Customer Reviews

Yoga to the Rescue for Back Pain

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

In this DVD, Anusara-trained yoga instructor Desirée Rumbaugh offers a yoga practice designed to ease pressure and tightness in the back, improve posture, and increase strength and flexibility to the core of the body. The Main Menu of the DVD is as follows: Introduction (brief overview by Desirée) - Play Workout - Chapter Index - Biography - Music Options (Music Only or Music + Instruction) - Also from Acacia (trailers of other workouts). For some of the postures, a block or blanket is used.

Desirée mostly leads the workout using voiceover instruction, although she breaks in live at times to provide more specific tips. The first six chapters (about 8 minutes) focus mainly on the fundamentals of good standing posture. She then moves through a series of basic standing postures to warm up the back, including chair pose, cat/cow, downward dog, spinx/cobra, and locust. The lower back in particular is targeted through several lunge variations as well as a seated twist. Because weak abdominal muscles can contribute to lower back problems, Desirée also works on strengthening the abdominal core through exercises performed in a reclined position such as crunches, leg lifts, and pendulum; this section was fairly challenging, especially the pendulum move, which Desirée moved through at quite a fast pace. Next, Desirée returns to some additional backbending postures, upping the intensity level with bow, camel, and bridge. Following this, the practice begins to wind down through a series of stretches, including lying hamstring stretch, outer hip stretch, and windshield wipers. Desirée offers some final postural tips in the reclined position, as she provides instruction on preserving the lumbar curve as well as presents the use of lying over a blanket to restore proper alignment. The practice concludes with a savasana (relaxation) that is just under four minutes long, bringing in the total time at approximately 65.5. minutes.

Although video this is presented as a complete yoga practice, the mixture of independent short chapters (most are around 2 minutes in length), interruptions for live instruction, occasional lack of parity between voiceover and onscreen demonstrations, and brief "Tip" segments which show the right versus wrong way to perform some of the postures all contributed to an overall choppy feel. The information presented here is certainly valuable, but the stop-and-go nature made it feel more like a physical therapy session or yoga workshop than an actual yoga practice. This DVD would probably work best for those wanting specific tips and strategies to address back pain rather than a flowing yoga practice experience; overall, I'd rate it 3 1/2 stars.

Don't look to this video as "the rescue for back pain," despite its title.

Though the instructor is lovely and the actual footage is shot and edited well, this video is presented in a way that assumes you already know yoga. I offer four primary observations. It is: 1) Not for the newbie 2) Not for the inflexible 3) Heavy on the earthy yoga lingo 4) Not an exercise class or yoga session.

1) NOT FOR THE NEWBIE:
Some of the poses are both aggressive and difficult to understand if you're a yoga newbie. These factors practically invite more pain, because if you don't execute the poses correctly, you will stress your back (like I did).

2) NOT FOR THE INFLEXIBLE:
In addition to her obvious experience, she is also incredibly flexible. So, if you're in serious pain with limited mobility due to your pain or injury, reconsider this as a choice, unless you're willing to watch it simply for infotainment rather than for actual therapeutic guidance. I don't think many people will be able to handle many of these poses.

3) WHAT THE HECK DOES "FEEEEEL THROUGH YOUR KNUCKLES" MEAN?
The instructor uses very "earthy" language too - ie: "soften your heart through your upper back" and "breathe through your shins" type of expressions, which yoga newbies a) won't understand b) might find ridiculous.

4) NOT A YOGA CLASS:
Lastly, this DVD isn't an exercise class, per se. It is a demonstration of Yoga poses - one after the next. It's up to you to create a workout or yoga session of your own, using the poses demonstrated.

I am going to return this video. It's not at all what I thought it was going to be.

I do get some nasty back pain sometimes, the kind where you feel like your lower back is going to snap and it just makes you yelp (or it does for me). So I saw this DVD on display at Borders and thought, why not?
I tried it for the first time yesterday, after several days of being very sore and achy. I had been at least able to stand upright, so I thought I'd give it a try, go easy if I didn't feel comfortable, and see what happens.
Desiree gives an introduction, goes over posture (if you stand in a certain way you create tension in the spine, etc.) and guides you through numerous poses. There is a guy in the background doing modified poses if you're not as flexible as Desiree. Some of the instructions I wasn't 100 percent clear on (I've done a bit of yoga here and there but it's mainly a couple of warmup poses on, say, a Denise Austin workout, or I pull out a deck of yoga cards and try this or that to my suiting - no yogi am I). But the lack of clarity I felt was mainly because I am not used to planting all four corners of my feet on the floor or pressing the thighs against the bones, for example - I'm a thinker but not that profound of a thinker). But I did enjoy going through the dvd. The stretches felt good, for example, just laying down and arching my upper back - making my heart reach to the sky - and the advice was nice, too. Desiree shows wrong postures and poses (like don't point your feet out in this or that pose). But overall I really liked it. It felt good to do the cat, cow, cobra and more poses, and she has you do some strengthening moves, incorporating some crunches and leg raises. Some poses were more intense, more pretzel like, so I just modified here and there. But when I stood up I managed to stand up straight and felt pretty good. Well stretched and less pain.
My only real problem with the dvd (and I only have played this on my mac) is I couldn't access all the individual chapters - I could only get the first half or so, so if I wanted to look at the menu and review later poses by that option, it didn't work for me. You can just fastforward and skip, but I would have liked better menu accessibility. But I feel better today and I'm eager to try it again, so that is worth the money.

I am thoroughly enjoying the detailed helpful and safe instructions in this (and the other two of Desiree Rumbaugh's) DVD. I own all three of her DVDs and rotate them. After several months of regular practice my back has become stronger and more flexible. Some of the exercises may be too challenging for beginners, however, her partner Andrew shows modifications.

Doing this routine does help my back to be more flexible and less painful. However, the narrative is rather strange to me. "Ground myself to the earth", and "open myself to something more" are phrases used. Well, it puts a smile on my face to hear the instructor's silliness.

Too advanced for a beginner. There is a man showing modified poses, but they are still too difficult for a newbie. In some poses, like locus, the camera does not show the man.

Not all the poses are safe for someone with severe pain. Be careful what you try.

I have done yoga for a number of years, and have several CDs This program is a bit ambitious for someone with back pain. I had pain before trying this. I was expecting some gentle stretches but got something that I simply couldn't do comfortably. I did notice some increased mobility in the hips afterward, but the discomfort I felt may not have been worth the results. Like anything else, listen to your body and ask your doctor beforehand.

This video for beginners is NOT for beginners at all. It already assumes you know Yoga lingo and that your body is amazingly flexible. She doesn't explain anything and the yoga workout is very difficult to follow if you're a beginner who has never tried this before. This did not help my back at all. Very disappointing.

From personally suffering from acute to chronic lower back pain, this DVD will help your back/body recover and become stronger. This is an excellent dvd.