Avoid Injury with Active Isolated Flexibility: An Interview with Phil Wharton

Finn Melanson [00:00:13]: Hello, fellow runners. I'm your host, Finna Lanson, and this is the Run to the Top podcast. The podcast dedicated to making you a better runner with each and every episode. We are created and produced by the expert team of coaches at runnersconnect .net, where you can find the best running information on the Internet as well as training plans to fit every runner and every budget. One of the more controversial topics in running, Other than the debate over footwear choices is the importance of flexibility. Coaches, experts, and runners disagree over the role flexibility plays in preventing injury We're boosting performance and how to improve it. However, part of this disagreement lies in a misunderstanding of what defines Flexibility and stretching. So on today's show, we're gonna interview a pioneer in the world of flexibility, Phil Wharton.

Finn Melanson [00:01:08]: Phil is most famous for the development of active, Isolated flexibility along with his father, Jim. Active flexibility, originally developed by Aaron Mattis, Involve sets of short muscle activated stretches, 2 seconds per repetition, targeting specific muscles, tendons, or ligaments in various zones. Phil is gonna explain more in-depth the concept of active flexibility, how it's different from traditional stretching, and how and when to best implement it into your training to stay injury free. Take out your notebooks and pencils for this one. It's a masterclass in pre and post run injury prevention. Let's go. It's that time of year when Black Friday deals are rolling in. One of my favorites is from Buyoptimizers who are having a mega sale all through November.

Finn Melanson [00:01:58]: Head over to Buyoptimizers .com forward slash run to the top to learn more. If you're looking for the most effectively dosed electrolyte drink for runners, check out Element. It's loaded with everything you need to replenish your electrolyte balance, and you can get a free sample pack by going to drinklmnt.com Forward slash runners connect. Hey, Phil. Welcome to the show. And, get started, why don't you give our audience a brief introduction to who you are and what active isolated flexibility is?

Guest [00:02:35]: My name is Phil Wharton, and I've been doing this type of work for 29 years now. It's a combination of joint range of motion, flexibility, Joint integrity strengthening or rebalancing musculature and musculoskeletal therapy We call that musculoskeletal therapy because it's the combination of therapy Therapeutic modalities that all come together to help people that want need to recover from chronic pain, from difficult musculoskeletal injuries, Or athletes at all ages and stages from the beginning athlete to the athlete going for, world records and Olympic medals. I've had the opportunity to be with them Over now it's my 9th Olympic period, so it's been a really fun ride and a fun journey helping people. Also written 4 books about some of the work that we do.

Finn Melanson [00:03:22]: So to start with some of the big picture stuff, we hear a lot about stretching not working at best and and being harmful at worst. And I know you refer to what you practice as active isolated flexibility. Why is that, and, how did it evolve?

Guest [00:03:40]: Stretching itself is is a misnomer. We're seeing that now through the research. So that's why over the last 15 or so years, We've gotten away from calling it stretching at all because some of the positions themselves are contraindicated. Now, thankfully, the research has come out to support that As it used to be that, research wasn't allocated for something as simple as flexibility because they're looking at more cancers and and Medical things that are more life threatening. But now as people are living longer, the baby boomer generation is coming of age, And there's more interest in movement and in physiology. So thankfully, the research has finally caught up to some of the great work that we've been doing and others in the field.

Finn Melanson [00:04:24]: Let's get into some of that research. Do you think it is possible to overstretch?

Guest [00:04:29]: Yes. And that's a great question. It's so easy to overstretch, And that's why it's important to understand some of the laws of nature, even beyond the research, some of natural laws. A neurophysicist in the turn of the century named Charrington created this idea of reciprocal innervation and that meant that All muscles work in pairs as an agonist muscle works. Let's say, if my arm is moving up, I've got to use that bicep to do it, but my tricep Is relaxing and lengthening as that works into an active range of motion. So we apply that through every joint in the body, we're going to have a lot smoother Activation, an easier way to apply range of motion instead of trying to stretch muscles. If we try to stretch muscles, We could get into contraindicated positions like the classic hurdler stretch. Right? Where we're on our on the ground and the knee has got stress at that joint.

