Muscle Activation at Family Chiropractic Center
Your body has hundreds of muscles that are designed to create balance around joints and effectively coordinate your movement. When this muscular system is in harmony you naturally have good posture and well-coordinated physical activities.
When you experience excess stress, your nervous system goes into a defensive state commonly called ‘fight or flight’. This changes your heart rate, blood pressure, digestive and hormonal processes. It also creates a different physical posture. An obvious sign of this ‘defensive posture’ is body flexion, causing your head and shoulders to lean forward. Less visible shifts of balance occur throughout your body. Some muscles become overly tight and others are partially shut down, creating a neurologically weakened state. Over time this pattern of stress becomes stuck in your nervous system, stealing energy throughout the body and affecting multiple body functions.
This imbalance is often amplified in areas of previous injury or damage. That explains why low back or neck pain can re-appear periodically for no apparent physical reason. It can also be the reason you experience more joint pain in your shoulder or knee when you do a little more activity than usual.
When we point out areas of neurological muscle weakness we are often asked, ‘What exercise do I need to do to strengthen that muscle?’ This question comes from the common idea that weaker muscles need to be strengthened by exercise, and tight muscles need to be stretched or massaged. That is true in many cases but does not take into account neurological muscle weakness.
Our Approach
Part of our evaluation at the beginning of each chiropractic adjustment is the assessment of overall muscle function as well as muscle balance around areas of complaint. We want to find the muscles that have been ‘neurologically weakened’. Muscle Activation methods can restore significant strength in a few minutes during the adjustment. Compare that to doing strengthening exercises for weeks or months for an atrophied muscle. The muscle strengthening that occurs after ‘activation’ provides tangible evidence that neurological stress in your body has been reduced. Your brain is then able to ‘re-boot’ the neuro-muscular system producing postural and functional changes throughout your body.
We Can Help
Your brain and nervous system are ‘master control’ for all your body functions. As stress in this system is released, physical function improves. Additionally, our patients often comment that they are noticing changes in things like digestive function or sleep patterns. We look forward to assisting you to have the healthy life you deserve.
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