What is MAT?

Muscle Activation Techniques® (MAT®) was founded on the principle that human movement and exercise are fundamental to human health. Any loss of a muscle’s ability to contract optimally may be demonstrated as a loss of motion and decreased physical performance, which may lead to pain and/or the loss of physical capabilities.

MAT® is a specific and unique process for evaluating and improving an individual’s ability to develop muscle contraction(s). By improving your muscular systems ability to contract optimally you have the ability to move without compensation, perform at your highest potential, and avoid injury.

A multitude of factors such as stress, trauma, or overuse can contribute to a muscle’s inability to contract optimally. When stress, trauma, or overuse of a specific muscle occurs, the body reacts by inhibiting the ability of the muscle to contract as a defense mechanism to injury. This leads to the body recruiting other muscles to complete the task, which results in compensation. This compensation can have a cascading effect of overuse on the muscles that are contracting ultimately leading to their inhibition as well. Since you now have fewer muscles to manage your joints, discomfort and muscle tightness can occur.

As MAT® specialist we say, “Muscle tightness is secondary to muscle weakness.” If you can correct the in ability to contract optimally (Weakness), then most times you can eliminate the tightness.  The goal is to restore your muscle’s ability to contract in order to eliminate the tightness you feel.

MAT® does not force change on the body, it instead works with it to make improvements in the muscles ability to contract optimally. A MAT® specialist listens to your body’s responses and changes their treatment decisions based on these responses. Each client is treated as an individual with their own muscular inhibition and compensation issues. Therefore, no treatment session is ever the same.

MAT® does not diagnose or treat pathology, but works to improve a muscle’s contractile capabilities, which can improve a muscles strength and a joints range of motion. By improving these aspects, a person will see an increased ability for exercise and physical performance.

MAT® differentiates itself from other techniques because it never attempts to directly lengthen or change the muscle by stretching, heating, kneading, or foam rolling. MAT® is not trying to “relax” muscle, but instead tries to “activate” the muscle, so that your body is better prepared to handle the forces that come from exercise and every day movements.

Yes! MAT® is an exercise-based process and research on exercise and its ability to improve health is well established. It is acknowledged that muscles are designed to stabilize the joints, so any improvement in muscle ability to contract optimally may prevent the loss of physical performance often associated with aging.

MAT® is a precise and focused process that can be used as an adjunct to any number of other exercise activities. MAT® can help an individual prepare for exercise or competition, help someone sustain an exercise/training program and support rehabilitation for certain conditions when deemed appropriate by medical providers.