Active inhibition refers to techniques in which the patient reflexively relaxes the muscle to be elongated prior to or during the stretching maneuver. When a muscle is inhibited (relaxed), there is minimal resistance to elongation of the muscle. Active inhibition techniques relax only the contractile structures within muscle, not connective tissues. This type of stretching is possible only if the muscle to be elongated is normally innervated and under voluntary control. It cannot be used I patients with severe muscle weakness, spasticity, or paralysis from neuromuscular dysfunction.