The Get fit club!

[GridGirl]

Interestingly I began seeing an osteopath for back pain that I've had since my early teens recently and have been told that I have quite a pronounced curve in the lower spine which is putting a lot of pressure on the lower vertebrae. I too have been told to improve my core strength as it will help alleviate the pain to some extent. My osteopath has been really good at advising me of stuff I can do at home and I go to Yoga classes but neither are something that will yield quick results I don't think.

If you have health insurance with work you should see if you can make a claim for treatment. It's what I'm doing.

[Robinho]

Nice one. I need to do something along those lines. I've been struggling with back pain with my cycling recently which apart from the weather has been limiting what I can do . Everyone including the bike fit guy says I need to do core strength work.

Core strength is important, I also see a chiropractor every couple of months (was weeks) to straighten me out a bit, crack my neck and release tension in my hips and lower back, all of which alleviate pain when cycling and have helped me get better core strength. Find a good chiropractor with knowledge of sports especially cyclists and who specialises in interaction with nerves and manipulation, not just cracking you

[Mark]

Kind of problem I have at the minute is that what I would like is (say) three different moves I could do every morning just to get me going, preferably standing up as rolling around the floor isn't for me But everywhere I look is just dozens of different things, all of which seem important.

[airshifter]

I see I'm not the only one with some back issues.


Yoga for me has been great for loosening muscles in certain areas, as well as general relaxation. I found it messing around with the Wii Fit balance board games, and find certain yoga helps my back greatly. I've been dealing with back issues for years, and I've been told that one of my primary mistakes before going to physio therapy was building core strength without properly loosening up the offending muscle groups first. At one point I was told that I should take it really easy for almost a month to get loosened up, and then start very specific core exercises.

Being I'm fairly sure all three of you above are younger than me with less back issues, let me say this now. Regardless of your age, if you have minor or moderate back issues start dealing with it NOW! I didn't, worked through some periods of bad pain and tried to just suck it up and move on with life. I ended up causing more issues, and went through a couple of periods of pain that would literally at time take me to my knees. The joy of having muscle spasms so great that simply rolling over in bed might make your back spasm so bad that you experience all kinds of crunching and cracking noises you didn't think your back could make it something I don't wish on anyone.

In my case it resulted in many x-rays, a scan, and very specific physio therapy, including some of those "must do" stretches and exercises that Mark mentioned. My Dr was a sports therapy type that had back issues of his own, and it really hit home when he gave me the "or else" talk that mentioned I might be hobbling around with a cane in 10 years if I didn't take it seriously. And after what I experienced, I don't think any of it was scare tactics.


Biking usually helps loosen my lower back up some. I have to avoid really hard riding that overworks the core muscles at times, as well as any extremes of off roading that result in bad hits to the back through the bike.

[janneppi]

Like almost every else, I'm nursing an injury.

few weeks ago I was snowshoeing and my left knee started to act up. I have been really careful with it because it doesn't feel normal.

Last week I had an x-ray and today knee doctor twisted it for 5 minutes.

It seems the knee is a bit loose(propably not the best translation to English), thee might be a small fracture or infection in a ligament, but they want to give it some time. I did get a note to go see a physiotherapist to get some help. I hope it works.

[J4MIE]

Wel, today I cycled to work and back, only 4.5km each way but it's a start. Weather was good so I was out of excuses! It's meant to get a bit colder again but will see how it goes for the next week.

[airshifter]

After pulling my back yesterday, I hoped to get things loosened up some today. That though ended when I woke up. 1200 mg of ibuprofen was doing nothing at all for the pain, so I was off to the hospital. I now have heavy duty muscle relaxers, something to reduce swelling, and pain killers. Oh and the occasional crunchy back noise that I wasn't expecting.

Such is the joy of back damage. It's a thrill when you get muscle spasms so bad that it just renders that part of your body useless. No biking in my next week or two, unless it's a very casual ride.

[schmenke]

http://events.mec.ca/event/25426/mec...-race-two-2015

1:11:39

15km. Quite pleased with that time, considering the course

[J4MIE]

I'm definitely in a get fit mode at the moment, so much so that I've signed up to two mountain bike events, both in September. Firstly the 'Kielder 101', a 101km loop around Kielder Forest, then a tougher challenge in the 'Tour de Ben Nevis', which is around 70km around the UK's highest peak. I therefore have 5 months to avoid almost certain death

Got a MTB Orienteering event in North Yorkshire on Saturday, I'll no doubt doubt finish last as usual but will be a good warm up for on the bike, a lot further than the 4.5km to work and more hills!

[Mark]

62 miles around Kielder on a MTB does sound brutal. I did 20 miles on a mountain bike - albeit a cheap and heavy one and I was all but destroyed!

Considering I can bang in 20 miles on my road bike without much thought it's quite a difference.