Edge of Sanity

The term streptomania is derived from words strepto- (Greek: turn,
twist, bend) and -mania (mad desire, compulsion). Its meaning roughly
corresponds to "compulsion to stretch" or "compulsive stretching".

Some of the fundamental components of streptomania include
recurring intrusive thoughts, impotence to resist the compulsion to
engage in stretching, and the release of pressure following the act of
extreme contorting.

There is a difference between ordinary stretching and streptomania:
ordinary stretching (whether planned, like yoga exercises, or impulsive,
like a morning stretch) is deliberate and is motivated by the reward
won from the act of stretching (such as physical comfort, fame or
monetary value in case of circus acts and the like), whereas with
streptomania, there is the recurrent failure to resist impulses to stretch
oneself even when stretching is completely irrelevant to one's current
situation and surroundings (such as raising one's leg to the standing
split position in a bus, doing splits between the seats in a plane,
spider-walking down the street, sitting with one's leg behind the head
during school lessons, etc.)

The Backfolde Sanitarium is the world's first and biggest mental clinic
for youths suffering from streptomaniac disorders, with or without
hypermobility. Results from the ongoing study of the phenomenon of
human flexibility allow us to focus on constant improvement of the
quality of services, increasing the therapeutic effectiveness on a
regular basis.

The clinic's primary focus is to bring the patient's passion in order and
turn him from a "spineless psycho" into a rational contortionist who
can control his natural passion and knows exactly when it is
appropriate to show off his skills and when not.

For that purpose the clinic has specialized gyms where patients can
work on their flexibility guided by professional instructors, most of
whom are former contortionists and certified yoga teachers.

Public halls let the patients learn to demonstrate their flexibility to
an audience in an orderly manner, one flexible position always
followed by a specific other position. The sequential method had
proven to greatly reduce the arbitrary impulses to stretch right in the
street, at school, etc.

The clinic provides padded cells for patients in critical condition, also
known as "rubber rooms", specially designed for patients experiencing
periods of uncontrolled extreme contortions.

The Backfolde Sanitarium is not just a clinic. It is a great center for
the "different" youths where they are able to rehab and find friends
with the same mental disorder. Priceless!