Flexibility more than just a mindset at new South Elgin stretching studio

Being flexible as a mindset has become a way of life during pandemic times, but a new South Elgin business wants to help clients focus on the old-fashioned kind of physical flexibility.

StretchLab, a one-on-one assisted stretching studio, opened in July in South Elgin on Randall Road.

"Stretching is normally the one area of fitness that people don't focus on or they completely ignore because it's a slow return and it takes a long time to get the muscles to finally let go, and sometimes it's painful," owner Brenda Saban said. "What we can do here is you just come in, lay down and you don't have to do anything as the client. We'll take you through the stretches, hold them for you and you just tell us 'too much, not enough.'"

Saban said clients vary from casual athletes such as runners or golfers, or "back in the day" athletes as she called them, to people who do a lot of sitting at desks.

"Everybody is sitting and hunched over computers all the time, and now it's frequently at the kitchen table with work-from-home so nothing is at the right height," she said. "The hips and the lower back are areas that get tight but also the upper chest from being hunched over."

Christina Gallagher of Campton Hills said it's been a big help to her.

"It just makes you feel so much better," Gallagher said. "I had my knee replaced about a year ago and after a couple of sessions, I felt like I could walk much better. And with all the work from home, my neck and shoulders feel so much better after a session."

Tuesday was her fourth session with flexologist Sarah Englund. "It feels good," she said. "I'm a big massage person, which I still like, but this is really different and can be more intense, really focusing on whatever area you want."

Saban's South Elgin location is a franchise and she and her husband Dan have applied for three more locations in the Naperville area. The couple lives in South Elgin.

StretchLab has six Illinois locations, including Park Ridge and Glenview.

Eventually, the Sabans will offer group stretches, but for now they have one-on-one sessions limited to three clients at a time by appointment.

"The whole pandemic threw us off," she said. They had planned last fall to open in May but were pushed back to July. They were able to open when other one-on-one direct service businesses such as hair salons opened.

They're offering free demos by appointment only. "It's one of those things that people need to try, it's not something you can understand through words."