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Balance is Possible

Full

Range

Of

Motion

Head to Toe

A comprehensive book on flexibility exercises for your entire body.

By

Joshua Morton, LMT

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Balance is Possible F.R.O.M. Head to Toe Copyright© 2009 Text by Joshua Morton. Contributing author- Marjorie Brook All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, or by any means electronic, mechanical or other without prior permission in writing from the authors. Published by: Joshua Morton

8052 15th Ave NE Seattle, WA 98115 www.aisnorthwest.com dmgdlmt@yahoo.com Disclaimer: The purpose of this book is to provide information for the public on the subject of stretching. This book does not offer medical advice to the reader and is not intended as a replacement for appropriate healthcare and treatment. For such advice, readers should consult a licensed physician.

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My deepest thanks and gratitude is extended to my mentor, Aaron Mattes. For years Aaron’s selfless giving of knowledge and

encouragement to achieve all that I could, pushed me forward. His way of viewing the body and how to work with it has profoundly impacted

my personal health and the health of every patient I have worked with since I began my journey into healing through movement. I extend my

gratitude to Marjorie; my lost friend, without her this book surely would not be in your hands now. Her feedback has been an invaluable part of the editing process. Susan Guttzeit has earned my gratitude for her tireless effort in editing the book, her loyal devotion to the

work and our friendship. Susan’s attention to detail and helpful suggestions were invaluable. A thunderous roar of applause is also owed to every student we worked with. The input you have given, inspired me to make this book more than I imagined it could be.

Don’t forget mom and dad; though they didn’t help me write the book, they made me able to write it! Ali, you have always pushed me to be

the man I am. Don’t stop I’ve got a ways to go yet. Grandma, thank you opening the way for me. Thank you tragedy, you have shown me how

sweet life truly is. Never last, thanks go to the creator, for giving me the spark of fascination with the human body and the gift of touch.

My most humble appreciation is given to the people that sought me out for care and trusted me with their health.

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Active Isolated Stretching

What is Active Isolated Stretching (AIS)?

Active Isolated Stretching (AIS) is a scientifically designed flexibility system based on fundamental anatomical movements of joints, ligaments and muscles. AIS has been expanded by decades of clinical trial and observation to become the most progressive and advanced system for retraining the body and regaining balance.

Utilizing proven physiological laws, AIS creates a system that works with the body. The simple act of adding an active component changes everything. With this small piece added you are working with the body as opposed to telling it what to do! The AIS method is to gently stretch a specific muscle, hold the stretch for 2 seconds and then release it; it’s that simple.

As AIS continues to gain popularity, it is being practiced in many areas of healthcare and sports, by a multitude of professionals including Massage Therapists, Physical Therapists, Chiropractors, Personal Trainers and Athletes around the world. Pioneered by Aaron L. Mattes, AIS can be utilized by every person interested in improving their health. Trained practitioners use AIS to advance the recovery of their clients quickly and efficiently. AIS improves the body's ability to heal and to perform at a higher level in every aspect of life (from everyday tasks to recreational adventures). People from all walks of life are learning this simple yet profound method for stretching their bodies and changing their lives. AIS helps your body to become more efficient by increasing joint range of motion, pumping vital nutrients into the cells and re-educating the muscles through foundational training. Practicing AIS creates better balance, endurance, strength, reduces the susceptibility to injury and promotes overall well-being.

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How/Why AIS Works: There are many principles that provide the basis for how AIS works. The first is Sherrington’s law of reciprocal inhibition. Reciprocal inhibition is the neurological process of inhibiting the muscle that needs to relax in order to move a joint. In other words, if you want to flex your elbow, your nervous system has to shut off the muscles that extend your elbow, while turning on the ones that flex it. Working with your neuromuscular system in this manner, you are able to re-educate your muscles to function properly through a full range of motion. The second principle is Wolff’s Law. Dr. Wolff’s observed the simple fact that a body adapts to the stresses placed upon it. If the stress placed on the body is abnormal, the result will be an abnormal adaptation. This is where the AIS system can achieve some amazing results. Taking into consideration each possible angle of a joint, AIS ensures that the stretches done are in proper alignment with regard to the fundamental movements of a joint. This remodels the body for greater solid foundation, enabling optimal functionality. The third and possibly most definitive principle in AIS regards the stretch reflex of the spindle cell; the spindle cell will be explained in greater detail shortly. This is the principle that sets AIS apart from all other modalities and practices. The stretch reflex triggers a muscular contraction when the spindle cells sense an injurious stretch. The stretch reflex causes the muscle to contract to avoid injury. The stretch reflex is set off by three different stimuli. The first is when the muscle is stretched beyond its tensile ability. Obviously if a muscle is stretched too far it will tear. The second is when a muscle is stretched too quickly. In this case the body is unable to keep up with the speed at which the muscle is lengthening. The third is when a stretch is held for too long. The time it takes for the spindle cells to trigger the stretch reflex is about 2 seconds. Avoiding these three triggers allows for a safe and effective stretch every time. This means never stretching a muscle too far. To help assure this, every stretch must be done gently, avoiding any pain. There is a huge difference between the feeling of a stretch, even if uncomfortable and pain. Keep all of your movements slow and controlled to be certain the muscle is not stretched too quickly. Lastly,

