Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This DVD, which is filmed against a gorgeous resort backdrop, features Classical Stretch founder Miranda Esmonde-White providing live instruction for three separate back workouts. You will need only a mat and a chair for these workouts. The Main Menu of this DVD reads as follows: Introduction to the Workouts 14 Min Upper Body Back Pain Relief Workout 14 Min Lower Body Back Pain Relief Workout 30 Min Back Pain Prevention Workout In her 11-minute introduction, Miranda describes her own history of chronic back pain; she maintains that since she began this program, she no longer experiences back pain, saying that 80% of back pain can be helped by exercise. However, she does encourage you to first seek evaluation from a physician if you are having back pain. Miranda devotes the remainder of the introduction to talking about how back pain develops and how to use the workouts. She recommends using the short (14-minute) lower back practice as soon as an attack of back pain begins in order to work through the pain. Then, she suggests using the longer (30-minute) back prevention workout daily--or even twice per day--for as long as needed until the pain has completely gone away. I have broken down each of the three workouts in detail below. UPPER BACK (actual time is 10.5 minutes) Miranda notes that since upper back muscles don't spasm in the same way that lower back muscles do, this workout is more for stress relief. The first half of the workout consists of very gentle stretches. There are some shoulder rolls and a lot of bending/straightening of the arms as well as gentle pulling movements; Miranda gets slightly more intense with some contracting/releasing of the shoulder blades. For approximately the last 4.5 minutes, Miranda is seated in a chair. From here, she continues with the contracting/releasing and also uses the chair to facilitate some additional gentle stretches. The workout ends with a series of neck stretches. LOWER BACK (actual time is 13.5 minutes) For this workout, Miranda begins seated in the chair. She keeps her body almost constantly moving (which she states is very important when you have pain), performing gentle stretches such as pulling the knees in to the chest. Next, she comes to standing, placing one foot at a time on the chair for more gentle stretches, keeping both legs bent the whole time. With 8.5 minutes lift, Miranda transitions to the floor, where she begins lying face-up. She performs hip/hamstring stretches similar to what are seen in her other workouts, but much more gentle. She then flips over to her stomach for some chest and leg raises; she says that the leg lifts are the most important exercises in the entire program. She concludes this workout with several child's pose stretches. BACK PAIN PREVENTION WORKOUT (actual time is 29.5 minutes) Miranda starts this workout standing for a short (about 2.5 minutes) gentle warm-up, basically just swaying and moving the body. She then does about 3 minutes of additional gentle stretches seated in the chair. Coming down to hands and knees, she performs a detailed series of cat stretches, moving forward and back as well as to either side. This is followed by a long sequence of hip/hamstring stretches; Miranda goes into these stretches a bit more deeply than she does in the short Lower Back workout. Next, she begins some ab contractions, adding in a pelvic curl and a bit of a twist (she does not perform full crunches). Miranda then comes to a lying face down position for some leg lifts (very similar to the short program) and then to seated on the floor for some additional stretches. With 8 minutes left in the workout, Miranda returns to a standing position. She again uses the chair, this time placing a foot on the seat of the chair for additional hip, hamstring, and psoas stretches. She concludes the workout with both hands placed on the back of the chair for final stretches. It is too soon to say what kind of results this DVD might produce for me, as I am not experiencing active back pain right now. However, I HAVE had some low back issues in the past, and I know that if I do experience low back pain again, I will be glad to have this DVD on hand.