Feeling a bit creaky this winter? Muscle People have the cure for what ails you.

Winter is prime time for backaches. There are a lot of long days at ski fields and long nights on the couch, and of course, that heavy firewood doesn’t lift itself. But there’s a Christchurch clinic helping heal our aches and pains by combining fun, friends and… physiotherapy.

The crew at Muscle People have designed a multi-week group course called Dynamic Spines, which can help us all rebuild our backs from scratch. They assure us things start of easy: imagine standing against a wall and rolling down, from your neck, one vertebrae at a time. You’ll also try neck tucks: instead of a double chin, you’ll go for quadruple or quintuple chins. This is so you can find your spine’s neutral position, not so they can snap unflattering photos.

The classes ramp up with exercises including lunges and mini-squats, all under the supportive eye of a pro physio, who makes sure you’re doing everything in the way that’s best for your body. Everything is done in groups, so you’ve got a few fellow exercisers to keep you honest, and to have a laugh with when things get a bit wobbly.

And that’s just level one. Once you’re feeling strong and supple, you can move onto an advanced course, where things get really interesting. You’ll use a few new bits of equipment: one is an Oov, which looks more like an abstract piece of sculpture than a physiotherapy aid. It was developed by an Australian neuroscientist and osteopath and ergonomically designed in a three-way curve to fit the natural curves of the human spine, automatically working those all-important core muscles that keep your back strong. You might also hop on the SurfSet, where you’ll learn to balance as if you were riding the waves at Sumner.

The team at Muscle People tell us anyone can benefit from this course, and it’s especially helpful for people recovering from injury or those with back or neck pain. Their goal is to get us all moving freely and confidently, with strength and stability through our backs – and to make sure we have fun doing it.

musclepeople.co.nz