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don’t hold any of the stretches too long. Remember, holding a stretch for longer than 2 seconds causes your spindle cells to fire. Finally, and no less important, is the active contraction of the muscle. It is the active contraction of muscle that stimulates circulation. The steady, rhythmic, active pumping creates a vascular flush that quickly helps to reduce inflammation. As cellular debris is flushed from the tissues, purifying oxygen and vital nutrients come rushing back in. As the fascia and muscles relax and lengthen, more tissue has access to the fresh blood circulating through the body, which in turn rejuvenates previously inflamed and stagnant tissues. What happens when you stretch? The stretching of a muscle fiber begins with the sarcomere, the most basic contractile unit of a muscle. As the sarcomeres lengthen, the entire muscle fiber is engaged. Once the muscle fiber is at its maximum length (all the sarcomeres are fully stretched), additional stretching places force on the surrounding tissue. As the tension increases, the collagen fibers in the connective tissue align themselves along the line of force (remember Wolff’s Law). Then the remaining slack in the connective tissue is taken up. When this occurs, it helps to realign any disorganized fibers in the direction of the tension. This realignment is what helps to rehabilitate scarred and adhered tissue back to its original state. That is what happens to the muscle, what happens in the surrounding tissues and fluid? The general circulation to the area being stretched is compromised as the muscle stretches further and further, more and more pressure is placed on the surrounding tissues, pushing away vital nutrients, oxygen, lymph and water. The longer the stretch is maintained the longer the muscles go without. In the case of static stretching (a sustained stretch) the prolonged reduction of vital nutrients causes a negative effect in the muscles, reducing their strength and creating tension from being under stress for a sustained period of time.

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The short duration of the stretch advocated in AIS allows for a pumping action of the blood, lymph and water, which has the effect of creating a vascular pump to increase the circulation many fold.

Some of the benefits of AIS:

• Improves flexibility • Stress relief • Reduces muscle spasm • Quickens recovery after an injury • Promotes balance in the body • Chronic pain relief • Better posture • Relieves muscle soreness • Increases athletic performance • Reduces the risk of muscle strain and ligament sprain • Improves oxygen and nutrient delivery to cells • Stimulates lymph circulation and eliminates cellular waste

Some conditions treated with AIS:

• Arthritis • Tendonitis • Muscular Injuries and Pain • Frozen Shoulder • Nerve and Muscular Impingement • Scoliosis • Fibromyalgia • Multiple Sclerosis • Parkinson's Disease • Plantar Fasciitis • Heel Spurs

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• Poor Circulation • Edema • Pre & Post Surgical Conditions • Carpal Tunnel Syndrome • Thoracic Outlet Syndrome • Disc Conditions

Fundamentals of AIS

• Identify - Identify the tissues to be stretched.

• Isolate - Isolate the tissue to be stretched by using precise movements and body positioning.

• Innervation - Activate reciprocal innervation using active muscular

contraction.

• Inhibition - Activate reciprocal inhibition with active muscular contraction.

• Intensify - Intensify the stretch with muscular contraction and gentle assistance.

