Weissfeld R. Mind, trauma & muscle inhibition Part II: When muscle inhibition is not ignored. Evidence of effectiveness from the NBA.

Abstract: Part I of this series experimentally validated a hypothesis that muscle inhibition (the ongoing weakness of individual muscles clinically revealed through manual muscle testing) is sustained by trauma-induced maladaptive learning; a muscular form of PTSD (mPTSD). It demonstrated that about 90% of inhibited muscles would immediately strengthen, and 80% would remain strong over a period of weeks, when treated only with side-to-side eye movements, a part of EMDR, an accepted intervention for PTSD. This therapy has been theorised to gain its effects by interrupting reconsolidation (re-storage) of activated (recalled) and therefore destabilised memories. 

Currently, muscle inhibition is ignored and considered untreatable in most musculoskeletal specialties. The chiropractic subspecialty of Applied Kinesiology however, has been reversing muscle weakness for over 50 years, but because of a dearth of reporting and studies of the treatment, it has gone unnoticed in most muscle inhibition literature. A 20 plus-year ‘demonstration’ of correction of muscle inhibition in the NBA has left statistical and other evidence suggesting what is possible when the condition is routinely treated. Particularly striking is the finding that when treated immediately, mild to moderate sprain-strain injuries can recover in minutes, not weeks, putting into question universal assumptions we hold about the nature of tissue damage in injuries.

Indexing Terms: Muscle inhibition, PTSD, chiropractic, theory, NBA, Applied Kinesiology.

Cite: Weissfeld R. Mind, trauma & muscle inhibition Part II: When muscle inhibition is not ignored. Evidence of effectiveness from the NBA. Asia-Pac Chiropr J. 2021;1.3. URL www.apcj.net/weissfeld-hypothesis-mptsd-part-2/