Assisted Stretching!
Happy Friday friends! You’ve made it this far! It has been a rough week for me. I haven’t worked out ONCE because I’ve been down with a nasty respiratory infection since Sunday. However, I am on the mend and I wanted to pop in and share a bit with you about the awesomeness that is assisted stretching!
As you probably know, stretching is very important if you’re an athlete. I would go even farther to say that stretching is important if you have a sedentary life. So often we sit at office chairs for hours on end without stretching our body. This leads to imbalances, bad posture, and bad health all together. Stretching is a must for everyone!
Assisted stretching takes it once step farther. Whether it’s with a physical therapist or a new line of shops popping up all over the national, the idea is to have someone guide you through a series of stretches while providing hands on assistance. Each every body is different and we all have different needs. Assisted stretching allows us to target certain areas with some help.
Personally, my hips are ALWAYS tight. I’m talking, “I can’t step through from plank to low lunge in yoga” tight! I was in a car accident when I was younger that I believe is part of the issue but I also sit at my desk a lot. Being able to go to a mobility specialist and have them walk me through hip stretches was amazing. Some of the stretches were not new to me. I would lay on my back and do the traditional figure four stretch. However, having another set of hands gently guide me into a deeper stretch really helped open up my muscles. Applying gentle pressure in certain spots is what makes assisted stretching so great!
Sometimes you’ll be asked to get into a stretch and contract certain muscles for a few moments while your mobility specialists helps you get into a deeper stretching. Other times you’ll be doing dynamic or static forms of stretching. Using these and many other techniques in your stretch sessions is what gets you better results and helps your body feel much better.
Often sessions range from 20-40 minutes with specific focus areas (upper body/lower body) but this can vary from place to place. As I mentioned before, there are many franchises opening up around the nation like StretchLab that I think are worth looking into. If one is not in your area, I’d see if any sports doctor or physical therapist can help you. Assisted stretching is definitely something I would recommend to help you stay active and feeling great!
Have you tried assisted stretching before?
