Stretching for Results!
I just found the Hyperbolic Stretching program on Facebook. On his website you can see impressive results with people of all ages having gone from super inflexible in their “before” videos to “in the splits” in their “after” videos! Turns out, the founder, Alex Larsson, uses the same method for stretching in order to gain flexibility as I do with my patients.
Over the past few years I started using this method of stretching for myself, found out how effective it was, and restarted using it with my patients with very good success!
I had learned it years ago but it is time-intensive to instruct someone about how to perform it. I stopped using it as Physical Therapy evolved into patient visits becoming shorter and shorter (this is part of the reason Therapeutic Connection has hour-long, one-on-one sessions with the Therapist-I want more time with my patients so I can teach and help them more!).
The method is called contract relax stretching and, also, erroneously, called PNF stretching. PNF stands for Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation. PNF is much more than just contract relax stretching! It is a rich and effective therapeutic approach that uses nerve impulses to recruit muscles through stimulation of The receptors in your muscles and tendons in addition to other sensory stimuli (tactile, visual or verbal).
I love using PNF techniques, including contract-relax stretching, with my patients to gain strength, flexibility and greater motor control.