Guest [00:05:25]: So you're overstretching the patella, but you're also overstretching the hamstring and back. So there's things happening at the same time. It's kind of like a tug of war instead of Breaking those, parsing those things out, that's why we call it active isolated because you're actively engaging 1 muscle group or fiber at a time to lengthen the antagonist across the joint because all muscles work in pairs. Then we've also got the idea of circulatory response. We've got to have activation from the central nervous system, and that's what Charrington discovered is this reflex arc. If we have these Nerve receptors go through the arc so quickly, we've got to get that control from the right brain. Strata stretching is left brain oriented, all our movements are right brained, so it makes a lot more sense mechanically and it's a lot cleaner biomechanically to do Active range of motion. And that's why dynamic has been so popularized because people were using swings And realizing that, oh, okay.

Guest [00:06:21]: An agonist is working, an antagonist is relaxing. We've just been able over the years to control the dynamic a little better With active isolated flexibility because we can get you into those joint intersections where most of the injuries occur. At the joint, the joint is more vulnerable. If you're doing swings, those are really good right before competition or right before training. But an hour or so before, It's nice to do an active isolated range of motion because you're really prepped the joint a little better, and you'll get the circulatory response. We find it good before and after.

Finn Melanson [00:06:57]: That is a really awesome explanation of how this whole process works and, You know, how it's so different from what we traditionally call stretching. Taking it back a bit, how did this all start for you? Like, how did you come across how this works and how it can help?

Guest [00:07:11]: Yeah. You know what I had as a kid, and this is a similar story as a lot of people have, it's a story of overuse. And as a high school runner, I was running well, but, you know, 35, 40 miles a week. And then as I go to college, It doubles. You know, I jumped up to 80, 90 miles. I'm making a real intense programs in in Florida because I went to the University of Florida. I first started at Santa Fe Community College is a feeder to the Florida and so we had great programs, but, its left hand turns around a track A lot of times, as kids and back in the eighties, you know, before your time, we were we weren't able to use backpacks with both straps. It was Only cool to have it on 1 strap.

Guest [00:07:51]: So we were kinda slunched over in one way. We were, you know, Converse All Stars which are coming back into vogue, but, You know, no arch support. So fallen arches, left hand turns around that track so coaches didn't realize we could go the other way yet, you know? So there So there's a lot of imbalances there that came on functionally, not from birth. So I didn't have an anatomical leg length difference or of scoliosis, it came on through all this repetitive stress, looked all over the world and, you know, into the US and No therapy seemed to really stick for me and I found this active isolated flexibility through my teacher, Erin Mattis, and it was amazing how We put the muscles back together 1 at a time, first through range of motion then through the joint integrity strength and started to rebuild. In a year and a half, I was out of pain, which was a miracle. I I was slated for surgery because the doctors at The time I thought I had an irregular spine because the spine was so curved through the muscular force, through the repetitive stress. Then This range of motion and the strength started to rebalance everything and this is the same work that I've been able to help so many with people Even that that have beyond 33 degree up to 58, 60 degree scoliosis, we've been able to bring them back and get them training again and enjoying life and enjoying their sports and getting to throw away their braces and things. So I was able to avoid the surgery, which was miracle.

Guest [00:09:14]: And I started running again because I missed my last 2 years of College running, and I was on great teams at University of Florida. We were still able to win the SEC, and we won the Triple Crown, and we did all these really amazing things. We're second at nationals, but would have been so much better obviously if I was out of pain. And so those last 2 years, I wasn't able to train and then I became a marathoner afterwards and was able to Train with the best in the world because of the work I do, sharing that work, and be in Kenya, and be in Mexico, and high altitude centers all over all over the world, and And I run 2 23 marathon 3 times, and it was really a fun fun journey to get back to running, get out of pain first, but then to be able to share it with others.

Finn Melanson [00:09:54]: Wow. That is an awesome backstory. And, obviously, we are all glad you were able to get back to running without surgery and and, of course, to start developing a practice that's helping so many. I know this might be a little difficult since we're on a podcast, but can you describe what an active isolated Flexibility movement might look like or maybe some of the best areas of the body that can that can benefit from this?

