I scheduled a free 30-minute intro session at the Western Springs location hoping to see if this could help with overall health and wellness. I am not tight overall, rather hypermobile in most joints; however, I have been seeing PTs and massage therapists for targeted work on the few muscles that are over-worked due to due my hypermobility.
I like that Stretch Zone is a drop-in option for days I might be having more pain, so I went to see if I might add this to my treatment options. My stretch-practitioner introduced himself by name and asked if I had an area of the body that I wanted to focus on, so I explained I had neck and left arm/hand pain and wished to focus there. He didn't given his qualifications, but mentioned he'd worked previously in a gym.
I had read on-line that the practitioners complete a week-long training and are encouraged to have certifications in personal training and/or massage, but I am not sure if he did.
Oddly, there was no medical history taken, which may have been helpful as I have both Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (joint hypermobility) and cancer, but I do not have cancer in my arm/neck, which is where we focused.
The stretches were for the most part very basic and performed laying on my back or sitting up on the table. They were not like the targeted stretches provided by my PT or the massage therapists that I see, where they locate and work on the smaller muscles that are in spasm. Mostly he provided general stretches like "upper trap", "bicep" and "tricep". The trunk stretch felt good. Each stretch was performed 3 times, held for a certain amount of time.
As my larger muscles are not tight, he was able to bring me to end-range in all joints, so I didn't experience a "stretch" but more of assisted movement, which was fine.
Our session started late and the final minutes were used to explain the packages available for purchase- so I only received about 15-16 minutes of stretching, which was enough actually. I was hoping it was going to be more like a Thai massage, which I love, but it was more like just being moved through typical ranges of motion by someone very nice and attentive, but the work was not as precise as I was hoping for. The facility is clean. Free parking. Scheduling on-line was easy. I think if you are really tight and like having someone stretch you, this could be an option for you, but at $85 for a 30-minute session it may make more sense to book a PT or a massage therapist.
My practitioner reminded me to hydrate and he recommended that I return weekly for stretch sessions. I will continue instead with my PT and massage therapists, which are more targeted and more cost-effective. read more