The Four Methodologies Behind MOVECHECK
MOVECHECK is not a generic fitness assessment. It is built on four clinical methodologies, each developed over decades by researchers and practitioners who specialize in how the human body actually organizes itself. Here is what each one contributes and why they matter for your training.
Postural Restoration Institute (PRI)
PRI is the foundational methodology. Developed by Ron Hruska in Lincoln, Nebraska, PRI starts with a simple observation: the human body is not symmetrical. Your liver is on the right. Your heart is on the left. You have three lung lobes on the right and two on the left. This asymmetry is not a defect. It is a design feature. But it creates predictable patterns.
The most common pattern, present in an estimated 95% of humans, is the Left AIC (Anterior Interior Chain) pattern. The left pelvis rotates forward due to the dominance of the right diaphragm and the asymmetrical pull of the psoas and iliacus muscles. This creates a cascade of compensations that travels through the entire body.
PRI does not treat symptoms. It repositions the skeleton using targeted breathing and repositioning exercises that restore neurological balance. When the pelvis is in the right position, the muscles that attach to it can finally do their job.
Extracellular Matrix (ECM)
The extracellular matrix is the connective tissue network that surrounds every muscle, organ, and nerve in your body. It is not just passive scaffolding. It is an active communication system that transmits mechanical force, carries biochemical signals, and plays a direct role in how your muscles respond to training.
ECM science explains why fascial restrictions can affect muscle function far from the site of the restriction. A restriction in your thoracolumbar fascia (lower back) can inhibit your lat on the same side because they share the same connective tissue network. This is not pseudoscience. This is published, peer-reviewed biomechanics.
MOVECHECK integrates ECM principles by assessing how fascial continuity affects movement quality. When we identify that your left lat is not engaging, ECM science helps explain the mechanism and guides the corrective approach.
Muscle Activation Techniques (MAT)
MAT was developed by Greg Roskopf and is based on a fundamental principle: muscle tightness is a symptom of muscle weakness somewhere else. When a muscle is neurologically inhibited (meaning the brain cannot send a full contraction signal to it), adjacent muscles tighten up as a protective mechanism.
This is why stretching your “tight” hip flexor never fixes it. The hip flexor is tight because your glute on the same side is neurologically inhibited. The hip flexor is guarding a joint that does not have the muscular support it needs. Stretch it, and the brain just tightens it up again because the underlying weakness has not been addressed.
MAT uses specific isometric contractions to restore the brain’s ability to communicate with inhibited muscles. Once the muscle can contract on demand, the tightness in the compensating muscles resolves automatically.
MATrx (MAT Rx)
MATrx is the evolution of MAT, developed to bridge the gap between muscle activation and real-world performance. While MAT identifies and corrects neurological inhibition, MATrx evaluates whether the corrected muscles can actually produce force through their full range of motion under load.
Think of it this way: MAT restores the electrical connection between your brain and your glute. MATrx tests whether that glute can now produce force at every joint angle through the full range of a hip extension pattern. It is the difference between a muscle that can contract and a muscle that can perform.
MATrx uses resistive force testing protocols to identify not just which muscles are inhibited, but at which specific joint angles they lose their ability to produce force. This provides the precise information needed to build corrective protocols that transfer directly to your training.
How These Four Systems Work Together In MOVECHECK
PRI identifies the position. ECM explains the fascial connections. MAT restores the neurological activation. MATrx validates that activation under load. Together, they form the most complete framework available for understanding and correcting human movement dysfunction.