Spineworks self-help is about becoming aware of your own body and how it works. And I do mean "your" body – not some theoretical model body. It will help you become aware of how you use your body in everyday life. Most of us are unconscious of our bodies most of the time - unless we are in pain. It is only when we have a problem such as a pain or ache or perhaps an injury that we start to take notice. Yet we could all make our life easier by using our bodies more effectively – by how we stand or sit at our desks for example.

Get 20 people in a room and check out each other's leg length – suddenly 17 people learn that they have legs of apparently unequal length – and are even more amazed that there are 16 other people in the room with a similar imbalance. Go through some more checks (eg shoulders) and each person has a collection of imbalances. First they didn't know beforehand that they had them, and then they didn't know it was so common. And if you don’t believe me come to a workshop and I will demonstrate it!

Awareness is the start of correction, and this system is about awareness first and then correction. So we learn exercises that will help resolve our imbalances.

You will learn lots of different exercises; some will work groups of muscles and some will work individual muscles. Some will help you and some will help others in the group. Some will even make your imbalance or problem worse. So it is important to learn and recognise which exercises help you and which don’t.

"I have a bad back – no-one can help that!"

Even the mainstream medical system admits now that we often do not know the cause of back pain. To treat a bad back we need to treat the whole body. Acute pain is usually felt at the injury site but chronic pain is rarely felt at the injury site - almost always it is felt elsewhere. Thus if you have had a bad back for years then the pain is not necessarily telling you the location of the real core of the problem.

Back pain is common. It is the biggest cause of absence from work in the under 45's and in the last couple of decades there has been a general 65% increase in work absence through back pain.

Today even children are starting to suffer. I think it is because all day they have to carry around their books, coats and PE gear, and they also all use flat tables. In my day we had lockers to hold our things, and sloping desks.

YES - Most things. Even stress.

If you have a problem such as sciatica, frozen shoulder, whiplash or neck problems, tight jaw or stress around the shoulders then this programme can help. Even seemingly unrelated problems such as headache or migraine can be helped.

Content of a Workshop

In a nutshell the main focus is to reduce the stress on your body from day-to-day living. A workshop will include experiential physical work and play with exercise, relaxation, breathing, body awareness and exploration of the way emotions affect the body and vice versa.

Come with an open mind and an open body, prepared to learn and have fun.

Each workshop will contain items from the following list but may vary according to the needs of the participants.

Some time may be available to focus on specific personal needs but this will also depend upon the other participants as well as the length of the course.