Our Idea
The focus of this project is to build an apparatus to facilitate stretching in a lying, or
sitting position. We intend to address two major issues associated with stretching. First, when
a stretch is induced by forcing a muscle group of one leg to move in the appropriate direction,
the other leg tends to move in the same direction. Preventing movement of the latter leg
increases the effectiveness of the stretch by indirectly holding the incipient point of the muscle
group to be stretched at a fixed point, which allows for maximum elongation of the muscle
group. Regarding the second major issue, a human muscle is comparable to a spring with
relatively high stiffness. Therefore, the force necessary to induce a stretch is directly
proportional to the elongation of the muscle. We intend to design a mechanical system that
yields a higher force output relative to the input. These two principles will maximize the
quality of stretching.