A good friend of mine put this together for his clients so I thought I would post it for all to view!
Thanks Curt.
Active Isolated Stretching
(by Curt Town, R.M.T.)
Active Isolated Stretching
was created and developed by Aaron L. Mattes, a Kinesiotherapist, Licensed
Massage Therapist, lecturer, and author, in Sarasota, Florida. He has extensive experience in sports and health
instruction, rehabilitation, athletic training (he worked with the U.S. Olympic
Team), adapted physical education, sports medicine, training and prevention
programs. (See www.stretchingusa.com)
One of the key intentions
with Active Isolated Stretching (AIS) is to get the muscle or muscle group that
is being stretched to be in as relaxed a state as possible. The premise being that the most effective
stretch happens when the muscles are in their most relaxed state. Therefore stretching, regardless of the
method, should never hurt. If it hurts,
then the muscles being stretched will become reactive, guarded and contracted
to some degree. In this guarded state
they will not achieve the most efficient and effective stretch.
To relax the muscles, AIS
utilizes two physiological dynamics. The
first dynamic occurs when we contract a muscle or muscle group, which causes
the opposing muscles to relax. For
example, if you pinch your shoulder blades together (contracting your
‘parascapular muscles’) to pull your shoulders back, simultaneously your chest
muscles (‘pecs’) would relax so they don’t inhibit the shoulders from moving
backwards. This example is the ideal
setup for initiating an AIS stretch for the pec muscles because they become
more relaxed. (You don’t need to know
your anatomy to know what the opposing muscles are. Just go into the stretch position without
assistance, as in the above pec stretch example, and you automatically contract
the muscles needed to relax the ones that you are stretching.)
The second dynamic occurs
when we lengthen a muscle. There is a
protective contraction mechanism that is initiated to prevent the muscle from
lengthening too much; it is part of what lets the brain know when to stop a
movement. This reflex takes approx. 2-3
seconds to be activated as the muscle starts to lengthen. When we reach the maximum stretch position
and sustain it, the protective contraction reflex remains active for
approximately 18–20 seconds. At that
point the brain determines that the muscle isn’t going any further and it is
safe to release the contraction. (When
you focus your awareness on this you can feel the muscle(s) relax.) When the position is sustained further, it
takes approx. 30 seconds, or more depending on the muscle size or group, for
the brain to register that as the new muscle length. Persistent, and regular stretching will
encourage a consistent lengthening of the muscles. Shorter durations are effective for warming up
muscle tissue prior to an activity to prevent injury, but, it will not maintain
the same consistent long term lengthening effect that the 30 seconds or more
will do. That’s why older ‘static position’ stretch techniques suggest holding
the position for 30 seconds or more.
The concern with the older
‘static position’ stretch methods, as
Aaron L. Mattes states: “Prolonged static stretching
actually decreases the blood flow within the tissue creating localized ischemia
and lactic acid buildup. This potentiates irritation or injury of local
muscular, tendonous, lymphatic as well as neural tissues, similar to the
effects and consequences of trauma and overuse syndromes”.
I
asked Aaron about this and he elaborated further: “Holding
the stretch is an isometric contraction. Isometrics decrease the blood
flow and [which creates] oxygen deprivation. The stretch reflex is
activated in slightly over 2 seconds aggravating the tissue you are trying to
lengthen. Half of the stretches people do are eccentric contractions.
Muscles that are actually in contraction don't lengthen much beyond the current
ability to lengthen during negative resistance.
If you want to move fluids and gases, many repetitions are advantages.
The program of Active Isolated Stretching is about stretching muscles &
fascia simultaneously and moving scar tissue, joint capsules, etc.
Repetitive movements of this nature change the tissue to the cellular
level. Problems such as Parkinson’s, Lou Gehrig's disease, diabetes, MS,
etc. all change positively immediately. We can get to tissues quickly and
gently making changes rapidly to areas you can't touch with the hands in
massage, etc. “
With the combination of
contracting the opposing muscles, and only holding the stretch for two seconds,
pulling out before the stretch reflex activates, the muscle being stretched is
in the most relaxed state it can be in (relative to its resting tension, or
“resting tone”, level at that time) for the entire duration of the
stretch. Therefore it will experience its
most effective stretch results.
