On the surface, stretching may seem like a simple practice. But in reality, the impact of stretching is more complex than most may realize.
Your muscles, connective tissues, joints, and nervous system are constantly communicating with one another to determine how well your body can move. To help maximize this movement and promote better mobility function, more and more people are incorporating assisted stretching into their routine.
By combining guided positioning, controlled movement, and sustained stretches, assisted stretching gives the body a structured way to explore and maintain its mobility. As a result, it gives individuals the opportunity to not only maintain, but elevate their lifestyle!
Assisted stretching is where a professional such as an iFlex stretch therapist assists a person through a series of stretches. Unlike stretching independently, assisted stretching is a passive practice for the person getting stretched! The stretch professional does all the work of positioning the person’s body into a stretch, while actively and safely pushing the body into a deep stretch to help enhance the benefits that often cannot be achieved when stretching on your own.
When you stretch independently, you're responsible for positioning your body, controlling the movement, stabilizing your joints, and determining how far to go. As a result, it’s easy to actively engage muscles beyond the ones that are getting stretched. This means there is a higher risk of overstretching or overworking the wrong muscles, resulting in either hurting yourself or not deepening the stretch as much as you could.
With assisted stretching, your therapist can help control those variables, monitor intensity, and customize the stretches to your body. This not only creates a better stretching experience, but also allows for a deeper, more targeted stretch. When done regularly, it can help enhance flexibility, improve range of motion, reduce pain, and more.
No matter your current lifestyle, maintaining your mobility should be a priority. Mobility is the ability to control one’s movement. It encompasses flexibility, range of motion, coordination, and balance. Being able to maintain good mobility means being able to maintain an active and healthy quality of life, while still enjoying the activities you love as you continue to age.
In a conversation with Dr. Andrew Huberman, Dr. Kelly Starrett describes mobility in terms of maintaining access to "normative range of motion"—the movement ranges your body should reasonably be capable of accessing. He states that the body adapts to the movements and positions we regularly expose it to. If you consistently move through a particular range, your body has a reason to maintain access to it. If you rarely use a range of motion, that movement may become less familiar and more difficult to access over time.
This is why consistent stretching is important. It helps adapt your mobility for more efficient movement with reduced tightness. This is even more effective when done with assistance.
Your ability to move a joint through a particular range isn't controlled by one thing. It's influenced by the muscles and connective tissues surrounding the joint, the structure of the joint itself, and your nervous system.
When a muscle is stretched, sensory receptors within the muscle and surrounding tissues detect changes in length and tension. Those signals are communicated to the nervous system, which helps regulate how the body responds to the stretch. Over time, repeated exposure to stretching can change how the body responds.
Think about the first time you tried a new stretch. You may have felt resistance relatively quickly. After practicing that same stretch consistently, you may find that you can move farther before experiencing the same sensation of discomfort.
Part of the adaptation can come from your nervous system becoming more accustomed to the sensation and allowing you to access more of the available range. This is sometimes referred to as stretch tolerance.
Research has found that improvements in range of motion can occur without corresponding changes in muscle stiffness, suggesting that changes in how the nervous system perceives and tolerates stretching can play an important role.
This sensory feedback loop is why techniques like Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation (PNF) are so effective. This technique is most effective through assisted stretching. PNF directly targets these neurological reflexes by pairing passive stretching with isometric muscle contractions, a push-and-release technique. By “tricking” the nervous system into relaxing the muscle, PNF allows you to safely access deeper ranges of motion faster than standard static stretching.
Regularly incorporating assisted stretching into your lifestyle can easily be achieved when done through a stretch studio. When choosing a stretch studio, you should consider how the stretch studio can complement what you need through their services and techniques.
It’s also important to find a stretch studio that you can trust. At iFlex, our certified stretch therapists are experts in the modality with extensive training to ensure a safe and effective experience.
At iFlex Stretch Studios, we’re redefining recovery. Our clients enjoy access to:
Certified stretch therapists
Comprehensive mobility assessments
Personalized, expert-guided stretch sessions
Right now, you can try an iFlex near you and get 50% off your first stretch. Just click the button below to get started.