The mechanism of injury of bones, ligaments, tendons and other soft tissues is tissue failure. Tension, shear, compression and torsion are the most likely types of stresses which produce tissue strain. Cumulative microstrain or traumatic macrostrain can both overload a tissue's capacity to resist buckling and failure. Whether or not injury occurs depends of course on external factors such as duration, intensity or frequency of exposure to biomechanical stress, but it also depends on the ability of the body to resist and control such forces so as to maintain stability.
Most injuries occur as a result of repetitive end-range loading.
Joint centration is the point of equilibrium or maximum congruence for optimization of handling joint loading. The ability of muscles to achieve and maintain centration concerns both coordination and endurance functions. To promote or restore joint stability, rehabilitation of the muscular system is necessary. This requires a holistic approach emphasizing the functional role of muscles in maintaining dynamic joint stability while producing the movements which are required by our activities of daily living. This functional role views muscles as working together in chains to perform functional activities, rather than as individual muscles having the classical roles expressed as their actions.