Muscle Energy Techniques (MET)

MET is based on the principle of “reciprocal inhibition”, a theory that explains that muscles on one side of a joint will always relax to accommodate the contraction of muscles on the other side of that joint when indirect pressure (or resistance) is applied.

MET is often applied to patients who suffer from muscle pain or spasm by contracting the opposing muscle group i.e using the muscle’s own “energy”. This is useful for people in significant pain and unable to tolerate direct local treatment on the area of pain.

This procedure is performed by asking a patient to contract a muscle for approximately 5-seconds against the resistant force applied by the physiotherapist.

MET can be applied safely to almost any joint in the body and is useful in the treatment of musculoskeletal conditions such as back or neck pain and pregnancy-related pain such as sacroiliac joint pain and symphysis pubis dysfunction