Breathing - Exhale during the stretching phase of the movement and inhale during the returning phase of the motion. Use of proper breathing techniques will help get the maximum potential out of this technique. Full, deep breaths will help deliver more oxygen to the blood. This blood in turn will have access to the newly opened areas that have been deprived of oxygen due to fascial restrictions. Pay attention to your breathing. Are your ribs moving? Is only your belly expanding? Proper breathing first extends into your belly (your diaphragm expands). Next your ribs lift and expand, making way for the lungs to grab as much oxygen as possible. This sequence allows for the best breath you can take. A lot of people get stuck in shallow breathing with only their ribs rising and falling ever so slightly. Or they do the opposite of expanding the belly slightly and then

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exhaling. Both of these rhythms will lead to a lack of oxygen. Good breathing is very important for life as a whole. A full breath will not only deliver more oxygen to the body, it will also encourage movement in the joints of your spine, in your ribs and in all the muscles of your torso as well. Stretch Reflex - The stretch reflex is the automatic mechanism in your muscles that protects your body against harmful stretches. When a muscle is stretched too far, too quickly or too long, the stretch reflex causes the muscle to contract to avoid being overstretched. The stretch reflex engages after about 2 seconds of a sustained stretch. This causes the muscle to engage in a contraction. If the stretch is continued, the muscle contracts eccentrically as a result. This means that the muscle is in a state of stretching as it contracts. Maintaining a 2-second stretch is what truly sets AIS apart from every other stretching modality. Reciprocal Inhibition - Reciprocal inhibition is a neurological action that occurs during muscular contraction. When one muscle contracts; the opposite one receives a neurological signal to relax (to be inhibited) so that movement can occur. Reciprocal Innervation - Reciprocal innervation is similar to reciprocal inhibition but affects the muscle that is moving the joint by sending it neurological signals to contract so that movement can occur. Numerous Repetitions - This is very important. Tissues that are chronically tight and/or have specific physical limitations require many repetitions and sets of the same stretch for substantial change to occur. If one side is particularly tight compared to the other, it may take as much as five times the effort to create balance. You can also move on to other stretches and return to repeat another set of the same stretch if that’s what is needed.

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Other Stretching Modalities The stretching modalities listed below increase the potential for injuring a muscle by not respecting the stretch reflex and/or not engaging the physiological mechanisms already built into our body to create a healthy, safe stretch. Applying these techniques can result in micro trauma in the muscle of fascia and muscle, producing an inflammatory and spasm response.

Ballistic Stretching bouncing into the stretch

• Use of body momentum and/or bouncing movements to create a stretch.

• May aggravate muscle and/or fascia because of the difficulty in judging the

tolerance of the stretch reflex or failing to control the force of the body’s movement.

• The movements are done at a high velocity causing the spindles cells to

engage the myotactic reflex and creating tension within the muscles and fascia instead of the desired relaxation.

Static Stretching holding a stretch for a prolonged period of time

• Use of sustained movement to create a stretch.

• A prolonged hold of a stretch engages the stretch reflex causing an

eccentric contraction of the tissue being stretched.

• Static stretching has been shown to inhibit the targeted muscles. This sets up a situation of increased potential for injury following the stretch if the muscles are unable to support the joint through the demanded action.

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Passive Stretching

• Using passive movements does not engage Reciprocal Inhibition to work with our body.

• Passive movements do not encourage neurological reeducation.

• Passive movements make it more difficult to be certain where the end range of motion is because there is less patient feedback.

• Passive movements do not encourage circulation due to inactivity of the

muscles and fascia.

Purposes of Stretching

• Increase or maintain range of motion: The goal of each stretch is to increase your R.O.M. Of course if your Flexibility is already quite good then the purpose is to maintain optimum R.O.M.

• Help prevent joint sprains and muscle strains: Having good flexibility reduces your chances of injury allowing for greater performance with less stress on your body.

• Reduce stress on bones and joints by creating appropriate joint space: By relaxing the tension held by the muscles and fascia the joint opens up and proper space is recreated.

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• Increase circulation: The heart pumps the blood through the arteries. Active muscle contractions are required for the return of blood through the veins. Active muscle contractions also encourage the body to deliver more blood to the area being exercised which increases arterial blood flow. Repetitive contractions encourage the body to enlarge arteries and veins. The contractions also push capillaries deeper into the muscles and even lay down new capillaries to meet the demand being placed on the muscles.

• Increase lymphatic circulation:

The lymph system depends on active muscle contraction (just like the veins) for the movement of lymph through the body.

• Stimulate the cellular digestive process of your body: AIS releases muscular tension, realigns scar tissue, fascial adhesions, and eliminates distortions to the fascial sheets. This helps your body to more effectively remove cellular waste and absorb vital nutrients from the fresh blood being delivered to the newly opened up tissue.

