Muscle Relaxation & Stretching Technique Flashcards
How does end-range feel in a tight muscle?
Harder, fibrotic, less resilient - like your stretching leather that might snap
What is the problem in hypertonic muscles?
Physiologic condition in which excitability threshold is increased creating an increased resistance to lengthening
What does the end range feel like in a hypertonic muscle?
Supple, but the muscle cannot be lengthened to its expected length
Hypertonic muscles need to be ____________.
Relaxed
Tight muscles should be _________.
Stretched.
Muscle weakness is often the result of ____________ ____________ from hypertonic and/or tight ________________
Reciprocal inhibition ; antagonists
Muscle Energy Technique (MET)
Soft tissue manipulation method that involves precisely directed and controlled contractions, isometric and/or isotonic, that are initiated by the patient against a precisely controlled resistance from the therapist (you’ve had this done on hamstrings, glutes and piriformis)
When is force applied in MET? (For both acute and chronic patients)
Force is applied at a “resistance barrier” (acute) or just short of it (chronic)
Allodynia
The appearance of responses to previously ineffective somatosensory stimuli
Central Sensitization
Long-lasting, increased excitability changes in neurons caused by nociceptive stimulation of low back tissues
What kind of problem exists in a tight muscle?
Fascial or non-contractile problem