Kit Laughlin developed the posture & strength flexibility technique and courses at the Australian National University where they have been running for more than 20 years. It is a comprehensive system that includes stretching, strengthening, re-patterning, and relaxation. The core is the Contract-Relax approach (C-R) as a core. C-R is based on the method called Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation (PNF) or muscle energy techniques (MET)

The C-R approach has three stages:

• taking a limb into a stretch position and holding it there for 20 seconds or so (larger muscles are held for longer)

• gently pushing or pulling back against a suitable resistance using the muscle in which the stretch is felt

• on a deliberate breath out, re-stretching and holding that final position for 30 seconds or so (longer for larger muscles)

The C-R approach ensures that a deeper and longer-lasting stretch is attained, making P&F far more effective than simply stretching and holding a position.

Other key elements

Adding to the core principle of C-R, it evolved with input from Yoga, Pilates, dance, gymnastics and traditional Japanese exercise forms, as well as its own innovations:

• Using knowledge of anatomy to design many new stretches

• Incorporating results from work with athletes

• Adding partner poses to increase ease and effectiveness

• Adding partial poses to increase awareness of restrictions in the chain of muscles involved in a stretch

Safety and effectiveness

• Safety: all exercises have been subjected to a huge amount of testing by our teachers, therapists and students. Of the 100 standard exercise forms we use, we have probably rejected a similar number for failing this criterion.

• Effectiveness: all potential exercises are weighed against the criterion of efficiency. If two exercises are equally safe, the more effective one is selected.

DVD

This new DVD has been a year in the making, containing 88 minutes of best-quality video, with voice and visual cues, this DVD has all the latest exercises; many of them new.

If you own Stretching & Flexibility Book & DVD, you need this Update!

This new material now available on high-resolution DVDs—this is the fastest, best value way to get essential new material to you. This DVD Update are the exercise Kit's P&F team currently teaches at the Australian National University; all are shown in practitioner and solo (do by yourself) versions.

• All-new shoulder mobility, stretching and strengthening exercises, using both short and long sticks
• All-new hamstring exercises, done from the lunge position, and old hamstring exercises revisited using the bent-to-straight-knee approach
• All-new hip flexor stretches
• Advanced tailor pose variations
• Latest versions of QL stretches
• Detailed modified front splits

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The long-anticipated Overcome neck & back pain DVD is now in-store!

This 82 minute DVD has all the latest exercises and all the new variations that Kit Laughlin and the team have been putting together over the last two years.

All-new hip flexors, piriformis, quads, hamstrings, shoulder and neck exercises. Full demonstration of the Standing Leg-Length Test; never filmed before

A ‘Must Have’ companion for the Book: Overcome neck & back pain (including shoulder, arm and hand pain)

We now have the best hip flexor stretch—which can even be done by people when their backs are sore. This exercise alone is a major breakthrough. "Finally," Kit says, "we have a hip flexor stretch that cannot hurt the lower back; I have been looking for this myself for more than 20 years." In addition, there are about 40 new exercises; some of them done on the chair and some on the floor. Some are solo and some are partner (or practitioner) applied. All are done in the new follow-along format, where both sides of the body are shown for each exercise.

Finally, after many requests, we show you how to do the Standing Leg-Length Test (from Chapter one of ONBP); you and a friend can follow along with Kit and Sharon and see whether this important potential cause is contributing to your problem (back or neck).

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The DVD contains 193 minutes of high-quality digital video --that is three-and-a-quarter hours of exercises!

Stretching & Flexibility is a comprehensive system that includes stretching, strengthening, re-patterning, and relaxation. Developed by Kit Laughlin, the core is the Contract-Relax approach (C-R) as a core. C-R is based on the method called Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation (PNF) or muscle energy techniques (MET).

Shot on location at the Posture & Flexibility headquarters at the Australian National University Sports and Recreation Association by Kit himself (he used to be a director with ABC TV), the program features all of Kit's senior teachers, and uses their dedicated studio and equipment.

The DVD will take you through all 96 exercises from Kit Laughlin's famous book Stretching & Flexibility.

The DVD features easy search menus to help you find an exercise quickly.

The program has a comprehensive set of instructions, both by voice and innovative visual 'cues' (key phrases and symbols), that appear on-screen during the presentation.

Arrows show you how to move, how to push or pull, and the pictures and sound are as clear as only professional-level digital video can be. The DVD includes:

• beginner's to advanced stretches, with variations
• many additional warm-ups and variations
• all Contract-Relax techniques demonstrated and explained
• all the new exercises developed by the team over the last five years
• exercises for all parts of the body, including hands and feet
• solo and partner version of all exercises

Recognising that many people with back pain will find it useful to see the exercises demonstrated 'live', this DVD will take you through the back exercises Kit presents in his book Overcome neck & back pain, and a number of new exercises, too.

Kit will take you through the whole range of back exercises developed in his clinic: upper, middle and lower back with specifics on: side bend, rotation, back bend, hip flexors, piriformis, quadriceps, quadratus lumborum, hamstring, lower abdominal, trunk rotations, and more.

It is no surprise, Kit says, that back problems are so common: many people hold tension in the muscles associated with the spine, caused by many different factors. Tension leads to pain and inefficient posture, which reinforce each other. Doing these exercises will bring you back into balance.