• Quicken the recovery rate after exercise and in the rehabilitation process: Active muscle contractions require the body to deliver more nutrition to the tissue being exercised. The realignment of injured tissue and the release of fascial adhesions restore motion and allow more nutrients to be delivered to previously restricted tissues.

• Increase endurance and strength by reducing resistance in the soft tissues: When the muscles are able to move through their R.O.M. with ease, less energy is required during work, allowing for longer periods of sustained effort.

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• Improve kinesthetic ability: As your muscles and fascia loosen up, your joint experiences greater freedom of movement and a better sense of balance. This will improve your overall ability to function in life.

• As a warm-up before exercise and a cool-down after exercise:

During a warm-up, the repetitive active movements create a significant increase in blood flow to the muscles that need to be ready to perform. In the cool-down process, this pumping action eliminates waste products created during exercise and brings in fresh blood and oxygen for healing. Stretching after exercise maintains flexibility and helps to heal any injuries that may have occurred.

Some effects of muscular and fascial tension:

Muscular and fascial tension cause the stretch reflex to exert force on your muscles as they lengthen, requiring more energy and constraining the extent and quality of movement. This crosses over into all aspects of life, athletic and/or domestic. Muscular and fascial tension decreases local blood and lymph circulation. Muscular and fascial tension decreases strength and endurance. Muscular and fascial tension increases the chance of soft tissue or joint injury. It also creates more susceptibility to disease due to diminished circulation.

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Reasons for Lack of Flexibility

• Injury – Obviously we know injury, whether sudden or insidious will cause muscular and fascial tension.

• Muscular Imbalance – Can be caused by injury, poor and/or repetitive postural habits.

• Genetics – Genetically we are all of the same stock, however, some of us are

born with different ratios of cells in our bodies. This creates many differences in our body’s ability to perform, grow, and interact with the world. Along with genetics is conditioning. Most of us have been conditioned by our parents and the world around us to conform to certain postures. If your parents have a tendency to hunch over or to cross their legs when sitting, it is likely you will adopt the same habits. These patterns have an effect on how our body performs, grows, and interacts with the world.

• Poor nutrition – Our muscles require certain nutrients in order to function. When these nutrients are not available or are delivered in insufficient quantities, our muscles, fascia and even bone begin to weaken and become stiff.

• Aging process – As people age they tend to become sedentary. Science

reveals that some cells; such as collagen, are less prolific as we age. However, lack of movement is perhaps the biggest reason aging causes muscle stiffness. This becomes very obvious if we witness an elderly person who has put earnest effort into stretching and strengthening is able to push back their biological clock by sometimes 20 years!

• Periods of rapid growth – Examples of this are growing pains and pregnancy.

The stress that rapid growth puts on our body can be too much and cause altered patterns and pain.

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Muscles Muscles are essential to your well-being. Without them you would not be able to move or function of any kind. Breathing, eating, talking, walking, sitting, and even circulating blood throughout the body is only possible due to your muscles. Because muscles are so crucial, it is extremely important to keep them functioning at their highest level.

Together, muscles and bones comprise what is called the musculoskeletal system of the body. The bones provide postural and structural support for the body and the muscles provide the body with the ability to move. The musculoskeletal system also provides protection for the body's internal organs. In order to serve their function, bones must be joined together. Where bones connect to one another is called a joint. Ligaments connect the bones. Muscles attached to the bones by tendons. They cross joints to allow them to create movement and reinforce it.

Muscles vary in shape and size and serve many different purposes. Most muscles, like the hamstrings and quadriceps, control voluntary movement. Other muscles, such as the heart, perform involuntary functions. At the microscopic level, however, all muscles share the same basic structure.

How does a muscle work?

The nervous system connects the brain and spinal cord to the muscles. Where the nervous system and muscle meet is called a neuromuscular junction. When an electrical signal crosses the neuromuscular junction, it is transmitted deep inside the muscle fibers. Inside the muscle fibers, the signal stimulates the flow of calcium, which causes the thick and thin myofilaments in the most basic muscle cell – the sarcomeres - to slide across one another. When this occurs, it causes the sarcomere to shorten, which generates force. When sarcomeres within a muscle fiber shorten, the muscle fiber contracts.

When a muscle fiber contracts; it contracts completely, all or nothing. Muscle fibers are unable to vary the intensity of their contraction relative to the demand placed upon them. When more force is needed, more muscle fibers are recruited depending on the job at hand. The more muscle fibers that are recruited, the stronger the force generated by the contraction.

