ABSTRACT
As a very early adopter (1998) of practitioner-assisted stretching (offered as a specific and complete whole-body therapy to patients), the author has observed this specific service category grow over the last 5 years into what is now a veritable industry. It has been reported that the number of stretch boutiques and studios has expanded dramatically, both in the United States and in other countries. The fastest and largest growth has been fueled by the growth of the many different franchises now offering assisted stretching services either alone or as one of several other services that may be bundled with the stretching. Unfortunately, as was told to this author by a student who went through one franchise training, some of those companies provide only minimal instruction on how to stretch a person (a total of 4 h in that one case).
