Active Assisted Stretching: Upper Body

Active Assisted Stretching changed my practice and my body.

I initially came to Active Assisted Stretching with a great deal of skepticism and was convinced only by direct experience. I’ve seen results in myself that I never thought possible: after receiving the work for just a few months, I achieved greater range of motion than I could ever remember having in my life. Limitations that I’d attributed to the inevitable effects of aging simply disappeared. When I began incorporating Active Assisted Stretching into my work with clients, I started seeing remarkable changes — healing times for most soft-tissue injuries were cut in half, and some conditions that had been gradually worsening over time including individual’s Parkinson’s and MS symptoms began to slow down and even reverse course. It revolutionized my work and made my body feel 20 years younger.

How Active Assisted Stretching Works

I incorporate Active Assisted Stretching into most of the work I do with clients, whether they are recovering from an injury or want to enhance their health. The Active Assisted Stretching (AAS) method differs from most other types of stretching and programs in several important respects. Listed below are seven defining characteristics of AAS techniques. Each is supported by established principles of human physiology.

1. Specificity

Active Assisted Stretching techniques are precisely targeted to stretch individual muscles and parts of muscles, rather than larger muscle groups. This enables the practitioner to independently evaluate — and then work to maximize — the flexibility of each section of the muscle. There are AAS protocols for every primary muscle group in the body.

2. Active Initiation

Although Active Assisted Stretching stretches are supported and assisted by the practitioner, each movement is initiated by the client. This enhances the stretch, since contracting a muscle on one side of a joint causes the muscle on the opposite side to relax (a principle known as Sherrington’s Law of Reciprocal Inhibition), and that relaxation helps the muscle to stretch more efficiently. Moreover, having the muscles actively working helps to increase the temperature of the

muscles and the fascia, which enhances flexibility even further.

3. Incremental Assists

At the end of the client’s active range of motion, the practitioner provides just enough assistance to push slightly beyond what the person could do on his or her own. In this way it’s possible to increase flexibility incrementally, typically adding one or two degrees with each repetition.

4. Gentle Motion

The movements involved in AAS are quite gentle, never approaching a muscle’s maximum sustainable force. Laboratory studies confirm that to avoid injury, it’s important to use 50% or less of the maximum force for the muscles being stretched.  Gradual, gentle motion also helps to delay activation of the myotatic reflex (commonly referred to as the stretch reflex) — a defensive

mechanism that is designed to prevent muscles from stretching too far or too fast. A movement that’s overly sudden or severe will cause the muscle being stretched to reflexively contract.

5. Brief Duration

The key to avoiding the stretch reflex altogether is to hold a stretch for only a short time — no more than two seconds. Traditionally, exercise specialists have recommended holding stretches for much longer periods of time, up to 60 seconds. (This is referred to as static stretching.) However, research has shown that such prolonged stretching initiates the stretch reflex, decreases blood flow within the tissue, and leads to a buildup of waste products, such as lactic acid, that contribute to muscle fatigue and soreness. When people stretch in this way, they’re working against themselves, causing a contraction of the very muscles they’re trying to lengthen (sort of like trying to drive a car with the parking brake on). As a result, the tendons and ligaments get stretched more than the muscles, which can lead to tendon irritation and even laxity, and thus predispose these structures to future injury.

6. Multiple Repetitions

Static stretching relies on a principle known as stress relaxation: when muscles and connective tissues are held at a constant length, they eventually fatigue, release, and lengthen. In addition to promoting muscle fatigue, this type of action is also relatively slow. AAS achieves results much more quickly by using 6 to 10 repetitions of shorter stretches. This method can help increase the range of motion in a particular area by as much as 40 degrees in a relatively short period of time.

7. Deep Breathing

Throughout an AAS session, the client coordinates his or her movements with regular, relaxed breathing. Deep breathing helps to increase the flow of oxygen to the muscles, decrease muscle fatigue, and encourage the release of muscle tension and fascial restrictions. It is important to avoid holding the breath. With oxygen available as fuel, muscles burn fatty acids and glucose (aerobic metabolism). Without sufficient oxygen, glucose gets converted to lactic acid (anaerobic metabolism), again leading to muscle fatigue and soreness.

What’s In It for Clients

To consider combining a new skill with the work we already do, we need to know what specific, additional benefits it will bring for the clients we see. I’ve found that AAS adds to the efficiency and effectiveness of bodywork in four different areas: general health enhancement; injury prevention; pain and injury treatment; and improvement of degenerative conditions.