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MET is a safe and effective treatment technique used to improve joint mobility or correct muscle tone.
The osteopath moves the patient’s spinal or limb joint slowly and carefully in a specific direction until they feel a barrier or resistance to motion. The joint is held at this point and the patient asked to use about a third of their strength against the osteopaths resistance. Usually the patient is asked either to push toward or away from the direction of movement, The patient is asked to push for only a second or two. Sometimes the patient’s effort is combined with breathing in or out or with eye movements. The osteopath may ask the patient to repeat the pressure. Or they may then move the joint a little further until they perceive a new barrier or resistance. The procedure will then be repeated until full joint movement or muscle relaxation has been achieved or no further gains can be made. The technique is at all times painless.
The osteopath may proceed to use MET on the same joint in further directions or go on the use it on other joints. MET technique may be used with other techniques during a treatment session.
There is a variation of MET called “isolytic contraction”, useful when applied with care for breaking down adhesions. The patient is asked to exert a muscle contraction in one direction , and the osteopath then moves the joint against that contraction, ie in the opposite direction, so as to gently overcome the muscle contraction, the muscle then being stretched at the same time as it is actively contracting.
The skill of using MET techniques lies in knowing when and where to apply them, knowing the indications for the techniques, knowing how to position the patient and localise the joint involved, knowing the direction of contraction to ask for and, possibly most important, having the palpatory sensitivety to feel the motion barrier and to monitor the contraction and feel its effect
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