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Fascia

Fascia is a form of connective tissue; it is in fact the most basic of our tissues. Fascia truly begins when a sperm and egg and morph into a living being. It has many functions. Among them is to provide a sliding and gliding environment for muscles so that they can work independently. Fascia also compartmentalizes your muscles to allow them to work together as a group for more power. Another very important function of fascia is to suspend your organs in their proper position. Fascia also transmits movement from the muscles to the bones they are attached to. It provides a supportive and moveable wrapping for nerves, blood vessels and lymph vessels as they pass through and between muscles. Fascia carries most of the water we take into our bodies and is also the conductor of electricity throughout the body. Fascia in its less stretchy form is the substance that makes up tendons, which attach muscle to bone, and ligaments, which attach bone to bone. In its least stretchy form it becomes bone itself. Muscles are composed of muscle fibers that are wrapped in a thin, tight sheath of fascia. Bundles of muscle fibers are then wrapped together with a slightly thicker layer of fascia and each subsequent bundle is wrapped with another layer of fascia until the entire muscle is surrounded by a final layer of fascia. You can imagine the complexity of this system! As the muscle belly nears its tendon, the size and number of muscle fibers significantly decreases and the fascia that has been wrapping those muscle fibers becomes the tendon that attaches the muscle to the bone. A muscle is wrapped in fascia from its smallest individual cell to its end point where it attaches to bone. Taking these facts further, fascia is like a big cobweb that runs throughout your entire body. The interconnected nature of fascia means that everything in the body is connected to everything else. When one part of fascia is injured or compromised in any way, it can affect tissues that are far from the original site of the injury or impairment. To understand this better try this: Pinch your shirt between the fingers of one hand and then pull your shirt in any direction you want with your other hand. Do you notice how the shirt pulls from only the area that is pinched? This is what happens when fascia is restricted.

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When poor postural habits cause fascial changes around a nerve, the normally loose, suspended fascia that protects the nerve becomes tight due to stress or injury. The nerve is now subject to the pressure from the fascia as it is pulled in the direction of the injured or stressed tissue. Every time muscles in the area contract, the fascia around the nerve is tugged and the nerve becomes more irritated. Eventually; if this condition goes unchanged, it can cause total impingement of the nerve. Tingling, numbness, zinging sensations, sometimes burning or weakness may result if the nerve is “pinched” and the spine is unable to interact with the muscles and other tissues distal to the impingment. The layer of fascia that wraps around each muscle and/or group of muscles can adhere to and cause one muscle to stick to its neighbor. If this happens, when a muscle contracts, it ends up dragging along the muscle that it is stuck to. This causes distortions in movement and requires using more energy. These factors greatly increase the potential for injury. When an injury occurs, fascia further tightens in the injured area to help protect the strained muscles, which, in turn, increases the development of more adhesions, aberrant postures and movement patterns that perpetuate the problem. Over time poor postural habits can cause fascial changes around the joints, muscles, organs, nerves, blood and lymph vessels. Fascia, which would normally be loosely suspended and protecting these tissues, becomes restricted and the layers of fascia begin to adhere to each other and/or surrounding structures. This leads to further changes in the fascia causing pressure on the very tissues and bones the fascia was protecting. As fascia continues to adapt to the injury or stresses placed on it, it will begin to pull joints in the direction of tension, creating imbalance in joint movement and wearing them down. At this stage your body begins to recruit the opposite muscles to help maintain balance within the joint. What might have been a small problem initially has developed into a bigger problem, altering your entire body posture. This self-perpetuating cycle will continue to worsen until the distortions are corrected. Reestablishing a balance of flexibility and strength requires a lot of attention to weed out unhealthy and unnatural patterns and to restore and integrate natural, healthy patterns.

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Key Points for Success with Active Isolated Stretching

