Issue link: https://www.massageandbodyworkdigital.com/i/78617
Q AARON MATTES Q: You are best known for your development of Active Isolated Stretching (AIS). What inspired you to look for a different way to stretch? Aaron Mattes (AM): I was stretching myself and working with others; they would experience irritation when holding a stretch, with very little progress, or lack of consistent progress. Electromyography and electroencephalography showed that things were happening because of the stress—holding a stretch caused irritation, took a lot of time, resulted in very little change, and many people just gave up on it. Things weren't working out very well. Q: You have said, "AIS begins in the brain." What happens with the nervous system during regular stretching? AM: If you look at people stretching, they hold one repetition for a long time. They set off a stretch reflex, causing an isometric contraction, and it becomes a protective mechanism, and on and on. In that scenario, a lot of things aren't working right in the human body as a result of trying to force things. Q: What did you do to develop what later became AIS? AM: As I worked with people, the harder I pushed and the longer I held it, the more aggravation I got and the less progress we made. As we started to hold it less, I started having clients use a piece of rope to help the stretch. When lifting the limb hurt, we stopped. As they kept lifting, it kept improving. It was phenomenal to see how something could improve so much with a short duration and less force. Nothing quite like we do now, but clients were getting more flexible and they weren't hurting as much afterward. Q: Who did you first use AIS with? AM: I had started to use AIS with runners and baseball players at the University of Illinois, and then I started using it with gymnasts. I began using AIS with elite athletes in 1971–72. I probably started calling it Active Isolated Stretching in the early- to mid-1990s. Q: Over the years, what are some of the significant changes you have made in AIS? AM: I first published a little green book on stretching in 1980 [Flexibility for Conditioning and Rehabilitation]. Back then, I was only doing a few things with the shoulders and the legs, and some other things. Then I started discovering how to stretch rotary fibers and it became more encompassing. To this day, I'm still coming up with things. It's an ongoing process, trying to become more perfect and more inclusive. Q: When did you first start incorporating strengthening protocols into AIS? AM: I've been doing strengthening with stretching all along since 1969. At first, it wasn't very specific. It was more of just a series of presses. I just kept getting more exacting with the strengthening, and I'm still making changes. 76 massage & bodywork september/october 2012 A