About Us
Our Experience
GEOFFREY M. GLUCKMAN, MSc.
As the creator of the Muscle Balance and Function Development® System in 1993, Geoff has provided seminars, workshops, and individual consultations for health care providers internationally.
Credited with starting the postural and functional exercise revolution now in force in North America, this stemmed from a ground-breaking postural fitness article in Shape Magazine (November 1994) that featured him, including a specially designed MBF® functional exercise program for women.
He authored the internationally acclaimed Muscle Balance and Function Development® CDROM (1997) and related manuals, as well as several articles for journals.
In 2000, he appeared on the Body by Jake Healthy Lifestyles television show as the featured functional fitness and biomechanics expert. Over the years, he has presented at international conferences for organizations, such as 3rd Interdiscplinary World Congress on Low Back Pain, NSCA, and IDEA. He also served as a guest staff member of The Nicklaus/Flick Golf School and the Assistant Director of T.H.E. Clinic in Del Mar, California, home of The Egoscue Method. He holds a Master's Degree in Exercise Science and a Health/Fitness Instructor certification by the American College of Sports Medicine.
Our Approach
PHILOSOPHY
The human body responds, develops, and is maintained according to basic neurological and biomechanical principles. However, when the body experiences an accident, surgery, trauma, chronic over use or even the lack of purposeful physical activity apparent in today's lifestyles, structural compensations (misalignments) and weaknesses almost always occur to some degree. This process in turn causes the premature breakdown of our musculoskeletal systems, making them susceptible to injury, reducing performance and quality of life and prolonging recovery. Left untreated, these compensations and weaknesses can lead to further misalignment.
APPROACH
The Muscle Balance and Function Development® System is a unique method of restoring function to the human body. It is a principle-based system that is grounded in the fundamentals of physics and biomechanics. This program's evaluation process reveals the muscular imbalances that cause postural misalignment, compensated motion, reduced performance, and injury. Postural realignment is then accomplished by applying a progression of properly sequenced exercises that have been systematically oriented toward each client's unique needs. These exercises target the intrinsic postural muscle groups and retrain the neuromuscular system, reminding each muscle of the function it was designed to perform. The exercises require minimal equipment and can be performed almost anywhere.
For health care providers:
The Muscle Balance and Function Development® (MBF®) System promotes responsibility on the part of the practitioner and the patient. This method requires the health care professional to look beyond the symptom and seek the cause of any physical disorder. It challenges the participant to provide long-term solutions. Patients discover that they are primarily responsible for their own well-being. The MBF® System provides the patient with the means to restore his or her body to a higher level of function and health.
Programs for Individuals:
Since no two people are alike, each MBF® program is individually determined by a postural evaluation of the client's center of gravity from front, back, and right and left side views. Typically, most people exhibit compensations such as elevation, rotation or lateral displacement of their bodies' segments caused by imbalances in the body that may be the result of an accident, surgery or trauma, chronic over-use, or even inactivity.
The Muscle Balance and Function Development® programs are specific to each client, thus many participants experience immediate symptomatic relief upon completion of their exercises. Over time and through subsequent evaluations, each client is lead through a step-wise progression of exercises to better overall musculoskeletal function, higher quality of motion and life.
Scientific Application
A health and healing program for individuals and an educational system for health care providers
The Muscle Balance and Function Development® System expands the fundamental concepts of biomechanics and physics by applying them to the human body. This approach addresses the importance of center of gravity and human segmental alignment, and examines how the planes of motion, right angle fundamentals, and muscular function powerfully affect this alignment, structural integrity, and human performance.
EDUCATION SYSTEM
The MBF® System provides the practitioner with a comprehensive complement to his or her existing approach to health care. Our company offers 76 hours of intensive training that can be arranged in various formats. The courses are designed to take the participant from the basic scientific foundations of movement through energetic awareness of his/her clients. The following is a general description of the introductory portion of this unique system. More information on the advanced phases can easily be provided.
The Muscle Balance and Function Development® training system educates the health care practitioner on the intrinsic postural/structural muscle function and development that is so critical to proper body function and body balance. Participants are taught how to apply the above- mentioned scientific principles and all the phases of improving structural alignment, including the importance of neuromuscular function. They will then learn how to recognize muscular imbalances and compensated motion and how they relate to ergonomics and sports. Through instruction and hands-on implementation, participants will then learn how to apply the MBF® System principles to choose and properly sequence the correct exercises to mitigate their clients' symptoms and enhance their performance.
A health and healing program for individuals and an educational system for health care providers