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Monday, November 03, 2008
Stretching and massage video
Stretching and massage are two of the most important parts of whole body wellness. The third component is strengthening.
Research has shown that actually strengthening is the most crucial part of wellness. A weak muscle does not react well to either massage or stretching. Actually a person who has weak muscles should only be massaged, if you try to tone the muscles with your techniques. That means to bring chi to the muscle, activate the muscle and bring heat to the muscle.
Stretching can be quite dangerous if not done properly aligned, done with unnatural force or done on weak or cold muscles.
Most therapists tend to stretch a muscle which is in chronic contraction or tension, but only have limited success. Why is that?
Well stretching does only make sense in a muscle that has appropriate strength levels. A muscle will relax right after a contraction, through contraction of the antagonist muscle.
I would recommend reading Muscle Energy Techniques from Leon Chaitow, which very clearly offers you the great safe strategies for stretching in a massage setting. Many of these soft tissue procedures are used now by chiropractors and osteopaths, because they seem to get better results than many tradition adjustment techniques.
Passive stretching by a partner is always very risky, because it's hard to feel the limits of the stretch. Ambition and goal-oriented behaviour in a therapist can lead to more damage than it helps.
This is why I show you this Full body stretch video, because I don't feel that it tells you anything about the strength part in connection with stretching. A weak muscle will easily strain if stretched, so it first has to be strengthened or at least done together.
Footnote: Many people hurt themselves stretching, but the chances are much higher than you get hurt if somebody else is controlling the stretch.
Research has shown that actually strengthening is the most crucial part of wellness. A weak muscle does not react well to either massage or stretching. Actually a person who has weak muscles should only be massaged, if you try to tone the muscles with your techniques. That means to bring chi to the muscle, activate the muscle and bring heat to the muscle.
Stretching can be quite dangerous if not done properly aligned, done with unnatural force or done on weak or cold muscles.
Most therapists tend to stretch a muscle which is in chronic contraction or tension, but only have limited success. Why is that?
Well stretching does only make sense in a muscle that has appropriate strength levels. A muscle will relax right after a contraction, through contraction of the antagonist muscle.
I would recommend reading Muscle Energy Techniques from Leon Chaitow, which very clearly offers you the great safe strategies for stretching in a massage setting. Many of these soft tissue procedures are used now by chiropractors and osteopaths, because they seem to get better results than many tradition adjustment techniques.
Passive stretching by a partner is always very risky, because it's hard to feel the limits of the stretch. Ambition and goal-oriented behaviour in a therapist can lead to more damage than it helps.
This is why I show you this Full body stretch video, because I don't feel that it tells you anything about the strength part in connection with stretching. A weak muscle will easily strain if stretched, so it first has to be strengthened or at least done together.
Footnote: Many people hurt themselves stretching, but the chances are much higher than you get hurt if somebody else is controlling the stretch.
Labels: stretching massage video
