UNDERSTANDING AMIT
What is AMIT (Advanced Muscle Integration Technique)?
Advanced Muscle Integration Technique (AMIT) is a systematic treatment of common joint and muscle conditions experienced by active people. AMIT is a revolutionary advancement in sports medicine capable of producing the following benefits:
Maximizing Athletic Performance
Predicting and Preventing Injuries
Accelerating Proper Injury Rehabilitation
How does this work?
AMIT helps restore stability and strength to injured or inhibited muscles and/or joints affected by injured or inhibited muscles by stimulation of multiple reflex centers and adjustments of specific spinal segments.
Why do muscles inhibit or “turn off”?
If a muscle is overloaded beyond its ability to sustain a certain force or load, either because of lack of conditioning to the level of demand or trauma, the nervous system will inhibit the muscle. This is done to protect the muscle from more severe injury.
Inhibition can also occur when a joint is swollen, inflamed, or injured setting up what is identified as “Arthrogenic Muscle Inhibition” (AMI). Any muscle that attaches to the joint or crosses over the joint will become inhibited. This is common in joint injuries and post-surgical cases and explains why rehabilitation is slow or reaches an unacceptable plateau.
What happens if a muscle inhibits or “turns off”?
Once a muscle inhibits and is asked to sustain any future force or load, it will not be able to contract appropriately to support that force or load applied. The inhibited muscle will be weak. If the inhibited muscle continues to be stressed, the body will create pain to communicate instability and to avoid additional damage.
The central nervous system develops an adaptive strategy to use other muscles to take on more of the load. This leads to adaptive movement patterns. If the adaptation is successful, the pain will go away, but the instability will remain. Once the adaptive muscles are overloaded, they will also inhibit causing pain and weakness. This process will continue until there are no muscles in an area to adapt to. All stress will then be applied to the ligaments, connective tissue, and joints.
How do we know if we have inhibited muscles?
Suspect muscle inhibition if you experience symptoms such as pain, weakness, stiffness, tightness or general achiness during normal day to day activities and exercise, as well as during intense athletic performance. Also, muscle inhibition is highly probable if you experience reoccurring injuries or musculoskeletal conditions.
If you are experiencing or have experienced any of these symptoms, seek a certified AMIT practitioner. A certified AMIT practitioner will perform objective precision neurological muscle testing of isolated muscles to determine if the muscle is inhibited or functional.
How does AMIT predict and prevent injuries?
The AMIT system can predict and prevent injuries by examining and identifying instabilities in the body, which in most cases lead to injury. The new advanced therapies utilized in AMIT procedures allow for rapid corrections of instabilities resulting in improved function, removal of pain and an overall new level of performance.
How does AMIT help maximize performance?
The functional success of the body is directly proportional to the number of imbalances that have been accumulated. In essence, the less imbalances present in the body, the better the performance.
How does AMIT help accelerate proper injury and/or post-surgical rehabilitation?
If healing is to take place, all the essential components for healing must be present. In order for proper rehabilitation, all muscles involved with the support and function of the injury or post-surgical site must be functional. A certified AMIT practitioner will assess which muscles of the injury or post-surgical site are inhibited and correct them allowing for proper rehabilitation.
What conditions are commonly treated?
Generally speaking, all acute and chronic:
Athletic Injuries
Joint pain, weakness, and inflammation
Muscle pain, weakness, and inflammation
Ligament Sprains
More specifically:
Patellar Tendonitis and other Knee Problems
Shin Splints
Illiotibial Band (IT) Syndrome
Bursitis
Plantar Fasciitis
Shoulder Conditions including Frozen Shoulder
Conditions of the Spine including Sciatica
Headaches including Migraines
Concussions
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
Tennis Elbow
Ankle Sprains
Hip Conditions
Systemic Conditions
Whiplash
What do I wear to an appointment?
Comfortable athletic clothing is recommended.
What are post treatment guidelines?
Due to the restructuring of the function of the body, it is recommended that patients do not participate in aggressive athletic activities. As treatment progresses and stabiltiy is regained, targeted exercises will be prescribed to assist in rehabilitating the muscles optimal function. Once stability is fully restored, regular athletic activities may resume.