Welcome back from our easter break, I trust everyone had a restful few days. Today we're back into the PNF stretches starting with a basic quadricep stretch. The stretcher lies face down and flex your knee as far back as possible only until the quad feels as though it is being stretched. The partner should position themselves to offer resistance and stabilze the leg in one positions as the stretcher contracts their quad. The stretchers then relaxes and inhales deeply and on the exhale contracts the hamstrings. This should be repeated 2-3 times.

If the stretches experiences any low back discomfort, stop and place a pillow under the hips to reduce the stress on the hips and start again. When contracting the hamstring it might go into spasm because of the new shortened position. To resolve this stretch the hamstring prior to starting. This stretch includes the four major muscle that make up the quadricep, the vastus medialis, lateralis and intermedius and the rectus femoris.

Always remember that while stretching may be recommended to aid recovery out of injury, you should always be very careful when stretching through rehabilitation.  Your soft tissues are likely to be more vulnerable to re-injury if you stretch too much or too hard during this time.  Always check with your Health Care Professional who is guiding you through your recovery to make sure it is appropriate to start stretching, and please - ALWAYS FOLLOW THE RULES FOR SAFE STRETCHING (blog #50).

Information obtained from McAtee, R. & Charland, J. (1993) Facilitated Stretching
Image from www.stretchman.com