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Muscle Activation Techniques (MAT)

New Breakthrough For Treating Sports Injuries: Pain Erased, Mobility Restored Within Only A Few Sessions...


What its Not!
So...what is Muscle Activation Techniques(MAT)?
How is MAT Different?
How does MAT work?
How can MAT help you?
Why is MAT so successful?
The value of post-treatment exercise!
The founder of MAT!

Muscle Activation Techniques (MAT) is a dramatic, non-invasive treatment process that both identifies and corrects muscular imbalances that can cause chronic pain and injury.

(MAT) is used both for the correction of muscular imbalances that cause pain and for the improvement of athletic performance and everyday activities.

MAT is built upon a strong scientific foundation and is combined with years of practical application in the clinical treatment for correcting muscular imbalances and repetitive stress type injuries that cause pain.

MAT is able to resolve the cause of many of these dysfunctions, by correcting the problem not just the symptoms.

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What it's Not!

Muscle Activation Techniques(MAT) is not massage therapy! Massage Therapy helps to improve the circulation of blood through the body and to speed the removal of metabolic waste products from muscles.

It also helps relieve mental stress, and can improve concentration, as well as promoting a restful sleep.

MAT is not physical therapy!

Muscle Activation Techniques(MAT) is not Physical Therapy! Physical therapy includes procedures such as therapeutic exercises, and the application of electro-physical modalities. These are valuable procedures, but they do not address or resolve the underlying problems caused by muscular imbalances.

MAT is not chiropractic!

Muscle Activation Techniques(MAT) is not chiropractic care! Traditional chiropractic care focuses on the relationship between the spinal skeletal system and the nervous system; it does not focus on the muscular system and the correction of muscular imbalances.

Muscle Activation Techniques(MAT) and chiropractic do work well together, but without MAT, the results of chiropractic techniques are often limited in their ability to provide complete resolution. Example when a chiropractor performs a spinal adjustment, many times the client goes back only to have the same procedure performed again and again. This is because the muscles have failed to hold the spine in its proper alignment.

MAT's job is to re-activate inhibited muscles and to make sure all muscles are functioning properly to hold the chiropractic adjustments.

MAT is not Active Release Techniques!

Muscle Activation Techniques(MAT) is not Active Release Techniques (ART)! Is a non-invasive soft tissue treatment process that both locates and breaks down the scar tissue and adhesions which can cause pain, stiffness, weakness numbness, and physical dysfunctions associated with repetitive stress injuries.

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So...What is MAT

Muscle Activation Techniques (MAT) is a biomechanically-based system that identifies and corrects neuromuscular imbalances that cause muscle pain and or joint pain. Muscle Activation Techniques look at the body's mechanics to make sure all muscles are functioning properly.

Muscle Activation Techniques(MAT) is a safe, powerful tool that can be used as an adjunct to many other modalities... including chiropractic, physical therapy, athletic trainers and personal trainers.

Muscle Activation Techniques(MAT) can assure these practitioners that there are no weak links in the muscular system that will cause the body to compensate.

Muscle Activation Techniques prepare your body regardless of the type of physical activity...golf, tennis, weight training, or simply walking up stairs. The MAT procedure addresses the weak links, thereby allowing the body to function most efficiently while minimizing pain.

Whether you are an athlete, youth playing sports, baby boomer or senior, Muscle Activation Techniques will dramatically reduce muscle and joint pain. MAT will also increase range of motion, stability, strength and flexibility.

The MAT evaluation has a checks and balances system. That allows the practitioner to recheck his work to make sure all muscular imbalances are corrected along with increased range of motion, stability, and strength.

I've been studying and utilizing Muscle Activation Techniques(MAT) with my clients for the past 18 months and have some compelling

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Identify and correct your own muscular imbalances
Reduce or eliminate muscle and joint pain
Improve sports performance & everyday activities
Help you to lift heavier weights in the gym
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success stories. Many clients have improved so quickly, they have been able to avoid pending surgery.

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"How Is MAT Different From Other Forms Of Therapy?"

Unlike other therapy methods, treatment programs or exercise routines that view muscle tightness as the primary factor in pain and injury.

MAT views muscle tightness as the body's natural protection mechanism that is activated when the brain detects an unstable joint. Simply stretching, massaging or manipulating the joint in order to release tightness does not get at the root of the problem.

MAT directly addresses the dysfunctional muscles responsible for joint instability and restores normal joint function by eliminating the body's need for muscle tightness without overriding its important protective mechanism.

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How does MAT Work

Muscle Activation Techniques (MAT) re-activates weak muscles through precision manual therapy and/or corrective isometric exercises by revealing precisely which muscle is inhibited, this becomes the foundation for a targeted treatment program.

Muscles having a direct or indirect influence on those areas showing instability, lacking a full range of motion or causing pain, are targeted for therapy. Manual pressure is applied to the identified muscle's attachment points in order to stimulate communication between the brain and the inactive muscle. Eliminating the need for compensation by other muscles. Helps restore normal joint function and alleviates pain.

When a muscle is injured it shuts down, disrupting the communication between the brain and the muscle leading to instability in the joint that the weak muscle supports. In response, surrounding muscles have to over-work to stabilize the affected joint. The result is chronic pain and tightness.

For a more simplistic approach to understanding muscle function, compare the body to a car. The initiation of a muscle contraction occurs similarly to the way a battery initiates the starting of a car. Both rely on connections that transfer electrical energy to produce a reaction.

Our nerves that run from the spinal cord to the muscle are just like the cables that run from the ignition and connect to the battery. When the key is turned in the ignition, the impulses transfer through the cables to the battery allowing the car to start.

