techniques used to improve motor skills through positive motor transfer, using the principles of facilitation/inhibition; irradiation/reinforcement; reciprocal innervation.

(PNF) stretch Muscle stretches that use the proprioceptors (muscle spindles) to send inhibiting (relaxing) messages to the muscle that is to be stretched. Example: The contraction of an agonist muscle sends inhibiting signals that relax the antagonist muscle so that it is easier to stretch. (Term was once applied to a very specific therapeutic technique, but now is being widely applied to stretch techniques such as slowreversal-hold, contract-relax and hold-relax.)

These techniques improve motor skill through positive motor transfer, using the principles of facilitation/inhibition; irradiation/reinforcement; reciprocal innervation (i.e. maximal contraction of agonist muscle results in maximal relaxation of the antagonist); and successive induction (i.e. flexion augments extension and extension augments flexion).