Myoreflex Therapy for Bone and Joint Symptoms

The dynamics of the muscular system and the neuromuscular interplay of muscle chains enable an expanded, causal understanding of bone and joint symptoms. When we adopt this perspective, it is no longer “pain points” or local areas of stress that are the focus of attention, but instead, the power of the muscles as it is exerted on the joints and guides them.

The principle that form follows function is not only translatable to bone development during childhood, but it teaches us that all bone development obeys certain consistent functional principles. In adulthood as well, the structure of joints follows their function, use and the stresses placed on the joint. Bony structure is oriented to its function in movement and to underlying muscular conditions. If these conditions are normal, then the joint will function normally.

It is motor disequilibrium and disturbed muscular balance that result in improper loads and limited mobility, thus leading to decentering of the joint. The consequences start out with tension, but extend to limitations of movement and joint pain, and ultimately to degenerative joint disease.

We might use the knee as an example: when changes occur in relative active muscle length (raM), relative shortening or increased resting tone in the muscular system that is made up of the anterior pelvis (iliopsoas muscle) and the abdominal muscles, all of the lines of force (vectors) in the leg are displaced.

An over-trained flexor line or one that has become shortened by excessive sitting (shortened abdominal and pelvic muscles and shortened portions of the rectus femoris, vastus medialis and sartorius muscles) will have an adverse effect on the meniscus, the knee cartilage and the knee joint. This provokes functional symptoms of knee problems.

Therefore, treatment aimed at the underlying cause will not be focused on the structures in the knee (and thus, the site of the symptoms), but instead, on muscular structures that induce the pain (the shortened abdominal and pelvic muscle and the shortened portions of the rectus femoris, vastus medialis and sartorius muscles). Adopting a perspective that pays attention to the laws of biomechanics and their biokinematic corollaries will lead to a new causal understanding of the pain, and thus, to new options for treatment and training as well: Myoreflex Therapy, and KiD exercises (resistance training in stretched positions).