Learn how to design a practical, effective and sustainable workplace stretching program.

Do you want to institute a workplace stretching program at your facility?

Do you want to know how to implement a best-practice program that is practical for your needs, effective and sustainable over the long term?

We’ve been implementing workplace stretching programs for clients since 1989. In that time, we’ve learned what works and what doesn’t. That isn’t to say it’s always easy or that we don’t still experience challenging situations, but we can point you in the right direction.

Here is What You’ll Need

You’ll need these six core elements to successfully implement a workplace stretching program:

1. Program guidance and leadership support
2. Work Readiness Coaches
3. Program Rollout and Marketing Plan
4. The Right Warm-up Stretching Protocol Effectively Implemented
5. Review and Continuous Improvement
6. Passion, Enthusiasm and Perseverance (Most Important)

1. Program Guidance and Leadership Support

Your entire MSD prevention process should be guided by a program guidance document. Your workplace stretching program, along with all other elements of your comprehensive prevention plan, should be included in this document.

The following should be outlined in the workplace stretching section:

• Goals and objectives for the program
• Roles and responsibilities
• Stretching protocol and guidelines
• Annual audit criteria for review and continuous improvement

Leadership commitment to the workplace stretching program is important – we all know what leadership is sincerely committed to is what gets done. Leadership should demonstrate their support for the program in a visible and consistent way.

2. Work Readiness Coaches

Members of management and employee leaders (such as safety and/or ergonomics committee members) should be selected as warm-up stretching coaches to lead employee groups through the pre-shift program.

The company should select individuals who are well respected by the workforce and are suited for this type of leadership position. This group of coaches should attend a special training program conducted by the Injury Prevention Specialist / Athletic Trainer to be qualified to lead the pre-shift warm-up program.

Upon completion of this training, the coaches will be able to:

• Clearly communicate and deliver the reasons and benefits behind the program.
• Effectively lead pre-shift warm- up stretching program.
• Instruct team members on the techniques of the warm-up exercises and caution against poor techniques.
• Review the “important points to remember” listed above with team members.

We recommend to our clients that stretch coaches achieve a certification upon demonstrating competency in the stretches, training and communication/leading team members in the stretches correctly.

3. Program Rollout and Marketing Plan

A site wide initiative like workplace stretching needs a carefully crafted program rollout and marketing plan in order to be a huge success and maintain momentum.

Be excited about it! Stress the benefit to your team members in all communication channels. The company cares enough about them to allocate precious time to put their health and safety first — let them know about it.

Use any and all communication channels you have available to stress these benefits in the weeks leading up to the program launch.

4. The Right Warm-up Stretching Protocol

Program design and execution is everything.

• Program design: In the end, the success of this program will depend on how effective the program design is. If you implement a poorly designed program, you will get below par results. Make sure that you implement a warm-up and stretching program developed by a professional with experience in designing stretching programs for the workplace. Only a properly designed program will insure that your team members are effectively prepared to perform the demands of their job.
• Program execution: It is imperative to perform the pre work stretching routine consistently. Professional football teams neverskip their stretching and warm up routine, and workplace athletes never should either. If your pre work stretching program becomes inconsistent, your program will lose all credibility in the minds of employees and your efforts will be wasted. Don’t allow this to happen!

5. Review and Continuous Improvement

Gather feedback from team members on the stretching program and use that feedback to find continuous improvement opportunities.

Team member survey questions:

• Do you feel the pre-shift warm-up stretching program is effective in preparing your body for work?
• Do you feel the pre-shift warm-up stretching program is effective for improving the overall health and performance of your body’s movement system?
• Do you feel that your coach is doing an effective job in leading the pre-shift warm-up stretching program?
• Which stretches do you feel are the most effective for you?
• Which stretches do you feel are the least effective for you?
• How do you feel we can improve the warm-up stretching program?

When the initial excitement of the program wanes, spice things up by incorporating new stretching exercises into the program, bring in a new trainer with high energy, or add a video element to the stretching routine. Always be improving.

6. Passion, Enthusiasm and Perseverance (Most Important)

Above all else, passion and enthusiasm wins. In companies where the leadership is passionate about health and safety are the companies where we see the most success with workplace stretching and the overall MSD prevention process.