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Flexibility Therapy
Example Of PNF Stretching Techniques
In addition to being a Clinical Massage Therapist, Shane Epperly is also a Certified Flexibility Therapist. This training and certification allows Shane to help clients resolve basic neuromuscular imbalances, such as tight or “locked up” joints, which make them prone to aches, pains, chronic injury and impaired function and performance.
The Flexibility Therapy that Shane provides is founded on proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation (PNF) stretching. Unlike traditional stretching routines, such as touching one’s toes, PNF stretching is NOT about “feeling the burn,” but rather breathing and relaxing into a gradual series of gentle and fluid yoga-like movements. Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation can only be achieved by working with a partner. Therefore, a PNF stretching session can resemble a fluidly choreographed dance between a therapist and his or her client. During these sessions, Shane gently and fluidly guides his clients’ bodies through a series of active assisted stretches.
Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation (PNF) stretching uses scientific principles first established by Physical Therapists and Neurophysiologists to get the best possible response from the neurological system. Combining PNF stretching with unique combinations of angles, positions and techniques result in unparalleled gains in functional range of motion and increased strength and power. After your Flexibility Session, your body will have neurologically gained the ability to carry over the benefits of the session and use them for more efficient training, sport, and other life activities. Various studies have shown that this form of PNF stretching can provide flexibility increases of up to 52% after just one session!
Shane’s clients attend their flexibility sessions in athletic clothing that allows for freedom of movement, such as yoga attire, and the sessions are conducted on a massage table. As a flexibility client, you will be an active participant in your session. Shane will work with you to open up joint capsules, lengthen muscle tissue and improve your overall range of motion. You will feel very relaxed during and after the session, much like you might during and after a massage session, but you will be fully clothed during the entire session. Several clients have compared it to yoga, saying an hour-long flexibility session leaves them feeling as if they have participated in a week’s worth of yoga classes.
Clients of all ages, from all walks of life, and of all fitness levels can benefit from Flexibility Therapy! One of the most ignored aspects of aging is the loss of flexibility in the joints, muscles and fascia. This process starts well before one reaches middle age and starts even sooner in the professional athlete. When one begins to lose flexibility, paunch and rolls start to form, posture sags, muscular imbalances develop and one becomes more prone to injury from simple causes. The aging process starts to accelerate if not interrupted by an effective flexibility and strengthening program. Shane’s flexibility sessions specialize in reversing this process so that your body is able to keep its resiliency instead of becoming more rigid as you get older.
Young people in general, and young athletes in particular, tend to suffer injuries and have performance problems due to growth spurts during which the bones grow faster than the muscles. Oftentimes, even when youth stop growing, they still have left over problems that never get completely resolved. These problems are muscle imbalances reflected in strength deficits and chronic tightness, and they can continue on into adulthood if not adequately addressed. The flexibility program that I employ has had great success with this population, even with such difficult problems as scoliosis.
The elderly have also found great relief from pain and disability using specific stretches for chronically tight postural muscles. Believe it or not, many flexibility clients have reported not only pain relief after decades of suffering, but also quite significant gains in height! That is anti-aging therapy at its best!
We lose flexibility at the average rate of one percent per year! When the issue is compounded by various detrimental lifestyles (involving either too little or too much physical activity); increased stress levels; and poor hydration and nutrition, then loss of flexibility accounts for an even more rapid acceleration of the aging process. Stretching acts as the ultimate anti-aging medicine by improving ease of movement and posture, reducing injuries, and making your muscles lengthen much more efficiently. Muscles are incapable of lengthening by themselves; they are only able to contract, so stretching is crucial.
As a Flexibility Therapy client, your first visit will last up to 90 minutes, so as to provide a complete evaluation, an hour of stretching, and a tutorial on how to maintain a personalized home stretching program.
Follow-up appointments usually consist of 60 or 30 minute sessions, which involve stretching and an evaluation of the progression of your flexibility program.
If you are interested in a flexibility sessions, please select the "Clinical Massage Session" from our service menu, and indicate you would like to be stretched.
Tiger Lily Studios
512 East 11th Street, Suite 200 Austin, Texas 78701
Map & Directions | 512-809-6708