What is progressive muscle relaxation and where has it come from?

Progressive muscle relaxation is a relaxation method performed through the use of voluntary skeletal muscles. This method of relaxation was first developed in the 1930’s by Edmund Jacobson after he concluded that when someone is anxious, they experience tension (or shortening of muscle fibres) and that by reducing the tension they may in turn, reduce the anxiety. He then developed a basic relaxation procedure using 15 muscle groups in 1962, a procedure which lasted between one and nine hours at a time (Smith, 2005).

From this point, progressive muscle relaxation has been refined to take a much smaller amount of time and is known by two different methods, overt and covert progressive muscle relaxation (Smith, 2005).

Overt Progressive Muscle Relaxation:
Overt progressive muscle relaxation is when the individual tenses a group of muscles for 5 to ten seconds and then attends to release of the tension for around 30 seconds. Many muscle groups can be systematically relaxed from one end of the body to the other, often up to sixteen.

Covert Progressive Muscle Relaxation:
Covert progressive muscle relaxation is the “release” without first tensing the muscles as you would with the overt relaxation method. This method is often taught following weeks of training in overt relaxation. This method is less frequently used by occupational therapists, particularly in acute mental health settings where time is of the essence.

Throughout the blog when I mention progressive muscle relaxation I am generally referring to overt progressive muscle relaxation.