BE ACTIVE - This work is always most effective when you are active. BE PRECISE - Exactness can be the difference between fully releasing the tissue or not. BE GENTLE - It is always better to “err” on the side of caution than to push hard into tight tissues. Especially tight tissues should be handled with very light pressure and exactness. It is always better to do 10 reps to improve R.O.M. than to try to make it happen in 3 reps! BREATHING - This work is always most effective when you are breathing out on the stretch and breathing in on the return. Remember: “Exhale on the Effort.” CONTINUOUS ARC – When using the rope to assist your stretch you should always follow the arc of the stretch. Do not pull your limb out of alignment or make sharp angles. Think of making your movements circular. STRAP USAGE - The strap is the ASSIST not the ACTION! Do not pull aggressively on the strap. Choke up on the strap for better control. Positioning for your upper body – You should be in an as anatomically neutral a position as is comfortable. This means good posture. Your breastbone should be pointing straight ahead, your shoulders down and back. Contract your abdominal muscles with each repetition. This will minimize any rotation and/or bending of your torso. Following these tips will also keep your lumbar spine from hyper-extending and your thoracic spine from flexing. To reduce the tendency to contract your neck muscles while exercising your shoulders, tuck your chin and let your head hang down towards your chest. These rules apply for both stretching and strengthening exercises.

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There are a lot of cues to pay attention to. To keep it simple, remember to focus first and foremost on good posture, the rest has a tendency to take care of itself. As you become more familiar with the movements of the upper body, it will be easier to remember the finer points. If you are expending energy trying to focus on keeping yourself exactly as described above, you will run out of steam long before you have done the stretching you need to. Give yourself a break and realize it is a work in progress. Positioning for your lower body - For any movement that brings your exercising leg across the midline of your body, your non-exercising leg should be rotated inward and placed across the midline of your body as far as is comfortable. The leg across the midline helps to keep your lumbar spine and pelvis stable. The internal rotation creates a wedge for good isolation of the hip muscles you are targeting with your stretch. As with the upper body, contract your abdominal muscles with every repetition to help stabilize your pelvis. Once again there are many details to focus on. If you are struggling to keep the described position, focus on keeping your non-exercising leg turned inward. For example: When stretching your Right ITB, your Left thigh should be turned inward and brought across your midline. Stretching muscles that cross multiple joints - When working with muscles that cross multiple joints, it is very important to be certain each joint is fully extended, flexed, or rotated. This will ensure that the stretch addresses the full length of your muscle. A note about Isolation: It is imperative to remember that isolated muscles require a gentle touch. Sometimes by the time you are in the exact position you can hardly move! Give yourself a break; let yourself slide some regarding strict isolation given to each stretch if you need to. You can always work towards greater isolation as you realize more progress. Make sure you are in a stable position to ensure a smooth stretch every time. Be nice to yourself, especially if you are very tight. Try to achieve a good R.O.M. in 2 sets instead of trying to get there in 5 reps!

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A note about soreness: In general you should not be sore after stretching. There are of course exceptions. For example, in order to loosen up your chest and shoulder rotators, you will do numerous repetitions of horizontal abduction and external rotation. If you are weak in the muscles on the back of your shoulder you may experience soreness from your efforts. If, however, you experience soreness in your chest, the muscles you stretched, you can be rest assured that you over-stretched them. The soreness is the result of torn tissue, which becomes inflamed and heals with scar tissue. This is not OK. Use this benchmark to refine your stretching practice until you can consistently know how much effort to put into each stretch. Don’t forget about body awareness! It is very common initially to have a distorted awareness about how your body moves. Over time you may have become a bit, shall we say, scrambled. Your joints and movement patterns may have become so dysfunctional that you even have difficulty performing simple movements in basic planes of motion. Try not to get frustrated by this; it is common. Nearly everyone has difficulty in areas that have become painful, tight and weak. This becomes apparent if you try to bring your ear to your shoulder but you are actually bringing your shoulder to your ear! Or maybe you bring your ear to your collarbone. Look at your movements in a mirror when possible. If you are a “type A” personality, it may be even more difficult if your intense efforts create greater tension in your body, which adds more roadblocks to healing. If you don’t feel the stretch at first - This is not the time to start pulling or pushing harder. Listen to your body. This is usually a case of your muscles being deprived and confused for so long they are lacking in their ability to sort out sensory input. Their local circulation and nervous input have been compromised for so long that the cells are operating at half capacity, sometimes not even that. The muscles have become stagnant and insensitive. Remember this as you stretch and remain gentle. You will usually begin to “feel” the stretch after a few reps or sets depending on the condition of your muscles.

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Sometimes you may have the inclination to push further because you feel that the stretch is “hitting the spot” - Be very careful here. This is where most people hurt themselves and wind up sore after stretching. Once again, trust your body. Take your time and approach your muscles gently but with persistence. You will know if you can push harder or if you must be even gentler because you will either feel great or not the day after stretching. If your efforts made no change, perhaps that is a sign that indeed you can gently push yourself a bit further, albeit slowly.

