Reciprocal / Reflex Inhibition

Reciprocal / Reflex Inhibition. This is my most frequent treatment used on the Equine patient. This technique is used for restoration of normal muscle tone. Muscle spasm identified during palpation can be effectively reduced by applying this technique. It works by stimulation of the golgi tendon organ of the agonist muscle via a specific movement performed by the physiotherapist. This produces in an involuntary contraction of the muscle, initiating an involuntary relaxation of the opposing antagonist muscle and therefore reducing muscle tone back to resting length.