Guest [00:10:17]: Yes. You know, we could try a hamstring because a hamstring is just so basic and so easy. And you can find a lot of that in our free videos as well as we have an app It's free, that we can use with resources and resources. 1 out there 1 out there. You'd be on your behind your back. Your back is not at all, and the the rope would just Be right there with the arch of the foot. The non working, like, let's say, if the left leg is disengaged, is bent at the knee and that takes stress off the back. You're using the quad muscle to lift the leg up and at your on your own power, you just follow with the rope.

Guest [00:10:51]: So hand over hand, you'd use the rope. And that's a key point because people have labeled this rope stretching and that's popular in the nomenclature. You know one of our athletes, Meb Keflaski, Uses rope stretching as a name, and the only problem with that is it gets people disconnected that it's their body. So they think that the rope is doing everything. The rope is just your helper at the end and even Mel Meb would agree that we've kinda used the quadricep to move through that full range of motion. And then the rope just helps us at the end to get into that joint to get a little bit of extra range of motion in a in a place that we can't reach. So that's a really good one. You go all the way up to the full range of motion.

Guest [00:11:29]: Normal range of motion on the hamstring is 90 degrees. Some people, Especially runners, we're tight. We can't get to 90, that's fine. Go with where you are. Less is more with flexibility. Over time, even in that set of 10, You'll start to see the range of motion change. You'll start to feel the lightness in the tissue. And when you check the other side that you haven't done yet, you'll really Feel and see a noticeable difference where that side is heavy.

Guest [00:11:53]: It doesn't have the circulatory response or the blood flow. It's also not turned on neurologically, so you're not able to use it. So I think that's a really good one to show. Also, the glute is a great one because the glute is the musculature that we've got to fire To really propel us forward because it's the back side of our body that what the physiologists call posterior kinetic chain, and the glutes get down. Right now you and I are sitting down. So if we sit all day that we did like from grade school through high school and everything, we shut down those gluteals. So we've got to get those firing. So On the glute, it's very similar to the starting of the hamstring, would be on our back, our right knee would come to the left shoulder.

Guest [00:12:32]: So it's a diagonal arc. The right hand will be on the outer thigh, and as we cross the midline, the left hand's on the outer shin area. And that will help you To get into those deep gluteal fibers, if we can rotate that lower leg or that shin a little bit at the end of the movement, we'll get into that that, You know that in the performance and some of those rotators which are hard to access. And that's really good because a lot of people will get sciatica Or radiculopathy, that's nerve pain that goes down the leg or up the back. So it's a really good one. We see a lot of, runners really getting a lot of benefit from Getting their glutes activated again. So those 2 are very good. I really like for runners, obviously, the quadriceps, a lot of times were quad dominant And quads get over developed so you'd be on your side, you're nonworking, a hand is, holding the rope, the ropes on the arch of the foot, And your top hand is on the ankle, so you're on your side sort of in a fetal position and your knee of your exercising leg is going away from your body.

Guest [00:13:30]: So it's going out and staying low and you come back to start position. So all these I didn't explain as good as I should have at the beginning. Use the breath just like in yoga. You want to exhale as you move Whereas you contract and inhale as you come back to start position. And that circulatory response that oxygenates the blood and fires the muscle better. So those are really good. I really like the gastrocnemius or outer calf muscles too because calves are a big issue in runners especially when their glutes are shut down and the calves, the next next group of muscles which will start to misfire. So you'd be sitting up just, you know, on on a surface, could be on your bed even if the That's not too soft.

Guest [00:14:09]: Place the rope at the ball of the foot. So the rope's a little higher now, not on the arch, but a little higher. And keep your knee locked and your back is straight. Your foot is flexing towards you and the rope just helps you at the end of the movement. And that's really good for the outer calf That that really gets contracted sometimes too. So those are 3 really good ones to to, I think, to demonstrate for them. We have the video that can support that also for for the viewers.

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Finn Melanson [00:18:31]: For those listening, by the way, don't forget you can go to the show notes of this episode, which is atrunnersconnect.netforward/658, and download some of these exercises Phil is describing as well as access the Wharton app and in the website that, has a ton of exercises you can start with. But, alright. So you've Phil, you've convinced me of The benefits here, how many times per week or per day do you recommend we implement active flexibility to maximize the benefits?

