Prescriptive Stretching - Kristian Berg - NEW

Prescriptive Stretching

by Kristian Berg

NEW, 152 pages

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About Prescriptive Stretching

Elite athletes have long relied on personalized stretching programs to improve flexibility and prevent injury. What you might not know is that many of those targeted stretches have a much broader application, one that you can easily incorporate into your daily routine: pain relief.

Prescriptive Stretching features full-color anatomical illustrations and step-by-step instructions for 40 of the most effective stretches to eliminate pain, alleviate muscle soreness, improve balance and flexibility, and prevent common injuries. In addition, you’ll find sample stretching programs that you can follow as is or personalize to meet your body’s needs.

Best of all, Prescriptive Stretching shows you how to quickly assess your pain and identify the stretches to reduce discomfort. Specifically, you’ll find recommendations for these common ailments:

- Headache
- Back pain
- Neck stiffness
- Shoulder soreness
- Golfer’s elbow
- Tennis elbow
- Runner’s knee

Whether you’re looking to increase range of motion or simply eliminate muscle pain and discomfort, Prescriptive Stretching has you covered. Comprehensive yet easy to use, it’s the guide you’ll turn to again and again.

About Kristian Berg

Kristian Berg is a doctor of naprapathy, a medical therapy that focuses on manual manipulation and stretching of the spine and connective tissues. He has managed his own clinic in Stockholm, Sweden, since 1988. Berg participates annually in international training courses in dissection, anatomy, and manipulative techniques. At his clinic he has shown more than 30,000 patients the importance of stretching and muscular balance for overall health. Berg is also the principal at the Personal Training School and a lecturer in anatomy at the Scandinavian College of Naprapathic Manual Medicine in Stockholm. He is a highly regarded speaker on stretching and athletic training in Sweden and throughout Europe.

Before becoming a naprapath, Berg was a nationally ranked gymnast and a talented junior tennis player. More recently, he has competed as a multisport athlete and has climbed Aconcagua, the highest peak in South America. Berg currently resides in Svartsjo, Sweden.

Reviews of this book

"Prescriptive Stretching is a well-illustrated, scientifically sound book that will help you achieve better flexibility and improved wellness.”

Brad Schoenfeld MS, CSCS -- Author of Women’s Home Workout Bible and Sculpting Her Body Perfect

“In Prescriptive Stretching, Kristian Berg offers a recipe for a pain-free life with safe and easy stretches.”

Ulf Westerlund MD, PhD

“Prescriptive Stretching teaches the correct techniques for achieving balance in the muscles."

Jan Giaever MD -- Level 2 Sports Medicine Physician

About Stretching

Stretching is a form of physical exercise in which a specific skeletal muscle (or muscle group) is deliberately elongated to its fullest length (often by abduction from the torso) in order to improve the muscle's felt elasticity and reaffirm comfortable muscle tone. The result is a feeling of increased muscle control, flexibility and range of motion. Stretching is also used therapeutically to alleviate cramps.

Stretching, in its most basic form, is a natural and instinctive activity; it is performed by many animals including humans. It can be accompanied by yawning. Stretching often occurs instinctively after waking from sleep, after long periods of inactivity, or after exiting confined spaces and areas.

Many athletes stretch deliberately before or after exercise in order to increase performance and reduce injury.

In the literature described by Michael Yessis, there are many beneficial stretches that can improve range of motion (ROM) in athletes, especially runners. In his review, he cites benefits of stretching:

1. may improve ROM
2. reduce risk of injury during activity
3. prevent post-exercise muscle soreness
4. slow delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS)

To gain these benefits, Yessis describes different forms of stretching along with their individual benefits. He suggests that one stretching exercise may not be enough to prevent all types of injury. Therefore, multiple stretching exercises should be used to gain the full effects of stretching.

Research by Sharman et al. sought to find what techniques elongate muscles through "proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation" (PNF) stretching. They used around seventy sources to compile their data. In this review, PNF stretching yielded the greatest change in range of motion (ROM), especially short-term benefits. Ballistic stretching was also beneficial in comparison; however, PNF techniques emphasize active flexibility and therefore get better results. Reasoning behind the biomechanical benefit of PNF stretching points to muscular reflex relaxation found in the musculotendinous unit being stretched. More common findings in literature suggest that PNF benefits are due to influence on the joint where the stretch is felt.

Prescriptive Stretching