Active isolated stretches (A.I.)

Hi Suzanne

As a musculoskeltal Physio, I've seen plenty of Achilles tendinopathies come through the door. There has been a mountain load of research on treatment of this condition and so far eccentric heel drops have the most high quality evidence to back it up - in saying that, it doesnt always work!

I haven't heard of active isolated stretches before , however based on the description I'm not too sure how effective it will be. Tendinopathies occur due too poor loading (i.e. putting too much stress in one area for too long) not due to the Achilles reflex not being able to function effectively. So I'm not too sure if that technique truly addresses the cause - but that's not to say it wont work.

Another thing to note is that whilst the Achilles may be the painful point it may be a result of a deficiency somewhere else along the kinetic chain (eh. Weakness in quadriceps, restriction in hip) and consequently the Achilles has had to take more load.

Anyway that was a bit of a ramble sorry!

If you haven't done so already, it'd be worth seeing a musculoskeletal Physio and also try wearing some soft heel inserts to take some pressure off the Achilles

Wishing you all the best!

smj6 said:

Having suffered from Achilles Tendinopathy for the last 6+ months, I've began researching ways of handling this. Surely athletes (which I'm most definitely not!) don't suffer for so long - they can't because they have to get 'back to work' Anyway, Active isolated stretches (A.I.) looks interesting and is based on the concept that "...if a muscle is stretched too far, too fast, or for too long, it elicits a protective action known as the myotatic reflex, causing it to automatically and ballistically recoil in an attempt to prevent the muscle from tearing. This occurs about three seconds into a stretch.
Therefore, A.I. practitioners stretch to their natural range of motion, before the myotatic reflex kicks in, then return to the start position and repeat 10 times. Using this technique, the muscles exhibit a greater range of motion over the course of each set of stretching repeats.."

I would be interested in hearing the views of other forum members on this

Suzanne

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