Stretching potential - Fitness & Exercise

Want to help a client or yourself go deeper into a stretch? If so, take a look at Facilitated Stretching (Human Kinetics; $19.95) by Robert E. McAtee and Jeff Charland. McAtee and Charland have developed an active, assisted stretching program based on proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF)--active because the person stretching does most or all the work and assisted because a partner monitors and directs the movement. Designed to improve communication between the muscles and nervous system, facilitated stretching consists of three steps: actively lengthening the muscle, isometrically contracting it and actively lengthening it again. This increases flexibility and coordination.

PNF was first developed in the late 1940s and early 1950s for the rehabilitation of paralyzed polio patients. By the late 1970s, physical therapists and athletic trainers were using PNF techniques to facilitate flexibility in healthy people. McAtee and Charland have written Facilitated Stretching for athletic trainers, sports therapists, physicians, coaches and competitive athletes. They explain the neurophysiological mechanisms on which their stretching program is base& basic principles and different types of stretching, proper biomechanics and step-by-step instructions on how to stretch each major muscle in the body. The authors also explain how to do the stretches alone.

To order Facilitated Stretching, visit www.humankinetics.com.

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