Running time: 69 mins.

This DVD will take you through all the neck and shoulder exercises Kit presents in the books Overcome neck & back pain and Stretching & Flexibility, with plenty of new exercises, too.

All exercises use the highly effective Contract-Relax (C-R) approach to increasing flexibility. Watch the most effective stretch for levator scapula, the culprit of neck pain. Other stretches includes: neck forward bend, side bend, flexion & rotation, extension, SCM, scalene, trapezius, pecs, suboccipitalis, splenius, rhomboids, latisiumus dorsi, biceps, rotator cuffs, and more.

It is no surprise, Kit says, that neck and shoulder problems are so common: these are the places where people hold the most tension. If not discharged, simple tension can lead to more serious musculo-skeletal problems in time.

Doing these exercises will also help you to identify any left-right muscular imbalances.

Running time: 54 mins.

RSI, or Repetitive Strain Injury (now called Occupational Overuse Syndrome), affects the muscles of the neck, shoulders, arms, forearms, and hands.

This DVD takes you through all the exercises Kit and his colleagues have found to be effective in both treating and preventing this common problem.

This DVD will show you the most effective ways to gently and safely stretch these areas. We have found that increasing the range of movement of these parts of the body, and reducing the tension held in the muscles controlling the movement of these joints is very effective in treating the problem, and will complement any other treatment. Includes Stretches for: scalene, pec major, pec minor, biceps, wrist flexion & extension, finger & thumbs, wrist rotation, aileron, brachialis and more.

Running time: 40 mins.

Books

The new edition is ALL NEW: text, illustrations, photographs, new exercises, and includes arm, shoulder and hand exercises.

This is the book that started a revolution in treating neck, middle and lower back problems, and a method that explicitly recognises the necessity of the patient being actively involved in the treatment. The book has been glowingly reviewed in all the peak medical journals as well as massage, shiatsu, chiropractic and complementary medical journals.

The Overcome neck & back pain system is used successfully by many practitioners around the country, including doctors, chiropractors and osteopaths, massage and other body work therapists.

The book Overcome neck & back pain (and associated DVDs) presents a comprehensive self-help exercise-based approach to treating these problems.

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This is the book based on the Posture & Flexibility classes. Everyone says they need to do more stretching for all sorts of reasons, but the most important reason is too-rarely mentioned: stretching the right way simply feels great to do and leaves you feeling wonderful.

Questions remain, though, like: which stretches, done what way, and how often? In Stretching & Flexibility, you will find effective exercises for all the usual places people want to stretch: hips, hamstrings and legs-apart movements.

In addition, however, you will find hand, wrist and forearm exercises, a full range of neck and shoulder exercises (including the hard-to-stretch rotator cuff pairs) and a variety of ankle and feet exercises. There are even exercises to help you spread your toes and strengthen your arches!

As well, you will find rotation and backward-bending exercises, sideways-bending movements and a large number of unique warm-ups too. There is an exercise for every muscle of the body, and the associated tendons, ligaments and fascia.

The book is organised into 16 lessons and begins with very easy-to-do movements. Gradually, the subsequent lessons build on these basic 'functional units of flexibility', and in time you will find yourself being able to do the more difficult stretches.

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About Kit

Kit Laughlin is one of the world’s authorities on the subject of stretching.

Kit studied oriental traditional Japanese medicine during a four-year stay in Japan and was the personal Shiatsu practitioner for the Japanese Ambassador in Australia. He was also asked to treat a Japanese Prime Minister during a visit to Australia in 1988.

Formerly he had been a middle distance runner and weight lifter, becoming a student of exercise forms: he attended dance and gymnastics classes; he studied anatomy and physiology, and studied Yoga and Pilates.

He was awarded a Master of Letters by the Science Faculty of the Australian National University in Canberra (1992) and was granted an Australian Postgraduate Research Award (1993-96) for Ph.D. research, where back pain was the main case study.

Kit developed the principles of Posture & Flexibility over 24 years, and has been teaching them for 21 years at the Australian National University Sports and Recreation Association. He is assisted by 20 P&F Instructors whom he trained, who also run up to 20 in-house classes for Public Service departments in Canberra.

Kit has published two best-selling books about the principles of P&F, Overcome neck & back pain (for injury rehabilitation, now in its 4th Edition) and Stretching & Flexibility (for injury prevention and performance enhancement, now in its 5th printing) and numerous DVDs, videos and articles. Kit is the founding President of the National Association of Stretch Therapists (NAST).

Kit teaches P&F to practitioners of Chiropractic and Osteopathy, Physiotherapy, medicine, Yoga, Pilates and Massage Therapy and to people everywhere who want to rehabilitate or avoid injury, enhance performance or maximise wellbeing, in Australia and around the world.

Articles by Kit

Integrating diagnosis and treatment for massage Full article

What makes a good massage good? Full Article

Hidden muscular causes of neck and back pain. Full Article

Undiagnosed back pain. Full article

Piriformis and its role in sciatica. Full article

The role of iliopsoas in neck and back pain & its treatment. Full article

The downside of the high heel. Full article

Hidden causes of back problems. Full Article