Seven Minutes to a Pain-Free Back: Yoga and Pilates exercises to ease back pain, strengthen your core and improve your posture Paperback – Big Book, 5 July 2022

What I like most about this book it's simplicity and lack of preachy-ness. The author explains how the different muscles work in layman's terms. The exercises are easy to follow and don't require a huge time commitment, making this an easy addition to my schedule. After following the guide for only a few days, I'm already feeling results. I spend up to 10 hours a day at my desk and have been sedentary for the past couple of years. These simple and effective (and easy) exercises and poses are just what I need to relieve my aching back and motivate me to move more.

I have waited a couple of months before putting pen to paper and giving my opinion. I am 86 and although still mobile suffer from upper back ache after walking for 30 minutes or more or playing a keyboard. I think the back ache may have stemmed from trying to extract the driver’s seat from a Triumph Stag some 40 years ago!When you first examine this little book you will notice the print size is very large, and many sentences are repeated at least once. All standard tricks of the printing industry to pad out a short script. However, however, you also get loads of printed QR codes that allow you to watch all the exercises being performed. This is an enormous plus point.I like the fact that some of the exercises are simple enough for an old geriatric like me to perform. Out of the first 10 exercises in the book I daily do 8 and sometimes 9. They are not just for those people who are young and subtle. But are they effective I hear you ask?Yes I say. After even a couple of weeks I felt my back ache was beginning to ease. Has it gone altogether? No, but it is significantly reduced and I seldom feel it causes me much distress. Two weeks ago I walked round Oxford with my daughter and enjoyed every minute of it. If that’s not a good recommendation then I don’t know what is!

It is very short with very big print, therefore it is about the equivalent of a 50-page booklet. The ideas are good and clear but very basic so someone with no knowledge would find it helpful. For me it was nothing new at all.

Melinda Wright’s two practical guide-books to a pain-free back and pain-free hips, respectively, are the perfect introduction for anyone looking to counter stressful and unhealthy lifestyles and rapidly improve their posture and body flexibility. Both books (I have one hard copy and one kindle edition)contain a series of well illustrated and clearly explained exercises that can be practised at home or elsewhere, without the need for a gym or personal trainer. Melinda’s Yoga and Pilates expertise and understanding of the physiology related to these exercises are plainly evident in both guides: they offer a variety of mat, chair and bench exercises to strengthen all of the various muscles involved in effective toning and improved posture. I am familiar with many of the exercises in the two books, having participated in her excellent yoga classes, which have helped me to greatly improve my physical condition and reduce stress and back pain. Whereas before I was trying to remember the routines from the classes for daily exercise when away from home, I now have these two slim, beautifully produced practical guides to empower me. The Kindle editions also have valuable YouTube links in addition to helpful illustrations of the wide range of exercises. As an older person who is mainly desk-bound for my work, I can’t think of a better way of keeping in good physical condition than by performing the exercises in Melinda’s two books. She addresses the reader in simple, informative and accessible language, and the books both have a clear, reader-friendly layout. I strongly recommend them both to anyone who doesn’t have time or doesn’t want to go to a gym, and prefers to work on their body flexibility in a more private and/or convenient environment. Perhaps the most impressive thing about Pain-Free Hips and Pain-Free Back is that Melinda doesn’t only explain the ‘what-to-do’ with great clarity, but also the how, and most importantly, the why. To sum up, these are indispensable books for those of us who want to keep feeling like younger versions of ourselves.

The chapter breakdown is very logical and I most enjoyed the nutritional recommendations at the end! The exercises don’t take much time and are very helpful in dealing with regular or even sporadic back discomfort.