Muscle Synergies

Authors
Affiliations

Doctor of Physical Therapy

B.S. in Kinesiology

Doctor of Physical Therapy

B.A. in Neuroscience

Muscle synergies refers to the hypothesis that the central nervous system (CNS) simplifies the planning and production of movement by using a combination of a limited number of spatial and/or temporal modules1

Tonic & Phasic

From MSK 2 lecture
  • Tonic vs phasic muscles
    • Tonic muscles: those that hold u in the fetal position, usually flexion synergyish , more spastic
      • “Phylogenetically older”.
      • you should STRETCH these muscles
    • Phasic muscles: ones that open you (ie ER, supination): the opposite as above, ie ) traps: long and weak, constantly need to strengthen for better posture and function.
      • You should STRENGTHEN
    • Treatment: An idea is if you have poor mm length on a tonic muscle, strengthen the opposite phasic muscles to reduce tone in the tonic muscle

Read this article for more information about tonic/phasic muscles:1

References

1.
Brambilla C, Russo M, d’Avella A, Scano A. Phasic and tonic muscle synergies are different in number, structure and sparseness. Human Movement Science. 2023;92:103148. doi:10.1016/j.humov.2023.103148

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