What You Need to Know Before Starting Kinstretch

Considering getting into Kinstretch or trying your first class? Good for you! Let’s breakdown what you need to know before getting started.

Kinstretch Acronyms & Language:

There are certain Kinstretch-specific terms, acronyms, and language that you will hear often in Kinstretch classes. Because these terms are specific to Kinstretch, you may not have heard them before!

It is extremely helpful to know what these terms mean before you start your first class as you are very likely to hear some or even all of these terms in your Kinstretch classes.

PAILs:

PAILs stands for Progressive Angular Isometric Loading which is a muscle contraction that targets the tissue that is in a stretched or lengthened position. PAILs is considered an isometric contraction, meaning you don’t move at all when doing PAILs. PAILs and RAIls are commonly used together alongside stretching to help improve range of motion and mobility. 

RAILs:

In contrast, RAILs stands for Regressive Angular Isometric Loading which is also another isometric contraction, but this time you target the tissue that is in a shortened position. 

If you’re asking yourself “How would I know which tissue is RAILs tissue and which is the RAILs tissue?”, here is an easy tip that you can use:

Think of any stretch. Then think about how you would actively get into that stretch without help from anyone OR anything. The tissue that you’re stretching (lengthening) is the PAILs tissue. The tissue that is working to actively pull you into that stretched position (by contracting and shortening) is the RAILs tissue for that specific stretch. 

If you want to learn about PAILs and RAILs in more detail or learn how to do PAILs/RAILs for various joints, I encourage you to check out this blog and video where we walk you through this.

CARs:

CARs stands for controlled articular rotations. Unlike PAILs and RAILs, joint CARs are not isometric contractions. Rather we are actively moving our body rather than staying in a static position.

When we are performing CARs we are slowly exploring and training the outer ranges of motion of a joint (articulation) in a way that both maximizes the movement of the joint and activation of the joint capsule. 

The joint capsule is the deep tissue that lives immediately outside of the joint and “encapsulates” the joint. Many mobility/flexibility practices do not address the joint capsule or deep tissues even though it is common for these tissues to be playing a role in a limited range of motion or limited flexibility. In Kinstretch, CARs are one of the various ways that we address or attend to the joint capsule.

The benefits of CARs do not stop at the joint capsule alone! CARs can be used to self-assess your joints, hydrate and nourish the deep joint structures and cartilage, maintain range of motion, build neurological control, train, and reduce vulnerability in your end ranges of motion where we are typically the most vulnerable. 

If you’d like to learn what joint CARs are in more detail, further understand the benefits, or learn how to do CARs for each joint, you’ll find all that and more in this blog. 

Irradiation:

Irradiation is another term that you will hear often in Kinstretch. Irradiation can be thought of as self-created internal body tension. When we irradiate we slowly flex or contract our muscles throughout a particular area, limb, or even the full body. 

By irradiating we engage more tissue than if we were to contract a muscle without irradiating and we increase the neurological signal to that tissue that makes the tissue work, contract, or produce force. As a consequence, we are able to generate more force with that target tissue.

When we irradiate we also force our nervous system to pay more attention to what we are doing and we convince the nervous system that what we are doing is important, which can result in better adaptation.

The nervous system is the gatekeeper of your range of motion. This means that your nervous system decides how much range of motion you do or do not get access to. By leveraging the nervous system we can improve our odds of improving our range of motion, mobility, and creating lasting change.

The Closing Angle Pain Rule:

Sometimes it can be difficult to know if something that you are feeling is safe or if it is something that should be avoided. In Kinstretch, we use the closing angle pain rule to help guide you in determining if what you are feeling is safe or if you need to reduce the range of motion to avoid those sensations. 

To understand this rule you first need to understand what a “closing angle” is. 

When we are moving a joint we are generally asking some tissue to lengthen, while asking other tissue to contract or shorten. Similarly, when we are moving a joint we are closing one angle while opening another angle.

For example, I am flexing my shoulder (raising my arm) in the photo below. This means that the angle under my arm is increasing while the angle between my face and my arm is decreasing as my arm lifts. The closing angle would therefore be the angle created by the redlines.

As such, if I were to feel any pain on top of my shoulder this would be “closing angle pain” which is indicative of a joint problem. These joint problems can often be made worse by pushing through those symptoms or “signs” of dysfunction and therefore we want to avoid ranges of motion or positions where we feel closing angle pain by reducing our range of motion as needed. 

With that said, the closing angle “pain” rule can be considered a closing angle “anything” rule. Meaning, if you feel discomfort, congestion, or anything restricting or even mildly uncomfortable (even if it isn’t “pain”) on the closing angle side, it is typically worth avoiding. These are signs that you have a joint restriction that has the potential to turn into closing angle pain if you continue to push through those symptoms. 

In contrast, if you were to feel mild discomfort, restriction, etc. within the opening angle side, this is often a sign of a tissue (rather than joint) restriction, which is generally safe to move through.

At the end of the day, the best way to know if something is safe or not is to get an assessment or talk to your Kinstretch instructor. 

Interested in Learning More?

Within Operation Human First we have an entire section dedicated to teaching beginners everything they need to know and more to ensure that you can get the absolute most out of your Kinstretch classes. Subscribers repeatedly report that this section alone makes the entire subscription worth it.

You’ll also find additional sections that are full of pro tips to help you take your Kinstretch practice to the next level in addition to a large library of Kinstretch classes and guidance to help you choose which classes are best for you.