SOFT TISSUE

PRINCIPLES OF MUSCLE ENERGY TECHNIQUES

TO ENHANCE REHABILITATIVE OUTCOMES

Manual therapy has been utilised for the treatment of injuries for hundreds of years since the times of Ancient Greece (1). Various professions include manual therapy techniques within their scope of practice. Some of these professions are massage therapists, osteopaths, athletic trainers, physical therapists, athletic therapists, acupuncturists and many others. The manual therapy techniques can be applied with the purpose to affect soft tissue such as tendon and muscle, bone, neural tis- sue or all of these.

By Catherine Ortega, EdD, PT, ATC

MUSCLE ENERGY TECHNIQUES Although manipulation with the mobilisation grades defined by Maitland are most commonly used to affect joint mobility, another non-invasive and effective treatment option is muscle energy technique (MET). METs have been used for many years and the general principles have not had much change in application over the years. Though there is limited and in reality, almost no research support, MET continues to be an active, non-invasive, direct treatment technique in which the patient provides the force. It is virtually impossible to harm a patient using MET and the benefits reported by numerous practitioners and patients continues to provide support for its use.

MET is defined as a ‘manual therapy procedure which involves he voluntary contraction of patient muscle in a precisely controlled direction, at varying levels of intensity, against a distinctly executed counterforce applied by the operator’ (2). Typically the muscle is directed to contract isometrically to move a joint or affect movement at that articulation. Any articulation in the body that can be moved by voluntary muscular contraction can be affected by a muscle energy technique procedure. An isometric muscular contraction is the more commonly used form of MET with the duration and force of the muscular contraction varying and dependent upon the desired outcome.

Outcomes include reduction of localised oedema or relief of passive congestion via the pump action of muscles upon the lymphatic and venous systems. Other outcomes include lengthen-

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