Repeating the process at least 5-6 times enhances the stretch; 10-12
times, with regular and persistent practice, establishes a new, longer, muscle
length.
To summarize, the procedure for AIS technique
is:
A)
Contract the
opposite muscle/muscle group to what you are stretching (do this by simply
going into the stretch position without assistance.
B)
Assist the
stretched muscle/muscle group to it’s maximum (pain free, ‘feel good’) length, (“Assisting” means to ‘lean into it’ or pull
with a stretch strap or hands. It is
best to use a non-stretching material like a nylon rope, webbing, or leather
belt, as opposed to an elasticized material such as a bungee cord or
‘Thera-band’. Using a non-stretch
material gives greater sensitivity of awareness to muscle lengthening. With elasticized cords it can be difficult to
discern the difference between the stretch of the material and your muscles).
C)
Hold for only two
seconds, then pull out of the stretch (before the protective contraction reflex
initiates), relaxing the opposing muscle momentarily.
D)
Repeat the
process for 5–10 or 12 times. (5-6 times for a warm-up, pre-event, stretch;
10-12 times for the consistent lengthening, post-event, recovery, maintenance
stretch). (Note: The pause between each 2 second stretch is very brief, and it is
not necessary to return to the start position; you can remain in the position
where relaxing the opposing muscles leaves you).
One of the dramatic
differences between AIS and the older ‘static position’ techniques that can be
experienced immediately is that with the older ‘static position’ method you are
usually only taking the stretched muscle to its maximum length once per
session. With Active Isolated
Stretching, the muscle lengthens progressively beyond the first maximum length with each
successive two-second stretch. I find
that I achieve more muscle lengthening with 5-6 two-second warm-up stretches
with AIS than with 60 seconds of one ‘static position’. The effect is deepened further when I do
10-12 repetitions of AIS for a post-event or general maintenance routine.
For this reason it is stated
that this method can result in stretching the muscles up to 1.6 times more than
most other methods. Elite athletes are
said to experience in the 90’s percent less injuries, as well as an increase in
performance using the AIS technique because the muscle tissue is working more
efficiently.
(Curt Town, a Registered Massage Therapist since 1994,
and former Clinical Instructor at massage colleges in Ontario and British
Columbia, is currently working at the Oasis Wellness Centre and Spa, in
Calgary, Alberta, Canada. He can be
contacted at: EverLoving@shaw.ca )
Resources:
Aaron L.
Mattes related sites:
http://stretchingusa.com/products.cfm - (Advertises Aaron
Mattes’ books. You can view pages from his books that demo AIS, but most
of the text is too small to read easily.
But his books would be the best resource for further in depth
information and routines regarding AIS.)
For
the more technical inclined, the following may be of interest.
In
response to the above article, a question was asked of me:
"
[re A.I.S.]...how is this different than relaxation methods of
PNF?". I forwarded the question to Aaron, with which he responded:
"PNF
ends up being Passive Stretching. Pushing against my hands for 6-8 seconds
is an isometric contraction. Isometric contractions push the blood,
oxygen and nutrition out of the region. This is followed by a external
movement by the therapist, trainer, etc. This is a passive assistance for
a number of seconds which does not involve the volitional contraction involving
the nervous system. This also ends up violating the stretch reflex.
Stretch beyond 2 seconds. The agonist-antagonist relationship,
blood, oxygen, nutrition, stretch reflex, irritation to the muscles, fascia and
other connective tissue, aggravation, muscle memory violation, etc. All
of this make progress slow, with dependency on someone else to do the work, and
violation of Sherrington's Law and other physiological principles.
Explain how Lou Gehrig's disease, Parkinsonism, Multiple Sclerosis, Post Polio
Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy, Spinal Cord (incomplete) injuries all respond very
rapidly to AIS Stretching and even faster when AIS Strengthening is concurrent
part of program.
If
you have further question call 941-922-3232."
Cheers,
