Muscle energy technique is a form of manual therapy that uses a muscle’s own energy in the form of gentle isometriccontractions to relax the muscles via autogenic or reciprocal inhibition and lengthen the muscle. Different from static stretching, which is a passive technique in which the therapist does all the work, MET is an active technique in which the patient is also an active participant. The neurological concepts of Autogenic Inhibition and Reciprocal Inhibition are key. Use of autogenic Inhibition helps to lengthen the working muscle while use Reciprocal Inhibition works to lengthen the antagonist muscle.

 

Active Release Therapy (ART), which may sound familiar, is partially a combination of this technique with IASTM (described elsewhere on this site) and mobilization with movement (also described elsewhere on our site).

 

This technique can be used on nearly any body part to increase soft tissue mobility, improve joint flexibility, or help control muscle activity. It is known to be more effective that static stretching in many cases.