Welcome To Kinetic Stretch 360 At Home!

Hi, I’m Gabriel Kresge, Doctor of Physical Therapy and instructor for Kinetic STRETCH 360. In this course, I’m going to teach you how to use principles utilized in physical therapy, to help you improve your mobility at home. This course is designed for anyone who would like to improve their total body range of motion and flexibility. It should not be used to treat an injury, please seek the help of a medical professional, like your general practitioner or physical therapist if you are seeking help for a medical condition.

If you are taking this course, like all of us, you have likely felt “tightness” somewhere in your body and want to learn how to get rid of it. Before we get started, it is important to understand what this “tightness” is. Our bodies are highly adaptable, the tissues of our body adapt to the positions they are routinely in and the demands placed upon them. The sensation of “stretch” occurs due to something called a “stretch reflex”. This is a protective mechanism created by your body to prevent straining a muscle or tendon. However, if we do not regularly move through certain ranges of motion, this stretch reflex will be heightened and can result in a constant feeling of “tightness” during movement.  

In order to reduce how sensitive our bodies are to movement, we are going to be incorporating a type of stretching in this course called PNF Stretching, or Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation. PNF was originally developed to treat neurologic conditions in the 1950’s, but is now utilized as part of treatment for musculoskeletal conditions as well. You will learn about PNF and the muscle groups we will be targeting in the next modules.