To elicit change within a muscle, frequent administration of a stimulus is required in order to maintain or build upon a previous stimulus. For example, if the goal is for the muscle to increase in size, resistance training needs to be applied to the muscle so that it responds with growth and development. Weight training breaks down a muscle. Over a period of 48 hours, the muscle is rebuilt and results in increased capacity to deal with resistance in the future. Furthermore, to maintain a specific level of fitness or muscle size, ongoing training is required on a regular basis. If training is stopped, muscles will atrophy and conditioning will decrease. Most people know this when it comes to their time in the gym.
It’s no different if the goal is to achieve healthy, loose (and elastic) muscles. We believe that chronically contracted muscles cause pain and stiffness, and the optimal way to relieve this condition is to stretch the muscle tissue with systematic and precise pressure, which is what we do at Delos. Muscles respond very quickly to pressure, meaning that they stretch apart and loosen. However, they also fight to stay in a tight or contracted state if that is the state that they had been in the longest. Just like working out on a regular basis, frequent application of therapy is essential to break apart the tightness, restructure the muscle to a looser anatomical state and prevent the retightening process.
What we see clinically is that muscle tissue retightens in about 48 hours after being stretched apart with pressure. Once a muscle is loose, the frequency can be decreased to maintain the current state of the muscle. In summary, to cause any type of long-term change within a muscle, the work and stimulus applied to it must be continuous.
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