In the depths of a shopping centre in east London, a glassy fitness studio glows with orange lights. Inside, rows of white massage beds are each cordoned by a curtain. The purpose? A good stretch. “Some people come in and tell us they want to do the splits,” says Tim Kayode, sports therapist at Flexology, the UK’s first assisted stretching studio, which opened in Canary Wharf in November. “Other people are tense and aching from being hunched over a computer all day.”

The solution involves private sessions ranging from 15 to 45 minutes, where one of 13 sports therapists will address areas that feel tight. For office workers, there’s the Executive Stretch, which targets the neck, back and shoulders, or the Unwind Stretch, which aims to relax clients and release tension.

Or you can build your own, like I did. After the instructor asked me to do a series of movements to identify tightness (hips and neck in my case), the stretching began. My legs were pulled, my neck bent; it felt odd at first, like places I didn’t know could be stretched were loosening up.