Paul Ciske

I took a class with Paul on balance and the inner ear; he was super knowledgable and explained all kinds of intricate details about how human balance works. It was very interesting and I went home with easy exercises I can do myself to improve my balance, flexibility, and even increase calmness in my nervous system! Wowza! Very cool!

I first learned about Dr. Ciske at my former employer (the Sports Club LA in S.F.), when he provided professional training and certification to some of San Francisco’s most experienced personal trainers. Soon after my husband went through his basic MAT training program, he told me about how revolutionary this area of practice was for sports injuries, and I looked into it. If you aren’t sure about the validity of MAT yet, let my testimony speak for it here:
Within 2 sessions working with Dr. Ciske, (and 2 weeks of 2-​a-​day, 10 minute simple at home exercises prescribed by him), my chronic hamstring injury was HEALED. At the time, I was training 21+ hours/​week for Ironman Canada in 2012… I felt my injury nagging on the bike and with every step of running. I had seen multiple practitioners for this injury over the year prior (chiropractic, massage) however, none of those modalities helped or provided complete recovery. I could not believe it when I ran a half marathon pain-​free just 2 short weeks after working with Dr. Ciske… In my own understanding, MAT provides specific corrective exercises, which retrain your brain to send neural impulses (or ‘communicate with’) the muscles that have stopped firing and have therefore led to muscle imbalances and/​or injury.
I have since referred 6 different friends (triathletes and non-​athletes) to Dr. Ciske, and ALL of them experienced the same dramatic healing I had! Since that time, I asked Dr. Ciske to come and speak at my office retreat, so my colleagues could learn more about MAT. Two of my colleagues have since made appointments with him and have had only great things to say about their experiences as well.
If you have nagging pain, even from daily activities of living (walking, lifting) – I cannot understate my recommendation to see Dr. Ciske to END your pain, for GOOD. I’m not talking about for a few weeks of recovery, like other forms of therapy create (chiropractic especially)…but for total freedom from pain. One caveat– you have to be disciplined enough to do the exercises he gives you at home at least once a day. They are simple and they only take a few minutes. If you are willing to set aside 10 – 20 minutes a day to do the exercises, I bet you will experience the remarkable relief that compelled me to write this review.

Two years after my neck and shoulder injuries, I am still having mobility issues and unmanageable pain. I was looking for treatment that actually worked after finding physio therapy and orthopedic doctors to be pricey, intrusive, and ultimately unhelpful. Also, I refuse to see a chiropractor after watching people pour thousands of dollars and lots of time into them with no lasting results. As a hardened skeptic, I am grateful to have finally found a solution — Muscle Activation Techniques — that work as both treatment and prevention.
Paul Ciske is a seasoned professional and at the top of the field — learn more about him/​his credentials from his website. He goes straight to the root of the problem — strengthening and activating the muscles that are in spasm as well as surrounding muscles. It works, and unlike a lot of other methods, you really only have to go a couple times and keep up with isometric exercises at home until the pain subsides. I first went to him a few months ago and only had to go once. I reinjured myself yesterday and saw him again and left with 50% improved mobility and a number of exercises that actually are giving me immediate relief from pain. I can’t recommend this treatment and Paul enough, he will do wonders for you, he’s reasonable and isn’t scheisty like 99.9% of everyone else out there.
A definition of MAT from their website: it looks at muscle tightness as a form of protection in the body. Weak or inhibited muscles can create the need for other muscles to tighten up in order to help stabilize the joints. MAT gets to the root of pain or injury by addressing muscle weakness rather than muscle tightness. This helps to restore normal body alignment, thereby, decreasing pain and reducing the risk of injury.