Fitness and Health: A Practical Guide to Nutrition, Exercise and Avoiding Disease

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either. Most tendon problems are secondary to muscle imbalance.
Likewise, ligaments connect bones to other bones. And, muscles have
an important support relationship with both ligaments and bones,
directly and indirectly. So when a ligament or bone problem exists,
there is usually an associated muscle imbalance.
The cause of muscle imbalance must be addressed if normal mus-
cle balance is to be restored. Sometimes the body can accomplish this,
especially when it’s fit and healthy overall. In fact, we are always cor-
recting problems because normal wear and tear frequently produces
relatively minor imbalances not only in the muscles, but throughout
the body. Even without knowing it, the body is always working to
restore balance. During the process of correcting its own problems,
the body may show relatively minor symptoms, but often none at all.
When your body can’t fix a particular problem, symptoms develop
and you may need additional help. Manual biofeedback is a tech-
nique used to help balance muscles.


Manual Biofeedback
Over the past 30-plus years I’ve developed various biofeedback pro-
cedures to help people improve physical balance, reduce stress,
increase fat-burning and achieve other benefits. Manual biofeedback
is one of these procedures. It encompasses most of the hands-on ther-
apies I’ve employed and taught to health professionals and lay peo-
ple throughout my career. Manual biofeedback can help improve
muscle imbalance by evaluating and correcting muscle weakness
whether from local muscle problems, or brain or spinal cord injury.
It’s a safe and effective, and relatively easy, approach for use by many
individuals, usually producing a rapid response. Manual biofeedback
is very useful for almost everyone, including those with common
aches and pains and patients with more serious physical ailments,
special-needs children and disabled adults.
Most people with mechanical problems fall into at least one of
three categories:



  • Local muscle injuryis the most common cause of physical
    problems, and is often associated with trauma to the mus-
    cle itself, such as the result of a fall, a so-called pulled mus-


MECHANICAL FITNESS AND HEALTH • 279
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