Open Letter to coaches and athletes of all levels
I want to introduce you to the next level of sports medicine which will improve your athletic program by decreasing injuries and improving performance. To improve performance and prevent injuries, sports medicine must focus on the interrelationships between muscle function, joint range of motion, and their restrictions.
The Advanced Muscle Integrated Technique (AMIT) has been used extensively on Olympic and professional athletes for more than thirty years <AMITMethod.com>. Not only has it corrected acute and chronic problems, it has allowed athletes to perform at levels they had not considered possible. Young athletes struggling with chronic pain during training not only find relief, but experience a higher level of function and performance. I am Dr. Mark Parker and have been using AMIT exclusively in the Seattle area for the past three years with great success. <RebootProactiveTherapy.com>
Dr. Buhler, the originator of AMIT was one of the team physicians for the professional basketball team Utah Jazz for 26 years. During that time the team had the lowest player missed games due to injury (PMGI) rate in the NBA — 61 player-missed games due to injury within a 20-year long span, compared to the league average of 171 in the same time frame. After Dr. Buhler left the Jazz the team saw the most rapid increase in PMGI rates in the league over the prior 25-year period. AMIT can have the same impact on your athletic programs.
A good example of how this method is able to achieve such remarkable results, is our assessment and treatment of sprained ankles, an injury caused by an unsupported sideways or twisting movement of the foot.
There are three grades of ankle sprain.
Grade 1: Mild overstretched ligament
Grade 2: Moderate slight partial ligament tear
Grade 3: Severe complete ligament tear
A mild to moderate sprained ankle can take an athlete out of commission for several weeks. With AMIT, I can often get them back on their feet in a matter of minutes. Grade 1 and 2 sprained ankles are often easily fixed by reactivating the muscles required to support the ankle and restoring function to the foot and ankle region. Unfortunately, the standard medical approach is to keep weight off the ankle for at least a week, using crutches. The second week, standard treatment typically includes some passive range of motion therapy.
After that, you slowly start rehabilitating with more aggressive therapy. Recovery can take four to six weeks. Even then the athlete is still at a higher risk for reinjure because the supporting muscles have not been treated.
The AMIT model looks at this type of injury in a wholly different light. An inversion sprain, which is the most common, occurs when the lateral stabilizing muscles become inhibited and are unable to contract with enough strength to counter the force to the ankle region. When a muscle is overloaded beyond its ability to handle the stress placed upon it, either due to lack of conditioning or trauma, a couple of different things occur. You may tear the tissue, and/or your nervous system will deactivate the muscle through a series of reflexes called proprioceptors trying to protect the muscles and joints. Your body alters how you move and use your muscles attempting to take stress off the injured muscle.
The AMIT therapy is designed to reactivate the muscle and re-establish strength with pain free motion. Once function and range of motion have been reestablished, a functional based training program designed to further strengthen the previously inhibited muscle can bring you to a whole new level of performance. Naturally, this is particularly valuable for athletes.
Symptoms or pain is our body’s communication system telling us something is not working. We’ve learned through our conditioning that we just ignore the pain, or we take a medication to suppress the pain; this only allows the problem to become more advanced. When you take anti-inflammatories and pain pills for a condition that you’re dealing with athletically, all that you do is set the body up for more damage, because you override the protective mechanism of your body. Now with AMIT we can listen and talk to the body to get it out of pain and back to full function.
I am open to helping your programs at any level you feel appropriate, and I would like to discuss ways AMIT can help your programs to improve the safety and performance of the athletes. Some examples of how I can be of service are as follows.
As part of your health care team I can: perform a functional examination on athletes; identify areas at increased risk of injury; provide therapy recommendations, and coordinate functional strength conditioning with your team trainers. As a health care provider I can provide in office injury evaluation and therapy to athletes, allowing for a quicker and safer return to their sport.
Yours in health and performance.
Mark Parker, D.C.
Reboot Proactive Therapy
425-301-2107
RebootProactiveTherapy.com