The Benefits of Muscle Activation Techniques for Runners
Running is a popular and affordable option for staying in shape. It’s also a fun activity to do with others and with races available in multiple distances throughout the year, can be a sport to test your limits. Muscle Activation Techniques is a unique tool that is particularly suited to help runners improve their performance. It does so in three ways:
1) Helps runners stay injury free.
2) It addresses the root cause of common running injuries.
3) Speeds up recovery leading to improved performance.
Running has a few unique characteristics that make Muscle Activation Techniques especially impactful. First, most runners are passionate and dedicated which usually means they participate with a high level of frequency. This could be 3-4 times per week or more if training for a particular racing event. Secondly, the motion of running itself is highly repetitive in nature. Runners repeat the same gait pattern thousands of times over the course of just a single run. Lastly, running imposes a high level of stress on the joints which is typical of any cardio activity such as biking or walking. Athletes who participate in sports that combine these three elements tend to see the greatest benefits from MAT.
You may not have considered this before, but running is a full body activity. Tons of joints are involved when you run from your toes all the way up to your neck. A joint is a place in the body where two bones meet or come together. A joint is also where motion occurs and that motion is controlled by your muscles. Since running requires almost every single joint, it therefore requires a lot of muscles and places both the joints and muscles under a lot of demand or stress. MAT can assess your body to figure out the ares in your muscle system that are not working well so we an improve those areas. This can then improve the motion at each joint used during running.
The problem with general physical activity is that it’s so broad. A squat for example requires muscles around multiple joints which makes it difficult to asses exactly what’s going on. MAT has the ability to zoom in to assess how each individual joint is moving. A good practitioner can also then zoom out to see how that joint is effecting the rest of the body.
This leads to the first way MAT can help improve your running by keeping you injury free. MAT looks for the “weak links” or muscles that are not doing their job. When muscles are not doing their job well it can lead to compensations. For example, let’s say you work on a team comprised of 5 people and you have a project due at the end of the week. If 3 of those teammates call in sick, the other 2 team members will need to work harder that day to perform their duties and the work of the sick members. While this may be feasible for a day, if this continued for several days, it would not be unexpected if those team members became burned out, exhausted, overworked, and run down. This is the same for our muscles! When some muscles are not doing their job well, other muscles must step up and compensate. For a short period of time, this is a reasonable plan that allows us to get around. However, if this continues long term, the overworked muscles become tired, tight, sore, and eventually the “itisses” begin to show up; ie tendinitis, fasciitis, bursitis. If the compensation continues, it can lead to further injuries. With MAT, we are able to detect these compensations either early on or ahead of time so we can prevent a possible injury.
This also applies if an injury or issue is already present. Common running injuries that we see regularly here at AIM are plantar fasciitis in the feet, sprained ankles, patella femoral syndrome in the knees, IT Band issues, and piriformis syndrome. These are all due to some kind of muscle dysfunction that’s holding us back. Most treatments out there solely look at the mobility side of the equation with the goal of always increasing it. MAT is founded on the principle that a decrease in mobility has an accompanying decrease in stability (or strength). If we increase mobility but do not address the stability component, this opens the door for an injury. MAT is one of the only modalities that addresses the stability component. When we correct the weakness by increasing stability, the lack of mobility that was present is not longer there! If you’re unsure whether you have a stability issue, there are 3 signs to look for: 1) tightness on one side of the body, 2) weakness on one side of the body, or 3) a range of motion limitation.
Finally, MAT got its start in the professional sports world. The best athletes in the world know that when all their muscles are tuned up and working, it gives them an edge over their competitors. It makes them more efficient when everything is working. MAT is also a great tool to speed up the recovery process which means you can return to running even sooner. Another unique element of MAT is that it can raise your muscle’s tolerance to work and your ability to recover from various work loads. In other words, if you usually begin to experience symptoms at the 3 mile mark, MAT can help your body handle the stresses of running better so you don’t experience those symptoms.
If you enjoy running and want to continue running for years to come, it’s worth investing in regular MAT tune ups. If you currently have an issue going on, MAT may be able to help you get to the root cause and return to running sooner. Contact a certified MAT Specialist in your area by checking out www.muscleactivation.com or give us a call at AIM to be assess by one of our two certified specialist.