"Back-Care-Cise"

With -- Linda J. Nelson, D.C.

See pages XXX on how to order

In the case of reviewing exercise tapes one can become a bit jaded. After all, how many ways are there to do back exercises? The ones that have been reviewed in the pages of "DC" are of excellent quality or they wouldn't be recommended. But what makes one set of exercises superior to all the others?

The answer seems obvious -- the presentation. If this is the criterion by which we judge things of similar content, then Dr. Linda Nelson deserves a prize for one of the most attractively presented back exercise programs I've ever seen.

The program is composed of three tapes, each beautifully boxed and wrapped in cellophane. With each tape is a sheet of precautionary advice. Nothing is left to chance. Nothing. Each tape lasts approximately 45 minutes and is worth about 30 actual minutes of increasingly difficult exercises.

My only complaint is one I've voiced before. At the beginning of each tape is a warning that nothing should be done without "medical" approval. It must be assumed that this is said upon the advice of legal counsel as a form of protection. Alright -- but would it not be just as legal if the disclaimer stated that the viewer seek the advice of a professional health care provider? Why do we always have to use the term "medical?" This places us in an ancillary position to medicine, which makes about as much sense as telling a patient to seek medical advice about nutrition.

In spite of this emotional (for me) glitch, all three tapes are superb in content and production values. In fact, the tapes are far more than just tapes about exercises -- they are visual and verbal instructors in relaxation and the maintenance of overall health.

Dr. Nelson goes even further -- she instructs you, the doctor -- via written material, about the physiology and the mechanics of what is contained in each tape and then gives you advice on how to keep the patient interested enough in the program to continue.

Well do I recall all the patients over the years to whom I have handed sheets of exercises and told them how important it was that they take a few minutes out of each day to exercise their spine. The patient would usually nod as I told them that if they brushed their teeth twice a day they should at least be willing to devote a couple of minutes out of that day to their spine and nervous system. If they came back a few months later I often asked if they had kept up the exercises. Of course, they hadn't.

With modern forms of communication, pieces of paper just don't do the job -- they never did. Fortunately, Dr. Nelson has given the profession a taped exercise program that we can all be proud to give to our patients as a reflection of our professional maturity and expertise. To this point -- this is the most comprehensive exercise program I've seen. If patient welfare is a concern, you need to purchase the program -- there's none better.

RHT