Muscle Activation Techniques (MAT)

• Normal muscle function
• Stretch
• the muscle (extrafusal fibers) are placed under stretch
• the muscle spindle (infrafusal fibers) sense tension under stretch
• relays it back to the CNS
• CNS stimulates the alpha motor neurons
• stimulates the muscle to contract and resist the tension
• Contraction
• the muscle (extrafusal fibers) shorten in contraction
• the muscle spindle (infrafusal fibers) slacken
• lack of contractile force regulation
• CNS stimulates gamma motor neurons 
• gamma motor neurons stimulates the muscle spindle to contract
• infrafusal fiber contraction stimulates alpha motor neurons
• stimulates the muscle to contract and resist tension
• Traumatized muscles decrease the sensitivity of the muscle spindle
• muscle becomes less capable of regulating tension relative to stretch or load
• decreased gamma motor neuron stimulation during contraction
• more contraction, greater slack, less responsive spindle
• actin and myosin crossbridges overlap excessively = inefficient 
• biomechanically inefficent as well 
• Reciprocal Inhibition and MAT
• If proper neurological input is not being sent to an agonist muscle, proper inhibition is not occurring of the antagonist muscle as well
• the antagonist muscle is more active consistently becoming hypertonic
• becoming tight
• thus muscle tightness caused by traumatized weakened muscles