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Put your back into living longer and being healthier
22.01.04
Camden New Journal
by Kim Janssen
No thumping music, no lycra and no muscle-bound show-offs? Kieser Training has taken with the kind of equipment only ever seen in sci-fi movies.
From the moment you walk – or lurch – into Kieser Training in Mornington Crescent, it is clear that you are not in a normal gym. Where you might expect to find a surfeit of lycra, thumping music and a small army of narcissists, you will see a quiet doctor in a white coat, holding a clipboard, studying a chart on a computer monitor. And instead of a row of treadmills and cycling machines, there are a series of increasingly bewildering hi-tech machines which people of all ages and shapes are using to beat back pain. If Kieser (pronounce it 'keezer') sounds as much like a hospital as a gym, then in a way it is – albeit a far cleaner, brighter and friendlier place than any NHS institution. The biggest fitness business in Germany, it opened it's first UK branch in Camden four years ago, aiming to bring a scientific approach to strength training. It uses research carried out at the University of Florida in the late 1980s, which showed that people with back pain suffered from weak muscles – rather than any failing of the spine itself. By using specially developed machines designed to isolate the lumbar and cervical muscles deep in the back, sufferers are able to build up the muscles that support the spine and beat the pain for good. David Fritz, managing director of the UK operation, explains: "The big difference is that we focus on strength – it's not leisure or sport but for the efficient maintenance of the musculoskeletal system. "Some people are confused about the lack of cardio-vascular equipment when they come here – they can't see any treadmills – but there are so many ways of getting that kind of workout outdoors in the open and for free. "But this is the only way of efficiently building the musculoskeletal system and it only takes 30 minutes, two times a week." Pauline Orchard, a 33-year-old city worker, decided to try Kieser after a seeing a chiropractor for three years without results. She said: "I wanted to be able to dance and do the other things I used to enjoy – sitting down for so many hours each day had really done my back in so I thought I'd give this a go. "I'm impressed – I've seen a lot of people who can help me in a crisis with my back but they don't get to the core of the problem. "The chiropractor gave me exercises to do at home but they weren't supervised so I couldn't tell if I was doing them right. "But this makes sense and I'm confident it will work." Customers spend their first session on a diagnostic machine which measures the strength of various muscles and doctors then plan a 12 to 18-week course of supervised training. Mr Fritz said: "If you look around the gym it's not just young people – we have people here who are over 90. "This kind of training can prevent osteoporosis and effectively extend your life."