This is the stretching program of champions. Aaron Mattes has used this with tennis champions, basketball champions, football champions, and film stars. This is the stretching that makes real, balanced changes without injury.
This advanced form of stretching focuses on retraining movement and working with the tendencies of the nervous system. This makes it quicker, more effective and creates fewer problems than other forms of stretching. It is a great tool for home care. It gives the client a systematic and effective way of balancing their ranges of motion, relieving pain and maintaining flexibility while in session and at home.
AIS works where other stretch programs fail. Before learning about AIS, I was not a fan of stretching programs. Clients would stretch daily for relief but make very little progress in their flexibility. They would often make the loose muscles even looser while failing to make notable differences in the really tight muscles.
The “active” part of this approach retrains the nervous system to re-learn movements that it has forgotten and relax muscles with chronic tension. This is so important for lasting results.
AIS is gentle and effective. Clients learn and are assisted in the technique while with the therapist. Some clients continue to make progress with daily AIS at home while getting Integrative Bodywork to address the underlying problems. Other clients come in from time to time to get assistance and tips on how to take their stretching to the next level.
I sincerely doubted the effectiveness of another stretching program. Therapists kept telling me that this was different, that this makes real differences in range of motion and pain. They were right. Now, it is a key part of my practice.
Tony Preston