Guest [00:19:02]: 1st, you know, remember that optimally. And now I know that not everybody's a professional athlete and, you know, when Ned won his silver medal he was doing this, you know, because he would call me up and say, hey, man. I'm at the park bench. I'm my car is getting an oil change and I'm doing it. So we had him doing it 4 times a day and, you know, so that's why he's Had that longevity, like, people like him and Dana and all these great athletes that do it. But I tell you before and after is optimum. So if you could do a little bit Pre run to prep the tissue, to get the nervous system open, to get you ready, to get that range of motion. But then after now after maybe later in the evening, if you Got to move on.

Guest [00:19:40]: You get your fuel in first. Obviously, the glycolotic window is more important than flexibility, so refueling first And within 15 minutes and then maybe in the evening before bed, so you get a better night's sleep, let's get that active isolated Billion men and your recovery quotient goes way up which is really huge. And we see that with the younger athletes, you know, Jerry's group all these people that that use it I would say 80% of our Americans really use this work and and I think we've seen an upsurge of People really taking care of their body, and it's not just about the elite athlete, it's more so for us that are non elites, is you've really gotta care of your body because there's a lot more stressors. You don't have all day to sit, nap, and rest. So you've got to be really really strategic about Taking care of yourself if you have to run 15 minutes less, that's time well served to do that range of motion or in the evening if If your day is nonstop and and and just locked into projects and everything, in the evening before bed, do it. And I tell you what, it's it is about consistency too. We see that people can do it daily. It's much better even if you have to pair it down.

Guest [00:20:48]: At first, it can be like, okay, look, I'm only going to allocate 10 minutes. Let me do 5 exercise and then as you get proficient with this, as you learn the learning curve and you learn the choreography of 1 exercise to the next, goes a lot quicker and you get a lot more exercises in that same time frame. So I can see you shaking your head. So it it is amazing. I I got a A call from a woman 93 in Portland, Oregon that says, oh, thank God for you guys. And it's she's been through all kinds of stuff and injuries, and this has brought her back Over the years and she just said I couldn't be running without it at 93. I was like, that that's really motivation for me. It was a blessing.

Guest [00:21:27]: Also also right in your seat, you could do the glute where you're sitting down, your back is straight, and you tighten your abdominals. And if you're doing the right side, the right hand is on the outer thigh and the left hand is on the outer shin, and you exhale as you move up, inhale as you come back. So doing knee to chest, We do it on the airplanes. We do that on the trains when I commute into New York City. When I'm in the quiet car and I'm just doing the flexibility and you can do it anywhere. So Even tensing and relaxing those fibers. So do these little flexibility breaks throughout your day while you're on projects, and we get people doing that. And it's amazing especially people that are so busy that feel like, you know, I don't have time to allocate to this.

Guest [00:22:05]: You've got to. An injury is a mistake in the training program. That's what Doctor Dave Martin, the great physiologist said years ago, and I really believe that. I said, you know, there's some injuries, you know, trauma injuries that we can mitigate, but as best we can, If our self care is up there, I think that's why we're seeing better results from at the high school level on up to the professional level is that They allocate time to this. So I really encourage the the athlete who's working full time especially, they're the ones that really need this work. So it should be built into their training. Obviously, everything sort of morphs out of Exactly what's going on and we always look at the radiology report and we consult with the orthopedist and so there needs to be a team there but when If even if they're injured and especially if they're injured, if they're cleared to do movement exercise or range of motion exercise, They need to be doing this work or some type of activation. It's it's essential, especially when you're injured injured.

Guest [00:23:07]: We like to think of it as, look, If you're injured and it's been chronic, take the time to go back to basics. Your body is signaling you and telling you you've got to address certain things. And so we learned how to decipher that and people can do that on their own. That's what that's why we have the books and the videos and it's so easy. And you just follow them. But, yes, especially when you're injured, I would take the time not to dive into too much cross training. You can do minimal cross training but sometimes people overdo the cross training. I would dive into restructuring your body with the flexibility and rebuilding with the strengthening.

