The Certified Muscle System Specialist ^â

Movement limitations and difficulty holding your body in a position (like sitting, lying flat, standing still) are frequently associated with unwanted sensations like pain, aches, or tightness. This can have profoundly negative effects on your physical, social, and mental life. The progressive loss of movement and maintaining body position can lead to unwanted weight gain, loss of muscle, and an increased chance of developing diseases like osteoporosis, heart disease, diabetes, and depression. Making a decision on how to, and who should, address your physical movement issues and any related unwanted sensations is important. With so many options potentially available, how can you make the best decision for your unique circumstances?

Here are some key highlights making a Certified Muscle System Specialist^â (CMSS) a potentially great option for you:

1. The CMSS works from a body-view called Bio-Motor Configurationalism.  (An abridged version) This states that all body positions and movements are unique organizations (configurations) of all of the body’s parts and the information flowing within it.  Any configuration requires the convergence of all the body’s parts to control the muscles. This means that the entire body, as a total system, is contributing to any muscle contraction – and relaxation – such that even though there may be a local focus on a part of the body, the entire body is always involved in achieving and maintaining a given configuration. The implication is that a local area of focus (the body movement issue and/or location of the unwanted sensations) could be influenced by a part of the body far removed from that area.

• The CMSS believes that your ability to move and hold bodily positions is unique to you.  The quality of your movement and position maintenance (via control of your muscles) is correlated to how well you feel, and how well you feel is correlated to the quality of your life. Therefore, the CMSS focuses on finding out where you have trouble moving and holding positions (postures) and then works to improve the quality of that movement and/or body position by improving voluntary control over your muscles – even when that part of the body is some distance from a local area of unwanted sensations and movement control. The adage: local symptom must equal a local problem, therefore a local solution must be rendered does not always hold true. Especially for chronic pain and discomfort that does not have a clear cause.

• The CMSS employs the Principle of Systematicity, which leverages the body’s intrinsic capability to learn.  Once you and the CMSS identify a position or movement where muscle contraction quality is deemed unsatisfactory, together you will work to connect the low-quality area to an associated area of higher quality via a variety of methods. The CMSS doesn’t force issues – the CMSS negotiates with the body by using a critical thinking model and progressive, systems-based problem solving process.  A CMSS does not employ rote protocols – we treat you as a unique and special individual with unique goals and preferences.

• The CMSS works to improve the control you have over your muscles, which improves the control you have over your body.  This, in turn, may lead to an improvement in how you feel (meaning that unwanted sensations go away).

Move Better … Feel Better… Live Better!