Slipped Disc



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Chris Hatcher

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I have just aquired my first real road bike - a Trek 1500 but only road it once in earnest before
spending 5 weeks off wotk with a slipped disc! Was it the bike? Was it me doing too much too soon? I
am not sure although the riding position is very different to my MTB (SBC Stumpy).

Any thoughts on training / fitness routines to strengthen the old back I'm
42 :( and am keen to use the bike for fitness as there aren't too many mountains where I live.

Cheers

Chris
 
"Chris Hatcher" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
> I have just aquired my first real road bike - a Trek 1500 but only road it once in earnest before
> spending 5 weeks off wotk with a slipped disc! Was it the bike? Was it me doing too much too soon?
> I am not sure although the riding position is very different to my MTB (SBC Stumpy).

I did my disc on a bike ride, but it wasn't the cycling so much as the carrying a tandem up and down
a mountain all day that did it!

> Any thoughts on training / fitness routines to strengthen the old back I'm
> 42 :( and am keen to use the bike for fitness as there aren't too many mountains where I live.

Seems sensible to put the bars up a bit, so I did. Even when I couldn't walk and stand for more than
a few minutes I could still ride. Tried lots of the standard stretching that is easy to find on the
internet, which made it worse, until eventually I found the 'right' stretch at which point it got
better quite fast. Of course that could just have been coincidence, it was already well past its due
date for improvement. Once the back was capable I started also doing some sit-ups (carefully) and
back raises. TBH I'm not really convinced that the exercise is doing any good, I could do sit-ups
and back raises before it happened!

Funny that it seems almost completely cured, but the MRI scan shows a negligible improvement. Which
probably means there's a fair chance I'll bugger it again in the next few years...

James
 
> I have just aquired my first real road bike - a Trek 1500 but only road it once in earnest before
> spending 5 weeks off wotk with a slipped disc! Was it the bike? Was it me doing too much too soon?
> I am not sure although
the
> riding position is very different to my MTB (SBC Stumpy).
>
> Any thoughts on training / fitness routines to strengthen the old back I'm
> 42 :( and am keen to use the bike for fitness as there aren't too many mountains where I live.

Sell it and buy a recumbent. Seriously. Lots of people with slipped discs or other back injuries
have found that recumbents are very comfortable to ride. See the thread called "bent back" below for
just one of countless stories of how a recumbent can help. I would recommend a relaxed recumbent
with a fairly reclined seat - preferably one where you can adjust the angle. Under seat steering
might also be of benefit as it is more relaxing for the shoulders.

IIRC Bram Moens took up building and riding recumbents after slipping a disc (can you say that?) and
he holds various world records.

Mads
 
Mads Hilberg wrote:
>>I have just aquired my first real road bike - a Trek 1500 but only road=
it
>>once in earnest before spending 5 weeks off wotk with a slipped disc!=20

> Sell it and buy a recumbent. Seriously.=20

You know it makes sense! ;-)

> I would recommend a relaxed recumbent with a fairly reclined seat - preferably one where you can
> adjust the angle. U=
nder
> seat steering might also be of benefit as it is more relaxing for the shoulders.

But if your "real road bike" implies it's a sporty number then maybe=20 something a bit more whizz.
Over seat steering is generally more=20 aerodynamic and thus found on more whizz machines.

There are a couple of significant problems with 'bents as sporty fitness =

sort of bikes. Number 1 is the entry level is several hundred =A3s highe= r=20 if you can't find a
2nd hand one, and the other is if you intend=20 actually racing your choices will be far more
limited as most=20 competitions ban them.

Pete. --=20 Peter Clinch University of Dundee Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Medical Physics,
Ninewells Hospital Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK net [email protected]
http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/
 
"Chris Hatcher" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

> Any thoughts on training / fitness routines to strengthen the old back I'm
> 42 :( and am keen to use the bike for fitness as there aren't too many mountains where I live.

Area reasonably flat - check Requires good back support - check Wants to go fast - check

Congratulations, sir, you have been selected as a candidate for the Ride of a Lifetime!

<http://www.optima-cycles.nl/eng/2.htm>

--
Guy
===
I wonder if you wouldn't mind piecing out our imperfections with your thoughts; and while you're
about it perhaps you could think when we talk of bicycles, that you see them printing their proud
wheels i' the receiving earth; thanks awfully.
 
Chris Hatcher wrote:
> Any thoughts on training / fitness routines to strengthen the old back I'm 42 :( and am keen to
> use the bike for fitness as there aren't too many mountains where I live.

Oh, the pain. Been there, remember it all too well.

Of course a bent is the way to go, but that's no good if either you can't afford one or it doesn't
suit the type of riding you want to do. I knew I want^^^^needed a bent long before I slipped a disk,
but I couldn't afford one until 5 years afterwards. I'm very glad I've got one now though.

Whatever, I strongly recommend investing in a copy of "Treat Your Own Back" by Robin McKenzie, ISBN:
0959804927, 11 quid from Amazon.

--
Danny Colyer (remove safety to reply) ( http://www.juggler.net/danny ) Recumbent cycle page:
http://www.speedy5.freeserve.co.uk/recumbents/ "He who dares not offend cannot be honest." -
Thomas Paine
 
In message <[email protected]>, Chris Hatcher <[email protected]> writes
>I have just aquired my first real road bike - a Trek 1500 but only road it once in earnest before
>spending 5 weeks off wotk with a slipped disc! Was it the bike? Was it me doing too much too soon?
>I am not sure although the riding position is very different to my MTB (SBC Stumpy).

I'd think about my riding position. If your back is hunched over I'd consider changing it (rotate
saddle forward, higher bars, etc.)

>
>Any thoughts on training / fitness routines to strengthen the old back I'm
>42 :( and am keen to use the bike for fitness as there aren't too many mountains where I live.

http://www.rowbike.com would be an interesting idea.

>
>Cheers
>
>Chris
>
>

--
Richard Keatinge

http://www.keatinge.net
 
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