Similarly, in the body, when a message is sent from the brain, the input is transferred through the nerves to the muscles creating muscle contraction.

Each muscle is independently innervated, therefore it can be seen as having many batteries, each connected by its own independent cables. When the body is functioning properly, with all batteries connected, each muscle will contract on demand and the body will function very efficiently.

Many times, due to factors such as stress, trauma or overuse, the neurological connections may become altered creating a reaction in the body, similar to that of loose battery cables in your car. When the brain sends a message for a muscle to contract, the muscle does not respond immediately, creating increased demand on other muscles to perform the desired movement.

The result becomes what we know as compensation. Over time, these compensation patterns create altered alignment in the joint, leading to joint instability and abnormal wear on the joint surfaces.

The end result becomes pain and eventually osteoarthritis. This progressive degeneration has been correlated with aging. If identified and properly addressed, it does not have to occur.

MAT can slow down or even reverse the aging process. If it is recognized that muscles are designed to stabilize and support the joints naturally; it must be understood that arthritic conditions and joint instability can be helped or prevented when muscles are prepared to function properly.

All that is needed is to create proper connections between the brain and the muscles. Muscle Activation Techniques does this. It provides the ability for the body to function the way it was designed to function.

Just like with a dead battery, the muscles must be jumpstarted and the cables must be tightened before the muscle will function properly.

In simplistic terms, through Muscle Activation Techniques, muscles that have improper neurological connections are identified, then jumpstarted; creating the ability for the muscles to stabilize the joints and reduce the joint stresses that lead to arthritic conditions. That is when the body becomes efficient and the related aches and pains are deterred.

You can exercise the muscle all you want but the body will find a way to compensate. What you need to do is jump-start the muscle the same way you jump-start the car battery.

It is critical to follow up with corrective exercises using concentric and weight-bearing exercises to further re-enforce the strength of the muscles and integrate them into functional movement patterns.

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MAT can help to reduce or eliminate pain from the following conditions:

M.A.T. will also help you to:

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Why is MAT so Successful!

MAT is described as the missing link to the fitness and rehab industry because it fills in the missing pieces of the puzzle to every other therapy out there and makes them all work dramatically better.

To effectively correct muscular imbalances, the practitioner must be able to identify were the dysfunction is originating from. The practitioner uses a systematic process of eliminating dysfunction and communication deficits throughout the whole body. A single muscle can have many causes inhibiting its function, so many things need to be tested and looked at.

The muscular system is biomechanically connected from head to toe. If you have low-back pain, the muscular components involved can range from the lower leg to the shoulder muscles. As MAT practitioner we realize the problem is not only in the symptomatic area.

The goal of MAT is to normalize function so that a normal foundation can be set so that message, physical therapy, exercise, and chiropractic will be more beneficial.

Have you ever had a message that relieved your pain-but only lasted for a few hours, before the pain came back even after repeated sessions. This is why the MAT program makes sense.

It corrects the dysfunction first so that the benefits that massage offers will actually last. The final phase is specific movement therapy and exercises. It only makes sense to do this after muscle function has been restored.

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The value of post-treatment exercise!

Once the MAT practitioner has corrected the muscular imbalances and muscle inhibitions, post-treatment

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isometric exercises become critical part of the rehabilitation process and acts to ensure that the imbalances and inhibitions do not return.

Chances are these inhibited muscles have been weak for a long time. Reinforcements may be needed to be done two times per day for the first two weeks. Think of it from the perspective that you are strengthening your neurological system, which is the precursor to achieving optimal results.

Balance and Proprioception- proprioception describes the body's ability to react appropriately (through balance and touch) to external forces.

These exercises should follow the corrective isometric exercises. This type of training will restore the kinesthetic awareness of the client, and form the basis for agility, strength, and endurance required for complete rehabilitation.

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The founder of MAT!

"MAT Bridges the Gap between Fitness and Rehabilitation"

Greg Roskopf started his career in California as a strength coach for Fresno State from '85-'88, where he also received his Masters Degree in Exercise Physiology.

While at Fresno State, he began to work with performance athletes. He started questioning why some athletes would breakdown, while others could work through fatigue and achieve higher performance levels.

He knew there had to be a fundamental explanation. Greg began to focus on the biomechanics of the body and sport/training demands. He understood that each athlete had to be evaluated individually, with different muscle strengths, weaknesses, and adapted compensations.

This is when he realized that the documented training programs could not be universally applied. He observed that once the unique mechanics of an individual's body were identified, his or her exercise program seemed to be making the strong muscles stronger and the weak muscles weaker; thereby emphasizing the imbalances. This led him to believe that protocol training might actually contribute to injury, rather than preventing it.

In turn, Greg looked to the rehabilitation field. He was interested to see if similar underlying factors affected the healing process when dealing with injuries. There he theorized that by ignoring the mechanics of the body, practitioners might be inhibiting the injured tissue from properly mending.

The process of continually looking at "cause and effect" as they relate to pain, and of challenging traditional sports and medical theories, brought Greg to his current position.

He has developed a unique approach for systematically identifying and treating muscular imbalances through non-invasive manual therapy.

Because Muscle Activation Techniques(MAT) is bio-mechanically based and designed to treat anyone affected with muscle weakness (and its associated pain) regardless of the cause, the Muscle Activation Techniques(MAT) treatment practices are gaining recognition throughout all facets of the sports, health and fitness industries.

Greg has worked as a biomechanical consultant for various professional sports teams including: the Denver Broncos, the Utah Jazz, and the Denver Nuggets as well as professional golfers from the PGA, LPGA.

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