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Michael Weibel, CMT
In reality muscle imbalance, weakness, injury, or just aging can cause muscle fibers to “clump” or stick together like cooked spaghetti. When these muscle fibers clump, muscles around the area go into an underlying reactive spasm. It is this reactive spasm that causes the pain.
Developed by Dr. Brian Bronk, the premise of AMR is that much of the pain that is thought to be from a pinched nerve, arthritis, old age, or a disc problem is actually coming from the muscles.
AMR is targeted massage using a specific stroking technique. It is simply a better way to treat muscles, and a new way to look at back and joint pain.
The Course Of Treatment
What To Expect
WHAT IS ADVANCED MUSCLE
RECONDITIONING?
People do not consider the muscles as the source of the pain because:
The pain may feel deep or feel like it radiates through a nerve.
There may not be any spasm.
X-Rays or MRIs may show abnormal findings, so other doctors assume those findings are the cause of the pain.
Every person’s condition and pain is unique. The vast majority of patients will notice some improvement after the first session. Any improvement after AMR is a good sign. Some extreme cases may take a number of sessions to get effective results. Think of your spasm pattern as the cross section of a tree trunk. Each session we will take a few rings off the outside. However, the inner trunk remains. When you resume your activities, it is easy to aggravate the area and it might feel like you are back to square one. You are not. The rings of spasm that we removed are still gone, but the trunk is what is causing you trouble. With each treatment you should feel better longer and be able to do more. However, your recovery may not progress in a straight line.
Tips for the Patient
AMR has nothing in common with popular forms such as active release, myofascial release, rolfing, shiatsu, acupressure, deep tissue, muscle stripping, etc. (except that they are applied to the body) AMR is not taught in massage school, there is simply nothing like it, and it will blow your mind.
Advanced Muscle Reconditioning provides, like Dr. Bronk says, "the holy grail, the entire purpose of orthopedic-neurological examination, which is to re-create the familiar pain the patient has been suffering”. No time is wasted. As we apply the technique we put you in touch with what muscles are involved and YOU let us know. There’s no use of us, the practitioners, trying to pretend that we know better than you.
Most of the time we will be working directly on your skin with lotion. Some times we can work through light clothing.
You may feel soreness immediately or a few days after the treatment. Soreness may last several days.
You may bruise.
You may initially feel very tired or want to sleep because AMR removes stress and provides powerful healing.
The first session is usually the most intense. It may feel unusual, if you are not used to this type of bodywork.
The picture above depicts the appearance of a healthy muscle. Appreciate the spaghetti looking-like individual muscle fibers. The space in between is filled by blood vessels, nerves, connective tissue, etc.
Over time, due to macro or micro injuries, muscle fibers “clump” together and disrupt the blood and nerve flow. The feedback to the brain is interrupted and the brain misinterprets this a lack of proper muscle contraction. Thus it sends a signal for the muscle to contract. The vicious cascade’s initiated. An already overly-contracted and spasmed muscle is now being further stimulated. And one day, possibly a long time after the onset of the spasm, the pain sets in. From the straw that broke the camel’s back.
The area where we are working must be completely relaxed. Trying to be “brave” and take it is not helpful. Breathing into the pain shouldn’t be done. If you can’t relax, tell us so we can lighten the stroke.
You are our best guide. You know better than we do whether we are working in the right location. Your muscles may feel hard or tight as we work on them. You may think, “That’s it! That’s the spot where the pain is coming from.” If so, you need to tell us. Especially with chronic conditions, it is difficult to know which location is more sensitive to you. AMR is interactive bodywork. So you MUST talk to us. We will work at a level you can handle.
There may be areas that are numb or you can’t feel. The muscles feel like crispy bacon. AMR awakens those areas.
We work in a larger area than just the spot that hurts. The location of your pain is only part of the involved area. It may go up the neck, down the back, arms or legs or other adjacent muscles. We will follow the muscles.