleviate adverse effects of injured, tired, and overused muscles
- Get the body to optimal efficient and the muscular system stable
How MAT® works:
- Range of motion testing indicates which muscles have decreased contractibility or muscle weakness
- Precise forces are applied to restore the muscle’s efficiency
- A re-evaluation is completed to confirm the increased communication between the muscle and brain.
Who is MAT® for?
- Anyone starting a new exercise program.
- Weekend warriors to competitive athletes of all levels
- Patients recovering from an injury or post surgery, or physical therapy visits have been used up.
- Those that are young at heart but feel they can no longer do the things they love to do as they get older.
If you answer yes to any of the following questions below, then MAT® could be a great option to help you.
- Do you have any pain, discomfort or tightness in any of your muscles or joints, or are you very concerned about your joint health as you age?
- Are you an athlete who is frequently getting injured or re-injuring the same area consistently?
- Does your problem persist even if you take a long rest period?
- Does it get worse if you are in certain body positions or performing certain movements or exercises?
- Have you visited doctors, tried physical therapy, or other alternatives yet still have not had improvement?
- Do you place value on improving the strength, flexibility, health and function of your body while trying to reduce your current symptoms?
- Do you want to increase your amount of physical activity or exercise or increase your athletic performance but are confused about where to start or what to do?
It is possible that MAT can help with relieving pain, but it is a strength modality that can help identify the root cause(s) of pain, and whether it is due to muscle imbalances, inhibition and dysfunction. For example, just because you have pain in your shoulder does not mean it is entirely a rotator cuff muscle problem. It has been seen multiple times that by restoring muscle function to the body that pain can diminish over time. I have had clients with ankle pain get immediate relief in their ankle by testing and treating all of the spinal rotation muscles.
A typical MAT session is an hour. To feel the benefits depends upon the person and their current levels of activity and history of injury. The effects of MAT can be immediate. You can do as much or as little MAT as you prefer.
Yes, if you have recently had surgery or have been diagnosed with an illness.
No, if you have been exercising regularly or doing physical activity.
Muscle Activation Techniques headquarters in Englewood, Colorado has been overhauling their education system so that practioners are consistent and maintain a high level of skill and quality. The certification level of your previous practioner may make a difference in the treatment process. There are multiple levels of practioner – jumpstart, specialist, master specialist, Rx foot and hand, Rx full body. The MAT Rx treatment will be different from that of a non Rx level practioner. MAT Rx is the highest level and most robust form of MAT. Your previous practioner should discuss what they have been working on with the practioner you are seeing in your new location.
I am a certified master level specialist and currently in Rx foot and hand. I will continuing my education in MAT Rx full body starting July 2020.
Within the MAT methodology, weakness is defined as the inability of a muscle to produce an efficient contraction as a function of a strict time interval, at various positions along the muscle length tension relationship, at a precise limb position, in response to a specific point of application and direction of external force. In this context, weakness is synonymous with instability.
Any form of stress, trauma, overuse, injury, surgery, inflammation can cause muscle weakness. Too much exercise can also cause weakness as well.
Since MAT is not strictly a medical treatment (unlike physical therapy or massage), it is not covered by health insurance.
Yes, I am accepting clients in Westlake Village, CA at My Health Studio. 31139 Via Colinas #303, Room 5. Available on Saturdays. House calls are an option as well but rates will be higher due to travel time.
Is your …. broken?
Please realize that with MAT, it is not fixing anything (although it may seem like it is.) MAT is a powerful tool for identifying and then strengthening (or activating) muscle weaknesses, imbalances, and muscle inhibitions. MAT is a way to make sure each muscle is doing it’s job so that other muscles don’t have to pick up the slack and do a job it wasn’t primarily made to do. Imagine what it might feel like to have every muscle in your body working like it should and functioning optimally, even the muscles you didn’t know about. What would you be able to do in your life then?