Janda has always maintained that tight or overactive muscles should be relaxed or stretched before initiating a strengthening routine or else the muscle imbalance will only be reinforced. 10 Stabilization exercise programs place a great emphasis on conscious control of posture during exercise so as to carefully isolate the inhibited muscles and thus avoid encouraging inappropriate muscle substitution and faulty movement patterns. Another method which Brugger has developed is to strongly facilitate by eccentric contraction the inhibited muscles of the upper and lower extremity. Only three or four repetitions of each MRT are necessary. The concept of muscle imbalance is reinforced by knowledge of neurodevelopment of the upright posture.
Chains form in our patients, which are invaluable aids in troubleshooting.
It is not enough to simply identify a muscle imbalance and treat those muscles. The chain that is dysfunctional must be identified, and treatment of a key link given. Supraspinal control, which begins after three weeks of life, is the beginning of voluntary motor control. If chains of agonist-antagonist muscle incoordination hypothetically related to various stages of neurodevelopment of the upright posture are improved, this may be a significant advance in our treatment of motor system problems. Research into motor system problems.