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, Classical Stretch founder Miranda Esmonde-White describes her own history of chronic back pain. She states that she developed this program based on some of the exercises which she learned from chiropractors and other health professionals, and she maintains that since she began this program, she no longer experiences back pain. She does encourage you to first seek evaluation from a physician if you are having back pain; however, she asserts that 80% of all back pain can be helped by exercise.

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 (later, she also reviews mini-stretches which you can do anywhere as well as how to appropriately use both ice and heat). Then, she recommends 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. After that, Miranda actually recommends that you continue by using one of her TV episodes daily for ongoing prevention, as these provide more balanced, overall strengthening.

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.

As Kathy mentioned in her review, many of the exercises presented on this DVD are fairly similar to what Miranda offers in her two TV episodes for back pain (one for relief, one for prevention) which are part of the Season 4 collection. However, like Kathy, I appreciate the addition of an upper body segment here, and I could also see using these practices not just for back pain, but also to provide a good stretch any time my back might feel tight, including after a tough workout. It is too soon to say what kind of "results" this DVD might produce for me, and I am not experiencing active back pain right now, so I can't speak to that, but if I do experience low back pain again, I know that I will be glad to have this DVD on hand.

Instructor Comments:
I found Miranda's demeanor to be similar to how she is in the Season 4 back practices in that during the workouts, she frequently talks about her own back pain experience and also notes that you will have to work through some degree of pain (she states that doing nothing is the WORST thing that you can do for back pain). However, she has also become much more polished in her presentation since Season 4, and she appears very professional in this DVD, which is filmed against a gorgeous resort backdrop.

Beth C (aka toaster)