The Muscle Map

The muscle map is a comprehensive examination of your stabilization system.

It is conducted to assess the origin of your pain, and includes most of the major muscles, ligaments, joint capsules, and fasciae in the body, as many as 500-800 connective tissue components, depending on how they are counted. (A muscle group containing 24 muscles might be classified under one name. There are many of these groups.) For the sake of convenience, we simply call this a Muscle Map. The Muscle Map provides logical, common-sense insight into the underlying cause of a wide variety of symptoms..

 

The Muscle Map checks the response of each major muscle and ligament, over 500 structures. Each structure is tested for its ability to lock in response to your will to lock it. The results are charted to determine the extent of your neurologic adaptive pattern.

 

In a locking test, you will be asked to resist an isolated muscle or ligament in response to light pressure against it. Locking is not a test of strength. A strong muscle can fail to lock at will. Think of it more as a factor of timing. The muscle does not “grab” at its normal neutral point, it is not precisely where you think it is; there might be a microsecond gap in the action of resisting. 

 

Successful locking can be viewed as an indicator of intact proprioception in an individual muscle, ligament, joint capsule, or fascia. If you intend to lock a muscle and it fails to lock, you are not satisfactorily locating, and therefore not connecting, to your body. It is similar to a short circuit in an electrical system. The goal is for you to be able to connect willfully to every part of yourself. You should be able to lock any structure in place if you wish to lock it. Failure to do so is a positive (significant) finding.  

 

Restoring successful proprioceptive function can be impressively effective at resolving even long-standing pain.

 

This examination is conducted manually by the doctor; there are no devices, machines or gimmicks. The well-trained doctor is a perceptive, effective examiner, capable of making evaluations and decisions based on perceptions that have been honed by training and experience.