Hello and welcome to living in the Lehigh Valley, where our focus is your health and wellness.

I'm your host, Brittany Sweeney.

The benefits of stretching before and after a workout have long been known in the exercise world.

But what about stretching as the exercise?

A spot dedicated solely to stretching is celebrating a year in the Lehigh Valley.

We're going to take a nice big breath in.

We're going to get into a lumbar twist.

As a caretaker of those who are aging, Karen Tamerler knows the importance of wor on physical activity as we get older.

There you go.

Ready?

Yeah.

Good.

I knew the importance of good balance as we age, and so I thought this would be something that I would like.

Number one, I like the idea that it was a guided stretch and, it was one on one, and, it would help me do the right stretch and not do something that might hurt me in some way.

We'll do a little stretch here.

Right shoulder into the hand.

When Stretch Lab opened in South Whitehall Township, she decided to give it a try.

You know, I'm going to be 70 in a few months.

I'll be at one table, and at the next table is an elite athlete who's here.

And we're both treated with the same kindness and respect.

I'll just push an elbow into the hand.

Three.

Stretching the body is a proven way to prevent or improve injuries.

And that's the basis for the assisted stretch studio in Tilghman Square.

And it can be a sports performance for a student athlete.

And then we work with people from 8 to 80.

Tom Seibold owns the stretch lab with his wife, Gina.

The stretch lab is a one on one assisted stretching studio, so we work on individuals goals when it comes to flexibility and mobility.

The couple says flexologists have a background in some type of physical activity, from degrees in exercise science or kinesiology to yoga instructors.

They have a 68 hour training program that we go through over to 20 hours online, and then they attend a two day workshop at another studio.

One of the other stretch labs with a master flexologist who will teach that training.

And they test out at the end of that, and then they have 20 practical hours to complete before they are certified flexologist.

Gina Seibold has a background in the art of stretching as a former yoga instructor.

She says there's a few things her team keeps in mind for each session.

It's really to meet the people where they are.

I'd say when people come in, they really don't know what to expect from an assisted stretch.

So when you come into the studio, it's different.

It's a new modality for a lot of people.

So your arms are going to go up and you're going to do three squats.

New to me.

The couple had me go through the needs assessment which includes a mobility assessment called maps.

It grades you against four different metrics mobility, activation, posture and signature.

Once the assessment was in to the stretching table, I went.

A hamstring is next, so it's easy.

This one's very tight.

It's okay.

The I would say it's very much one of those things that you need to to try in order to, to put a value on it.

For the Seibolds, the demand for this type of exercise has grown over the past year.

They say it's time to stretch their footprint and issue an open another store in the Lehigh Valley.

Fold from the hips, slide down to the toes.

As for clients like Tamerler, she's a believer that her consistent stretching has expanded her everyday range of motion.

And I think what I've noticed are the improvements.

Loading and unloading my dishwasher.

Moving my laundry from the washing machine to the dryer.

It's all so much easier even going up the stairs.

I do my stairs probably ten times a day, but I go up quicker and with more confidence, and I know it's a result of coming to stretch.

Sessions last anywhere from about 25 to 50 minutes and range in price from $30 up.

The Stretch Lab also offers a membership program that will do it for this edition of living in the Lehigh Valley.

I'm Brittany Sweeney, hoping you.

Stay happy and healthy.