Stretch Zone Stuart

Our Story

The Stretch Zone® method of Practitioner Assisted Stretching is for anyone wanting an active lifestyle: One that allows you to do anything from performing better at a sport to simply being able to reach a jar on the shelf. Baby Boomers are living an active lifestyle, but after a lifetime of not exercising, Stretch Zone® “re-educates the muscles.” The Stretch Zone® method approaches stretching from a neurological perspective. This is achieved by working with the muscle tonus (muscle’s nervous tension) to acquire an optimal active range of motion. Our goal is not to make one more ‘flexible’ or ‘elastic’, but instead to be able to move more functionally by re-establishing a more ideal resting muscle tone. This re-education of the associated nerve-muscle reflex lends to movement becoming more efficient and effortless in all ranges and planes of motion.” Rather than pulling on our limbs to the point of soreness, Stretch Zone® works through the nervous system to achieve lasting flexibility gains. The method rests on the notion that manipulating our muscle’s nervous energy is a major key to unlocking our body’s functional flexibility. This nervous energy, known as the stretch reflex, is our body’s automatic defense against the dangers of overstretching. Any movement that goes too far or too fast or is held for too long, past that current active range of motion, will cause your body to resist with the stretch reflex. Once the reflex kicks in, your body has effectively said “no more” and resists the stretch. Any further attempt at stretching becomes futile straining. FACT: Current research shows that when avoiding the stretch reflex, your muscles can lengthen to 160 percent of their resting length instantly. How it works: The Stretch Zone® practitioners work with the stretch reflex and some lesser known but extremely powerful principles of neuromuscular behavior. Utilizing our patent pending equipment they follow specific protocols to systematically position, stabilize, isolate and manipulate muscles in a scientific way. When your body is stabilized correctly, it doesn’t have fear. It can relax and allow the full stretch to occur. The great benefit of Stretch Zone’s practitioner assisted stretching is the ability to control and alter the timing of and even overcome the stretch reflex. Think of a car seatbelt. If you pull too quickly, it locks. If you continue to force it, you’re just stretching the material itself—that’s what it means to micro-strain a muscle. However, if you were to pull your car seatbelt nice, smoothly and controlled, it will come out much farther.” Traditional stretching methods try to make you more ‘flexible’ or ‘elastic’. The Stretch Zone® method works to increase your active range of motion and quality of movement.