Massage Therapy Techniques:

Muscle Energy Technique (MET)

Muscle Energy Technique (MET) is a manual therapy that uses the gentle muscle contractions of the client to relax and lengthen muscles and normalize joint motion.

To define it specifically, it is “a direct manipulative procedure that uses a voluntary contraction of the patient's muscles against a distinctly controlled counterforce from a precise position and in a specific direction”. It is considered an active technique, as opposed to a passive technique where only the therapist does the work.

There are two types of MET:

1) Post-Isometric Relaxation (PIR) The therapist stretches and lengthens a muscle as it relaxes right after a client contraction. This lengthens, relaxes and realigns the muscle fibers.

2) Reciprocal Inhibition (RI) It is a law of body dynamics that when you contract a muscle the opposing or reciprocal muscle must relax. That is the way the brain is wired and the principle that makes this technique work. The therapist has the client’s muscle perform a contraction against resistance which relaxes the opposing muscle.

MET addresses:

• Restricted movement that can cause conditions like back pain, headache, scoliosis, sciatica, etc.
• Postural deformities