Business Life
Mai 2000

«A strong back knows no pain,» said the flyer. Alison Culliford had to know more, so she enrolled on a course of Kieser Training, a radical new approach to back problems from Switzerland.

In the UK alone, backache send three million people a year to their doctors, costs the NHS £481m and accounts for £2,000m of lost output to businesses. Still, most of us treat it with a fatalistic approach, seeing it as the inevitable result of our sedentary, pressurised lifestyles. Depending on what kind of person you are, you'll probably either follow the GP's advice of painkillers and bed rest, or try and beat it out on the treadmill or squash court.
Which, according to David Fritz, who has opened the first Kieser Training facility in Britain, is the very opposite of what you should be doing.

«A lot of people are being told when they have back pain that this is a matter of fate - the spine and the way it is built is a biological mistake and we should really be on all fours. Whereas that may have some validity, the point we are making is if you train the muscles that connect the vertebrae then you don't have that problem.»

Kieser Training, the result of decades of research by Swiss gym owner Werner Kieser and his physiotherapist wife, is weight training geared specifically to correcting and preventin muscular-skeletal problems. The approach is refreshingly back to basics. there are no cardiovascular machines as Kieser's research showed that gym users were wearing themselves out on the running machines then not getting the full benefit of strength training, and vice versa. This doen't mean, of course, that you shouldn't go running, cycling or swimming at other times.

It is the machines that are at the core of this new approach. Called MedX, they are adapted from machines developed for use by physiotherapists, and in fact there is a therapy section available for people with chronic problems. But in the main part training is preventative, with the aim of developing a protective 'corset' that will pr-empt back pain and a host of other complaints including osteoporosis and quite possibly RSI too.

Amazingly, even 90-year-olds can benefit from Kieser Training. Working on a cam system (a kind of pulley), MedX machines imitate the action of human muscles, so the likelihood of injury is virtually nil. They also promote the full range of movements so that you stretch as well as contracting.

Werner Kieser claims that, once initial problems have been ironed out, you need only half an hour of strength training once or twice a week to build up and sustain a healthy muscular-sekeltatl system. Sounds too easy? As a long-time back sufferer I decided to try it out for myself. The first session involved a rudimentary lesson in how muscles work and recover, wtih me being supervised on the first five machines that were eventually to be built up to a sequence of 15. the weights were far heavier than I'd ever used before, but the aim is to be able to do only six to nine repetitions on any machine, reaching your strength limit in that time.

My trainer, Johanna, was encouraging, and I was also releived to see that she did not look like a female Arnold Schwartzenegger. Despite the effort needed, Kieser Training appears to leave you toned and fit rather than bulging like a '50s body builder. The second session involved an exanimation from the in-house doctor to assess if I needed therapy (physical, not mental, is the only kind on offer) or just preventative training.

With the help of a 3D model of the spine Dr Ellis explained about the tiny interconnecting spinal muscles that we rarely exercise, which causes other muscles to over-compensate, causing pain. After prodding my back for a bit and testing the flexibility in my neck, he then strapped me into a sophisticated MedX machine devised to measure exactly where the weakness lies. A series of graphs on a computer screen revealed how the strength in my back compared with others in my age group and body type. The nagging pain in my back turned out to be caused by a very localised weakness at one point in the spine. It was not serious, Dr Ellis explained - preventative training once or twice a week would be enough to sort it out.

After the multimedia centre that was my local gym, with its video screens playing MTV and noisy cardiovascular equipment, the silence of the Kieser gym came as a bit of surprise. Even more surprising was the Zen-like calmness that performing the exercises - slowly, with the utmost concentration - instilled. Yes, I was actually starting to enjoy it.

The results exceeded my exspectations. Within a couple of sessions the constant aching had gone. Now, agter nice weeks, I am already aware of the strenghtening' corset' around my lower back as well as feeling more toned. However, when I missed three sessions the pain came back as quickly as it had disappeared. I had been warned: total commitment is needed.

Of course, it's not about style, but the bleached wood floors, Philippe Starck-ish water fountain and zinc shower capsules would not look out of place in Wallpaper. the formula is identical, no matter where you are. There are 55 centres in Germany, Switzerland, Austria and now London, with plans to open more in Britain and eventually the US. Membershop which costs £300 for six monthes admits you to any of them.

There is something very Swiss about it all - the austerity, the uniformity, the compartmentalisation of this aspect of your life - but that's ideal if you have a busy schedule and want to feel and look good with the minimum of fuss. It may not have as many different uses, but, for back sufferers especially, this could just be the best thing to come out Switzerland sice the eponymous Army Knife.