Guest [00:23:43]: That should be essential. And Every every day I have this when I'm advising people remotely or when I go to the training centers and I'm working with someone in evaluation or treatment. We always come back to if you've been injured make this a priority of get your body working first. Then you'll see Not only will you break the injury cycle, you'll get fitter quicker because you've allocated all the injury all the energy of your body to healing instead of spreading it out. So it's hard because running becomes more than just running. Right? It becomes our Fortress of solitude it becomes our meditation, our mindfulness. We have to find other ways to to get that, same mindfulness. And this work can give you a lot of that Through the breath, through working on your body, and it's a great way to shift the focus away from getting nervous about the injury and letting that Go and just being able to be calm and realize that you know what I'm doing something good for myself.

Guest [00:24:44]: A lot of injuries are blocks in in the field. So we're treating our emotions well, we're letting ourselves be injured and that's okay. It's it's it's not a fault. We're just Opening up to something greater. I know exactly. And that happens when we take care of ourselves. It sounds simplistic, but those people out there that are injured or going through struggles really will Understand that, I think.

Finn Melanson [00:25:07]: That's amazing advice and, you know, something we try to talk to our athletes and audience about all the time. And it sounds like so much of what you try to teach is being proactive with, your injury prevention work as well. Is that true?

Guest [00:25:23]: Very proactive as you said and and it really leads up if you've got a surgery impending and you're indicated to rebuild, We have much better results working with the orthopedist and the surgeries if we are strong going in and flexible going into surgery. We recover a lot faster And then we start the rehab right away. So it's very different from years ago. When my father was younger it was like you have a cardiac event, you rest. Now when you have a cardiac event, you start walking right away, right after surgery, right in the hospital. So times are changed, movement is life, and We've got to really connect to that.

Finn Melanson [00:25:58]: Absolutely. We're we're seeing so much evolve in the injury prevention and health space, and it's great to see the positive results these shifts are having. But, yeah, to start to bring things to a close, what do you think is the biggest mistake or Some of the most common mistakes that runners make when it comes to active flexibility.

Guest [00:26:18]: I think, you know, when people out there when your listeners in the audience Runners connect are are doing this work, remember, don't force things. That all muscles work in pairs, really work your opposite muscle group, and that'll be really apparent and easy. There's a tendency to be ballistic or go too fast or pull with the ropes or yank or jerk. Remember, your body is telling you where you are and don't think, okay, Because yesterday, my range of motion was x, I've got to go to x. There's so many factors like rest and nutrition, lack of sleep, and And anxieties are stresses in life that are natural. So just feel that and don't force your body. I think that's a big thing that we see people when I see them in the clinic or when we see them in the field. And take the time to watch these videos.

Guest [00:27:01]: They're well produced. And the reason is Because sometimes there's a form issue, just a slight turn like, let's say, the as you know, the hip abductor for the outer thigh. Just turning out a little more, you'll get the IT band. If you turn in too much, it's you're still moving but you you have more hamstring. So, You know, there's there's ways these are developed because that's just how the body works. We try to just use basic kinesiology in developing these programs and not Stray from the kinesiology, get your body working first before you go into functional movements. So that's also another thing I'd like to say is is that this is a basic precursor to a lot of things. It's not the only thing you need to do, but it's a good tool in the toolbox to have this kind of work.

Guest [00:27:43]: We see people Doing the flexibility but not doing the strength also. So we want to make sure they have that balance and and realizing that, hey, it's Two and a half to 3 times your body weight is coming down each time you stride. This is a contact sport. So to contact With the ground, you've got to from the feet up, you've gotta be strong and flexible.

Finn Melanson [00:28:14]: Thanks for listening to the run to the top podcast. I'm your host, Finn Melanson. As always, our mission here is to help you become a better runner with every episode. Please consider connecting with me on Instagram at Wasatch Finn and the rest of our team at Runners Connect. Also consider supporting our show for free with a rating on the Spotify and Apple like cast players. And lastly, if you love the show and want bonus content, behind the scenes experiences with our guests, and premier access to contests and giveaways,