Product Description

Anybody who suffers from back pain will agree that it is a miserable and debilitating condition, often brought on by a sedentary lifestyle and an inability to properly relax. Pilates is one of the best forms of exercise to help overcome and prevent back pain: it rehabilitates, relaxes and strengthens the muscles around the spine and abdomen, which support and stabilize the back. In this title, Pilates expert Anna Selby has carefully selected specific Pilates exercises that help overcome and prevent back problems and that can be safely performed in the comfort of your own home, without the need for studio equipment. With a full explanation of why Pilates is the answer to back problems and the key areas on which to focus, she shows you how to: recover from and prevent back pain, using Pilates as well as other therapies (massage, water therapy, diet and relaxation); go about your daily life while avoiding a bad back; improve your posture and look taller and more confident; strengthen your abdominal muscles and develop a flat stomach; and stop the pain and stop the worry.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #336654 in Books
• Published on: 2003-04-07
• Format: Illustrated
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

From the Back Cover
The Pilates program to banish back pain
Pilates expert Anna Selby has developed a special exercise program to get you out of pain and back on your feet. Starting with gentle exercises to mobilize the body after injury, it gradually builds up to more difficult exercises to strengthen the back and supporting muscles to protect against future back problems. And because Pilates is a gentle and low impact exercise, you can work the body without the risk of further injury. Anna shows you how to:

- Gently mobilize the body after injury
- Strengthen the body so you can resume your everyday lifestyle
- Protect the back from future injury
- Improve flexibility and posture

Anna has specially designed her program so you won't need any specialist or studio equipment - you cna follow it in the comfort of your home.

About the Author
Anna Selby has been involved in many forms of dance and exercise, including ballet, Martha Graham technique, yoga and Tai Chi. Her initial interest was Pilates and she wrote the first book to include routines from Pilates in 1985. Since then she has written ten more books on health, fitness and exercise, and contributes features regularly to national magazines and newspapers. Claire Fone MCSP, SRP, Cert. Health Ed., a physiotherapist who qualified from Guy's Hospital, London, with distinction in 1984, founded the successful Westminster Physiotherapy Centre in 1994 offering clients physiotherapy, yoga, Pilates and massage therapy.

Customer Reviews

Comprehensive Pilates
If you have not given Pilates a go you will like this book. Very good lay out of the pages and the movements will take you from the start to the end without any trouble. Very basic and easy to use and understand. Also highly recommend The Backsmart Fitness Plan By Dr.Adam Weiss- a very detailed , modified Pilates movements that will help you get stronger without straining your back or neck.

Excitingly different
In the early 1900s, a sickly young German lad decided to strengthen his body. Developing his own philosophy of exercise that embraces body, breath and mind, Joseph Pilates turned himself and his body around, turning himself into one of the exercise gurus of the early 20th century. This book is an updated example of the Pilates method, filled with lots of illustrating pictures. Overall, my wife and I have found this to be an excitingly different approach to exercise, one that incorporates stretching and breathing with strengthening exercises, and (so far anyway) is proving successful at alleviating her back pain. We both give this book our highest recommendations!