A good friend and well respected runner recently recommended that I get into Active Isolated Stretching. According to him, "It's the best way to stretch." Just wondering if anyone has any experience or insight into this . . .
A good friend and well respected runner recently recommended that I get into Active Isolated Stretching. According to him, "It's the best way to stretch." Just wondering if anyone has any experience or insight into this . . .
What exactly is "Active Isolated Stretching"?
I don't know if it is the best...but it is excellent, and for athletes can be very beneficial. There is a book and a video "The Stretch Book" by Phil and Jim Wharton.
AIS is a progressive stretching technique...one form of a MET or muscle energy technique. It is a series of stretches involving breath and a 2 second stretch. What happens is that the client actively contracts the antagonist (opposite) muscle so that the target muscle can relax and stretch. Ie. if you wanted to further stretch the hammys you would contract your quads so that the hamstrings relax, thus you can stretch them farther. It's effective, esp. for athletes as thats how we contract our muscles. Its done 10-12 reps. I teach it as a preevent tech. but it can be used other times. the main point is that by using the opposite muscle to relax the target muscle, it prevents injury by overstretching a "raw" muscle.
All that said, it is effective but not the end all be all of stretching as some people would lead you to believe. different strokes for different folks. It does however reset the proprioceptors well as do all MET's