Scottsdale Stretch Therapy
As Featured in Runner's World Magazine May 2011!
Does your body feel tight, heavy or restricted....like you're moving with the "parking brake" on?
Are you an athlete that needs to "get back in the game" or gain a competitive edge in your sport?
Would you like to slow down aging and keep your body healthy, active and pain-free?
Leave the old static stretches, muscle tightness and movement restrictions behind! Experience the non-aggressive, pain-free method of assisted stretching that is widely used by elite and professional athletes to enhance performance, prevent injuries and improve recovery.
Unlike traditional stretching that attempts to isolate and stretch specific muscles, Fascial Stretch Therapy™ creates lasting change and dramatically improves your flexibility by decompressing your joints and unwinding the connective tissue "fabric" of your body. Don't make the mistake of thinking that getting stretched is something reserved only for athletes! Lack of flexibility and general "tightness" is the cause of most people's day-to-day aches and pains and significantly effects your health, quality of life and longevity in your activities or sport. Athlete or not, children and adults of all ages can reach their optimal level of pain-free function with FST™. Once you've experienced a Fascial Stretch Therapy™ session, you'll forget everything you ever knew about "old-school" stretching!
What is Fascia?
Fascia {fash-ee-uh} is an amazing part of the human body that most people don't even know exists. It's the connective tissue that permeates and envelops all structures of the body, essentially connecting them all together. Fascia is a three-dimensional web of tissue that extends from head to toe, front to back, inside to outside without interruption and is the most influential factor affecting your flexibility. In a normal, healthy state the fascial system maintains the body in a delicate balance of tension and elasticity. With the proper amount of tension, it helps support the efficient alignment of your bones while being elastic enough to permit full, unrestricted movement. The problem is that fascia will shorten, thicken and tighten (...think, "shrink-wrap") when any of your tissues are under stress from aging, poor posture, dehydration, improper body mechanics, lack of exercise, repetitive motion, injury, emotional stress, surgery, disease or over-training. Over time, the accumulation of these restrictions begins exerting abnormal pressure on joints, nerves, blood vessels and even organs and can create pain in seemingly unrelated areas of your body. The true cause is often overlooked by conventional medical practitioners since fascial restrictions do not show up on ordinary diagnostic tests such as MRI's, CT scans and X-rays. The condition of your fascia directly effects the health & function of your joints & muscles and plays a pivitol role in your posture and movement. The development of muscular holding or guarding patterns may initially be beneficial in reducing painful movement in an injured area. However, when these patterns persist for extended periods of time they can become a permanent source of pain and limitation.
Click below to view a fun and fascinating video lesson about fascia and the
importance of movement and stretching with renowned anatomist, Gil Hedley, Ph.D!
What is a stretching session like?
Fascial Stretch Therapy™ is assisted stretching performed on a specially designed treatment table equipped with comfortable padded straps that stabilize the parts of the body not being worked on. It can be performed exclusively or in combination with a massage treatment. Clients typically wear loose-fitting or athletic clothing. Flexibility sessions resemble a fluidly choreographed dance between the therapist and client while you breathe and ease into a gradual series of gentle, but deep stretching movements. The experience is relaxing and pain-free. In fact, many clients "zone-out" while being stretched and wake up with what feels like an entirely new body! Unlike traditional stretching, FST™ incorporates multiple angles and planes of movement that follow the "grain" of your fascia. More importantly, FST™ focuses on decompressing your joints to affect profoundly positive changes in your body. This simply cannot be acheived with yoga or the old-fashioned stretching you learned in gym class. While many therapies can help the conditions associated with over-use, mis-use, or non-use of our bodies, only FST™ can completely treat inflexible fascia at the deepest level....the joint capsule. Clinical studies have shown that this form of stretching can increase flexibility by up to 52% in your very first session!
Watch Ann Frederick, the creator of Fascial Stretch Therapy, as she takes
former basketball great Charles Barkley through his first FST session!
Who can benefit from assisted stretching?
Everyone! One of the most ignored aspects of aging and athletic performance is the loss of flexibility in our joints, muscles and fascia. This process starts well before one reaches middle age and begins even sooner in amateur and professional athletes. As we begin to lose flexibility our joints deteriorate, posture sags, physical appearance changes, muscular imbalances develop and we become more prone to pain and injury from simple actions. Daily aches, pains and fatigue that seem to have no obvious cause are likely the result of prolonged and accumulated restrictions in our fascial system. We lose flexibility at an average rate of one percent per year! When the issue is compounded by potentially detrimental lifestyles (either too little or too much activity), increased stress or poor hydration and nutrition, the loss in flexibility accounts for an even more rapid acceleration of the aging process.
Stretching is performance and anti-aging therapy at it's best! Many clients have experienced significant pain relief after years of suffering as well as a renewed sense of energy, vitality and freedom of movement! This remarkable technique can benefit anyone from high-school athletes seeking to avoid injury and gain a competitive edge to retired golfers wanting to improve and enjoy their game rather than focus on pain from sore muscles & joints. We are pleased and proud to offer this high caliber service to our clients!
Immediate Relief & Results after your first session!!
Call today to schedule your Fascial Stretch Therapy™ session
(480) 314-5033
Bodies in Balance
Orthopedic Massage & Stretch Therapy
8149 N. 87th Place, Suite 111
Scottsdale, AZ 85258
