PASSIVE VS. ACTIVE ASSISTED STRETCHING

Passive Vs. Active Assisted Stretching
If you did not know, we have began offering a 15 minute stretching add-on and a 30 minutes stretching special session here at Massage La Mesa. The point of these sessions is to assist in the success of the goals that are put forth by you and your therapist. These sessions can be utilized by anyone with any wellness goals, such as pre-event preparations, sports recovery, injury recovery, and increased range of motion. It is easy to see a stretching session and say "Okay, I get it is stretching, but what exactly is the session about?" We are here to answer that question today! There are two types of therapist assisted stretching sessions that are utilized- passive and active. It is important to understand that a combination of passive and active stretches may be utilized during one of our stretching sessions.

Passive Stretching
Passive stretching is when you put your body into such a position that a muscle is under tension, but is also sedentary. The area of the body is then manually pushed further into the stretch. The stretch is held for an allotted amount of time and then let go by the therapist. The apparatus moving the body into a position that it would not normally be able to hold itself in helps to release tension and better the range of motion. During the time of this stretch, the body is relaxed and allowing itself to be pushed to it's limits. An example of passive stretching would be putting your arm across your chest
while the therapist assists with getting a deeper stretch by pushing the arm closer to the chest.

Active Stretching
There are a lot of different names that are used interchangeably with "active stretching," such as "PNF" or "Isometric." Therapist assisted active stretching is the combination of holding a body part into a position without any help, like lifting your leg as far up as it can go, for a specific amount of
time. Next the therapist will grab and hold the body part to further stretch the muscles. During this time, the client will contract the muscles to tire out their muscles fibers. By tiring out the muscle fibers, it makes a better stretch since the muscles will not be able to fight against the movement.

Both of these types of stretching are used during stretching sessions to help workout problems areas that can be better assisted with a combination of stretching and massage.

Contact us at: 619-917-4675 OR  massagelamesa@gmail.com 

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