How to use this Book The information presented in this book is designed to give you the ability to understand and apply AIS to a variety of disorders, complications and injuries. At the beginning of each chapter you will find a page devoted to specific points relating to the joints being stretched. While many of the points made in each chapter are similar, some are very different. Please read each beginning page thoroughly to be certain of the specific details relating to each chapter. Since many of the stretches have several variations, information will be repeated. Every stretch in this book has been written to be applied to the right side of your body. And every movement is based on neutral anatomical positioning. For example, in thumb abduction the thumb is moving away from the body when the palm is facing forward, in anatomical neutral. Throughout the book you will find titles with numbers after the name. For example, ankle dorsal flexion 1 – 3: numbers 2 and 3 direct your attention to slight changes in the application of the technique to affect different tissues. The difference between the original stretch and the numbered stretch is minor but worthy of attention. Sometimes it’s these finer points that will be the difference between resolution of a client’s problems or not. Often the joint will be placed into a different position that creates emphasis on different tissues and/or muscles. As you study the book; notice that every stretch is titled by joint movement, not by the muscle being stretched. This is done because when you extend the humerus

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you are not only stretching the biceps. You are of course stretching all the tissues that cross the front of the shoulder joint. Under the titles I have listed the area being stretched and the name of the muscle being emphasized by a particular movement. Of course this needs to be taken with a grain of salt since all of the tissues are being stretched in the area, and the emphasized one is not the only muscle you are stretching. It is also important to emphasize that you might feel something different than what the book describes. If your coracobrachialis is tighter than your biceps, then that is the muscle you will feel being stretched. Each stretch also has a Body Mechanics heading. These are the things you might do, usually unconsciously, that will take away from the effectiveness of the stretch. This is an excellent opportunity to become aware of your body, especially if you practice in front of a mirror. Many of the stretches also have Advanced Movements included. These movements often take into account entire sheets of fascia and other soft tissues. Remember, advanced movements are just that: Advanced. Free up the individual parts before going after the whole! There are many other special tidbits of information included on each page. One that is particularly important to focus on is under the header Precautions. Obviously you want to be certain that you are doing each movement with precision and making sure that it is ok for you to do. These sections provide greater explanation about possible reasons why you might want to avoid doing a movement or some very special instructions on how to be careful when doing the exercise if you have a specific condition or what you need to pay attention to so that an existing problem doesn’t become worse. Keep an eye out for Mr. Stretchy. You will notice him from time to time when he has something special to say! There are many more points to look for to help guide you on your journey. Read them all. Each one has different yet equally important information to help you achieve the best results possible.

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Protocols Protocols have been provided to help assist you in which stretches to choose. At the end of each chapter you will find protocols. They are presented in two different ways. First, you will find the complete protocol, secondly abbreviated protocols for when less time to practice is available. The second section addresses some of the more common problems you might face.

The protocols will help you tailor your self-care to focus on what is typically most important to a particular condition. They are presented as suggestions that have been shown to provide consistent results. Remember, your individual problem may be different and require different care. It is always a good idea to work with an experienced practitioner before beginning your own self-program.

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Resources Active Isolated Stretching: The Mattes Method, By Aaron Mattes, Sarasota FL.; 2000

Trail Guide to the Body, Third edition, By Andrew Biel, Boulder CO, Books of Discovery; 2005 Travell & Simons & Simons- Myofascial Pain and Dysfunction. The Trigger Point Manual. Volume 1 Upper Half of the Body second edition: Lippincott Williams & Wilkens Copyright - 1999 Williams and Wilkins Travell & Simon- Myofascial Pain and Dysfunction. The Trigger Point Manual. Volume 2 Lower extremities: Lippincott Williams & Wilkens Copyright - 1993 Williams and Wilkins 530 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19106-3621 Wolff J. "The Law of Bone Remodeling", Berlin Heidelberg New York: Springer, 1986 (translation of the German 1892 edition) Paoletti, Serge (2006). The Fasciae: Anatomy, Dysfunction & Treatment. Seattle, WA: Eastland Press. pp. 151–161 Richard Buckminster Fuller (excerpt from Synergetics, p.372.); Macmillan Pub Co; New edition (April 1982) T.E. Flemmons: Intension Designs Ltd; 248 Forest Ridge Road, Saltspring Island, B.C., Canada V8K 1W4, Telephone: 250-653-9266 www.intensiondesigns.com

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