Stretching

Most people who undertake any form of exercise will know how important stretching is and by incorporating it into your massage, your Essential Thyme therapist can take those stretches a little further than you might yourself; helping to increase the movement in your muscles and joints. 

Used together, stretching (sometimes described as soft tissue release) and massage can also provide exceptional results in the rehabilitation of chronic pain conditions, as well as developing flexibility and giving you a general feeling of wellness. 

There are three types of stretching:

• Passive – where you relax and your therapist does the work
• Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation (PNF) – this is where you are asked to do a little work resisting against the therapist. 
• Active Isolated Stretching (AIS) – this is the tough one. This is the one where you do all of the work, assisted by your therapist where necessary. 

Stretching can be used as a standalone therapy session or can be incorporated into a massage session – whichever suits your needs and provides the most benefit to you!