The specific stretching technique used at Stretch Therapy UK is known as Active Isolated Stretching (AIS) or The Mattes Method.

This was developed by Aaron Mattes, a US sports scientist with over 40 years experience. All the Stretch Therapy therapists have trained with him in the US.

People who benefit from stretching in this manner may have used various types of therapies but often find Stretch Therapy UK answers all their needs due to the holistic approach and depth of work involved.

A session at Stretch Therapy UK will boost your energy, improve flexibility and posture, and even make you feel younger. The results are so dramatic that world squash players always travel to tournaments with one of Stretch Therapy UK highly skilled practitioners. Football players, athletes such as Paula Radcliffe, the young and old have all benefited from the AIS technique.

Without going into enough detail to bore a serious scientist, here are the reasons: The skeleton is our body's architectural frame, supporting muscles hold our skeleton together – without these muscles we’d collapse. When our muscles and fascia (connective tissue) become tight they can cause all sorts of imbalances in the body which in turn can cause pain and dysfunction.

Stretch Therapy UK sessions are so effective because AIS takes advantage of a couple of simple principles:

• The fundamental knowledge behind the technique is that muscles (or groups of muscles) work in pairs. While one muscle contracts, the opposing muscle automatically relaxes allowing us to stretch it fully therefore increasing the range of movement. The name for this principle, in case you’re interested, is reciprocal inhibition.
• We only hold the stretch for 2 seconds as any longer causes ischemia (lack of blood to the muscles) and the stretch reflex also kicks in telling the muscle to contract– it's here when you can cause injuries.