By taroMuscle Balance 101
Muscle Balance 101
What is muscle balance?
Muscle balance refers to the distribution of strength throughout the muscles of the body.
What is an imbalance?
An imbalance refers to an uneven distribution of strength.
What happens if muscle strength is unevenly distributed?
Stronger, more active muscles assume a greater workload to compensate for weaker, less active partners. Strong muscles, therefore, are prone to overuse.
What happens if a muscle becomes overused?
Overused muscles become tight. Tight muscles are susceptible to pain, spasm, tendinitis, tendinosis, strains and tears. Tight muscles also influence skeletal alignment thus muscle balance is a factor in arthritis, hernias, facet syndromes and impingements.
How do you treat overused muscles?
Improve muscle balance! It is essential that under active, weak muscles are identified and strengthened. Once weak muscles are activated and made stronger, they will assume a greater share of the workload. With their burden reduced, overused muscles lengthen and recover quickly.
How do you determine which muscles are overused and which are weak?
Careful assessment and a thorough understanding of muscular relationships are vital to unveiling both weak and overused muscles. Some tools that are used include:
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patient history – range of motion assessments
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provocative tests – exercise performance evaluations
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postural assessments – palpation
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strength tests
In addition, I use a system called “Deductive Stretching”. Deductive Stretching involves the systematic use of high-precision stretching techniques to identify painful muscles.
Can muscle balance help enhance my shape and improve athletic performance?
A system which targets and strengthens weak muscles is invaluable to the improvement of body shape and athletic performance. Muscular limiting factors are eradicated, injuries heal, training down- time is reduced and confidence improves. The future looks bright with muscle balance!
What Else?
Practitioners who are savvy in the ways of muscular balance will gain a tremendous edge. You will stretch, strengthen and understand functional anatomy on a new level. Learn more at tarodo.com