Issue link: https://www.massageandbodyworkdigital.com/i/78617
Q AARON MATTES Why jump 12 inches when you could be jumping 30? These are the potentials in the sports world that prevent injuries. I can give you names of people who played entire careers and never had a serious injury, never missed a game. These kinds of things have that potential. We're seeing great results with head trauma, cerebral palsy, and stuff like that. We've got a 23-year-old girl who hasn't walked in 20 years, and you should see her now—she's starting to walk, her clubfeet are straightened out, her legs are working. It's just amazing how her mind is changing. A doctor said it's amazing how we get to the brain. We can affect IQ with this work. So, the potential, I don't know. We got something started and now it's going to take some people with desire and dedication to take it and run with it. Q: You developed training and therapy aids such as stabilizing belts and ice cups. How does it feel to see your ideas used? AM: It shows that we are more exacting, that " we get better results by doing some of the simple things in life. A seat belt isn't very complicated, but how it's applied helps the exactness because AIS is based on stabilization and isolation. The ice cup is very simple; it's a paper cup or something with frozen water in it. You massage with it, and it never gets below 37 degrees so you can never freeze any tissue. The swelling goes down immediately, and function improves to a degree. You take a sprained ankle and prepare the tissue so it can move better. Q: In 2010, Oakworks released the Mattes Chair, and Comfort Craft offers massage tables with an "AIS System" for stretching. Are there any other AIS-related products that you expect to see in the future? AM: I get ideas for other things while I'm in the clinic or when I'm teaching—sometime I'll have a chance to think about those things. That's a possibility. Some other people are going to come up with other things, too. This isn't a one-way street. Everybody has a chance to make additional gains. There's potential there, lots of it. It will be interesting to see what AIS is like in 50 years, or if it even exists. That's the other thing: if people don't take the ball and keep running with it, it may die like anything else. Jason Erickson, "We got something started and now it's going to take some people with desire and dedication to take it and run with it." Aaron Mattes Visit the newly designed ABMP.com. Log in. Explore. Enjoy. 81 A NCTMB, ACE- CPT, is an Active Isolated Stretching (AIS) practitioner, massage therapist, and personal trainer (shown here with Mattes). He moderates the AIS Practitioner's page on Facebook and can be reached at jasoneseminars@ gmail.com.