What is stretching?

Physical therapy

﻿Hi there, my name is Sophie Brazier. I'm a children's physiotherapist. Thank you for joining me today for our lesson. So we are now at the beginning of unit four, and this unit is all about stretching. So we've got 14 lessons to go through, and what we'll do is we'll start off with what is stretching, and then we're going to work through some ideas of stretches each lesson, and there will be some ideas of some different stretches for you to try. And I just want to reiterate that it's really important, if you do have some stretches that have been given to you and are specific to you, then please make sure you're doing those stretches and you're following instructions that you've been given. These stretches aren't specific to you and are just some ideas and activities to try. So if you do have any questions and you need some help with them, then make sure you contact your local therapist. So what we're going to do in this lesson today is we're going to start off with an introduction into what is stretching. We will then have a look at a stretch called a butterfly stretch. So you don't need any equipment for this stretch. You would just need yourself. So I think we can probably start our lesson now. I would just like to give you a little message from our team. We as therapists have tried to think of the best way to continue to support children, young people, and their families. So you may be watching this as a child by yourself or you might be with a parent or carer. We will be exploring topic areas that we regularly provide advice and support on across all ages and abilities, and each lesson we will aim to give you some ideas and activities that can be carried out either at home or in school. You may already have specific programmes that you're using or advice that has been given to you by your child's school or therapist. So please make sure that you're using any information I'm giving you alongside anything you already have. And if you do have any questions or would like help tailoring this to their needs, then please make sure you get in contact with your local therapy service. I'm going to begin the lesson today by just going through what is stretching. So stretching involves moving your body parts into a position that will lengthen or elongate the muscles and the soft tissues. It can be used as part of a warmup or cool down in exercise. So you might have heard maybe when your parent or carer is doing some exercise or somebody you know, or perhaps yourself when you're doing some exercise, some people do use stretching before you do the activity and some people use it afterwards. So there's lots of different ways to incorporate stretching. And you can also do stretches on their own. There are many different ways to perform a stretch, and what we're going to do over the next few lessons is we're going to give you some ideas of how to introduce some stretching into your daily routine, and the last point there, there are different types of stretching. So I'll now go on to explain a little bit more about the different types. So let's look a bit closer at types of stretching. So in the four colour boxes, we've got some different types and I'll explain a little bit more about each one. So static, that is when you're still and you're not moving. So here in a static stretch, your body is still and the stretch is usually held for a short period of time. And again, there, there's lots of thoughts about how long you should hold a stretch for, but here you'll see as we go through some stretching, I will give you some choices and some options, and really, for you, as we begin to do some stretches, it's about you feeling the stretch and perhaps taking it a little bit further if you're able to. The next point there, dynamic, so this is when you are moving really. So dynamic means moving. So this could be a stretch when your body is moving through a range of movement. So you'll see further on, we'll go and look a little bit in more detail about dynamic stretching, but here as an example, this could be when you're warming up and you are maybe swinging your arms backwards and forwards, and you're feeling a stretch at the end of their range. So this is when you're kind of warming your body up and you tend to use more of a dynamic stretch. And you could have a passive stretch. So this is when you are not really getting involved in the stretch. This is when you are having some help with the stretch. So really it could be another person doing the stretch. So an idea here is somebody could be stretching your hamstrings. You'd be lying on your back and somebody is stretching the muscle for you. And the opposite to that is an active stretch, so you are doing the stretch yourself. So, a way to think of this stretch and an easy way to describe it could be you're stretching the muscles in the back of your legs, so your calf muscles, and a way to do this is to maybe hang your foot off the back of the step. So you're dropping your foot down and that's an example of an active stretch. So now I've got a lovely stretch to start us off, and it's called a butterfly stretch, which is perfect. So you are going to be in a seated position and you're going to place the soles of your feet together, if you're able to, and you're going to hold them with your hands to make the wings, and you can gently press your knees down to increase the stretch. And then you can hold the stretch, I would say, hold for between 20 to 30 seconds and then release the stretch. And then perhaps you could try a few more times. I'll now demonstrate and go into a little bit more detail, and then you can pause the video and have a go at the stretch yourself and see how you get on. So here is a lovely butterfly stretch to show you. My starting position is with my soles of my feet together, and my knees are rolling out to the side. And then what I'm doing is I'm holding my feet and I am showing you how to perhaps use your elbows to just get a bit more of a stretch. So your knees are coming a little bit further down to the mat. There are obviously lots of individual variations. So, some people might be able to put their knees like me, some people might be able to get further, and some people might just get a little way. So the stretch is individual to you. And all I will say is that when you're doing it, when you feel a stretch, that's the point you want to stop at and then you back off and then maybe try a little bit more. So we're not looking to push your knees all the way to the floor. And here is an angle from the side, so you can just see me doing this stretch a bit differently, and I've added a little bit more into the stretch. So, I am leaning a little bit further forward here. I want to try and elongation my spine, so I'm not curving over too much. I am bringing my chest down towards my knees slightly. So if you find that stretch a little bit too much in sitting, you could try the butterfly stretch in a lying reclined position. So if you start off in lying and then bring your legs into a similar position as in sitting, so you've got your ankles together, your soles of your feet together. Then another option if you find that too much of a strain on your lower back, here is just a nice idea to ease off your lower back by just gently taking your knees side-to-side why you're lying on your back. And then this is probably one of my favourite activities to do in lying, it is a windscreen wiper of your legs. So you basically take your feet a little bit further apart, and then you just gently, a bit like a windscreen wiper, begin to sweep them side-to-side, and you'll feel this as a nice release in your lower back if you found that a big stretch when you did the butterfly stretch. So please now have a go at those activities. And if you pause the video, have a go yourself, and then you can rejoin me afterwards and I'll talk you through all the options to extend and simplify. Okay, I hope you gave that stretch a little try and I wonder how you found it. So let's just think about it a little bit more. If you found that stretch quite easy and you weren't really feeling anything, then as I demonstrated in the video, you could reach your chest forward to add a little stretch onto your back, if that is comfortable. If the stretch is too much in sitting and you found it difficult to get your soles of your feet together, then my suggestion, as I demonstrated in the video, is try lying on your back and perhaps bringing your soles of your feet together, or maybe you need a bit of help to do that. The other option is to lie on your back and just take your knees side-to-side or windscreen wiper your legs as I demonstrated in the video as well. So those are just some ways, if you're finding the butterfly stretch too much, you can just really change the stretch and just get a stretch to your back and your legs as well, but just by doing it in a slightly different position. So, go away and try those options, see what works for you, and then restart afterwards, and you can join me again. So that is now the end of our lesson. Thank you for joining me, and I hope you enjoyed that stretch idea that I gave you to try. Please make sure that you use the options to simplify the activity if you need to, and if you do want to take the stretch a little bit further, you have the opportunity to use the extend option as well. So thank you very much for joining me. Please join me next time for unit four, lesson two, and the stretch we will be looking at then is a stretch called an overhead body stretch. So we'll also have a look at little bit more at why stretching is important. So have a great rest of your day. Take care of yourself and I'll see you soon, goodbye!

What is stretching?

What is stretching?

These resources will be removed by the end of the Spring Term 2026.

Lesson slides

Lesson details

Key learning points

Content guidance

Supervision

Licence

Lesson video