How Does SRT Work?

This is where I am supposed to get technical and use a lot of big words to explain the physiology of SRT. If you look at my BIO, you will notice that I have many years of experience and less formal academic training.

In 2007, I attended a Muscle Energy Class by Dr. Leon Chaitow, and he started the class by saying, “Everything we thought about how MET works, well we were wrong.” My many years of experience have taught me that whatever science says now about the way the body works will change as they discover more. We only have some ideas and some research that explain how and why tissue involuntarily contracts and releases. It is like exploring an elephant with a microscope. Everything has to be broken down into little pieces, write case reports which may turn into research studies, and we are left with figuring out how all the little pieces work together. So everything I tell you may be wrong, but I will now explain how SRT works based on how I envision and experience it working. I will leave the scientific, technical reasons for why it works to others.

Using SRT changes the body by decreasing involuntary muscle contracture which decreases pain and increases range of motion. The way I explain it to my patients is that SRT reprograms their involuntary muscle contraction. The brain is creating chemicals that tell these muscles or strands of muscles to contract. For some reason, the brain has not received the signal back from the muscle that it is already contracting. When you voluntarily move, these signals are overridden, but at rest, the muscle cells begin to involuntarily contract again. This is why you feel tighter in the morning when the cells have continually contracted overnight without the interruption of voluntary movement. Principles of SRT

Involuntary muscle contraction causes other muscles or muscle strands to feel over-stretched so they contract trying to bring the joint back to a neutral position. This creates a domino effect by inhibiting the joint movement, which limits the range of motion, which leads to compensation patterns of movement, which causes pain and/or discomfort. It is like having a rock in your shoe and you change your walk to avoid putting pressure on the part of your foot that is striking the rock. This compensation can cause further problems when our joints are not gliding correctly. For example, a joint can pinch the bursa causing bursitis. When we use SRT to stop the involuntary muscle contraction, the joint can move freely which decreases pain. What remains are sore and inflamed tissues.

Involuntary muscle contraction also causes inflammation or trapped “muscle poop.” I explain that 80% of our blood supply is moved by the contraction and release of muscles. This happens when muscle contraction builds up pressure that flushes out the blood when the muscle releases. When a muscle cell fires or contracts, it “poops” out the chemicals or used nutrients and then gets fresh blood for more. When areas of the muscle continue to contract, the “poop” gets trapped causing further inflammation and fermentation. Inflammation can also cause pain especially when it is trapped in small spaces such as the carpals of the wrist.

“This sounds great! But how long will the SRT treatment last? How effective is SRT?” I am glad you asked.