Why The Method I Implement Is Different
Blog post description.
WHY THE METHOD I IMPLEMENT IS DIFFERENT~AND EFFECTIVE!!
ACTIVE ISOLATED STRETCHING (AIS): Also called the Aaron Mattes Method. It was developed by Aaron Mattes decades ago as an amazing way to reduce pain, increase flexibility, and improve performance while decreasing the chance of injury. The goal is to isolate the muscle that’s being stretched. Muscles are constantly working together, meaning that when one is being flexed, another is being stretched.
With most of my clients I’m treating TENSION- not PAIN!
HOW IT’S DIFFERENT AND WHY IT’S EFFECTIVE:
AIS movements are precisely targeted to stretch individual muscles and parts of muscles, rather than larger muscle groups. For example, instead of a simple hamstring stretch, AIS uses many different stretches to focus on combinations of the medial, lateral, oblique, proximal, and distal fibers. The hamstring moves in all different directions, just not straight up and down. The client assists with initiation of the stretch by contracting the muscle since contracting on one side of a joint causes the muscle on the opposite side to relax.
Also having the muscle actively working helps to increase the temperature of the muscles and fascia which enhances flexibility even further. Increase flexibility in increments: with each repetition the practitioner provides just enough assistance slightly beyond what the client could do on his own.
Gentle Active Motion: to avoid injury it is important to use 50% or less of the max force for the muscles being stretched. This helps delay the stretch reflex, and prevents muscles from stretching too far or too fast.
The stretch is held for 2-3 seconds only: holding a stretch for too long initiates the myotatic stretch reflex, decreases blood flow within the tissue, leads to a buildup of waste products ( such as lactic acid) that contributes to muscle fatigue and soreness. As a result, the tendons and ligaments get stretched more than muscles, which can lead to tendon irritation and even laxity. You are then predisposed for future injury