The new Stretch studio teaches its clients to flex in a way they didn’t think possible.

By Joyce Hor-Chung Lau

Hong Kong’s first stand-alone “Stretch studio” was launched two weeks ago in a posh space above Alibi in Central. Formerly located inside the Fightin’ Fit martial arts academy, Stretch Ltd. (4/F Winsome House, 73 Wyndham St., Central, 21678686, www.stretchasia.com) is now open to the general public, and is already pre-booked a week in advance.

Run by Chris Watts, a highly energetic massage and neuromuscular therapist, the studio is the only place in Hong Kong that offers what is called active isolated stretching (AIS). It uses a therapy that can be broadly described as a cross between massage, posture alignment and physio, with a dash of yoga-style stretching thrown in. The thing that sets AIS apart is that it includes education for and active participation from client, so that they can continue therapy on their own at home. “With many therapies, patients feel great the day they leave, but keep coming back week after week with the same problems,” Watts explains. “Instead, we put people on 5-, 10-, or 20-week programs, depending on their needs. And by the time they leave, they will have learned how to take care of their problems themselves.”

While Stretch does employ sports therapists, most of their clients are simply victims of living and working in what Watts calls “a 100-mph city.” A typical example is a chef who spends so my hours leaning over a flame that his head is now thrust eight inches in front of where it should be, throwing his entire upper body out of sync. Others include women who’ve worn high heels for so long that their foot muscles are frozen, or 25-year-old office workers who already have bulging or dehydrated discs from constant sitting.

Favoring a preventative approach, the 60-year-old executive whom Watts describes as “never having crossed his legs in his life” is the kind of patient that he wishes he had seen decades earlier. Watts’ youngest customer is a five-year-old boy who was brought in by his worried mother – one of the legions of tiny schoolchildren hunched under gigantic schoolbags and forced to wear traditional Chinese canvas shoes that offer no support. Once he starts talking, Watts begins to sound more like a crusader than a mere health professional. “I wish I could teach stretching in schools. I keep walking down the street and seeing all these people with problems. I’d love to pull them aside, but I can’t,” he says, laughing at himself. “After all, I am not the posture police.”

Stretch has two private treatment rooms, as well as an area where small classes can be taught. The fashionably serene interior is marked by green-tinted glass, fresh orchids, and a wall of Watts’ underwater photos (he’s also a scuba instructor). What sounds like running water are actually bubbling oxygen machines, which, combined with ozone machines, keep the environment relatively “pollution-free.”

An initial 15-minute consultation, during which Watts will measure your body for symmetry and point out problems, is free. After that, half-hour sessions are $400, and hour-long sessions are $750. Most clients tend to buy packages of five ($3,500), ten ($6,500), or 20 sessions ($12,000). Home visits cost $800 an hour. Stretch also sell some orthopedic products, such as office chairs.