For years I’ve had problems with my lower back, various twinges and stuff, but mainly sciatica and muscle spasms down one side of my back. This week though I’ve more or less ignored the twinges and practiced on my uni most evenings this week. I only realised last night that for the first time in months my back wasn’t sore. Previously my left lower back was solid as a rock with muscle spasms but now it feels fairly loose and evenly matched with the right side (balanced muscle tension seems a lot better than unbalanced).
I’m certain that this is a direct result of my uni riding. You’re forced to sit in a very upright position and all the twisting and turning from the waist seems to have given me the exercise I need. I’ve tried various stretches and exercises over the years, but they’ve either had little effect or kind of get forgotten about after a while due to boredom. Unicycling seems (so far) to be the way forward for me, and it’s a hell of a lot cheaper than a series of trips to the chiropractor/osteopath/sport injury clinic/etc. My uni cost about the same as three chiropractor treatments.
I’m not saying the usual remedies are useless, just that finally I’ve found a FUN back treatment that seems to work! You have no idea how great that feels!
Graeme wrote:
> I’m certain that this is a direct result of my uni riding. You’re forced
> to sit in a very upright position and all the twisting and turning from
> the waist seems to have given me the exercise I need.
I injured my back playing judo a few months before I got my first unicycle.
I suffered badly with sciatica for a couple of years. I still get the
occasional twinge and always have to be careful to look after my back.
My experience matches yours, that unicycling helps enormously. Good
unicycling requires good posture. Of course, it also helps that unicycling
exercises both the abs and the lumbar region - it’s important not to
exercise one without the other, as you don’t want one group of opposing
muscles to grow stronger than the other.
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I am not a doctor, so I cant officially confirm or deny your feelings. However, I also feel that riding a unicycle has helped my back. I never had the specific problem of twinges or tension. Instead, my back was such that it became sore / weak very quickly any time I had to walk more than 1/16th of a mile, or any time I had to sweep or mop, or anything like that.
After 4 months of unicycling, I don’t have those problems any more. Also, while I have always had good endurance otherwise (In that, while I got tired and/or sore very quickly, I could make myself keep going), the pain that exercise or walking caused me has vanished.
Now I can ride my unicycle for 3-5 hours with little problem, and when I quit, it is usually because my seat is sore from the saddle. 4 months ago, I couldnt sweep my living room and kitchen without a serious back ache.
In general, my cycle goes like this: I buy a brand new unicycle at a time that I feel physically up to snuff. Then I try new things on the new unicycle. In what seems to be no time at all, I have both a unicycle and a body that is bruised. The body heals but I always have to buy a new unicycle. Then the cycle repeats. I am thankful for both the blessing and the curse of unicycle.com.
I have a 20+ years history of lower back-ache. Around 1.5 - 2 years
ago when I considered starting to ride a unicycle, I ran into a
physiotherapist (in a music camp so he was not professionally there)
and asked his advice about adverse consequences. He said that exercise
in general is good for your back, and people are often overly afraid
to hurt their backs. If a muscle hurts the general reaction is to keep
using it, but a hurting back is given immediate rest. How can you
expect your back to become strong and resilient if it never has much
to do? If you have back pain just keep moving and sporting, yeah even
do more of it! All of this according to this “controversial”
physiotherapist.
If anything, I have had less back problems since I started uni’ing.
Uhmm, this statement is not statistically underpinned but I do have
the data.
(BTW, even after more than 10 years I’m not bored doing my back
exercises every third day while watching the TV news - alerted to them
by my PDA. I’m sure the exercises help me a great deal.)
>
>For years I’ve had problems with my lower back, various twinges and
>stuff, but mainly sciatica and muscle spasms down one side of my back.
>This week though I’ve more or less ignored the twinges and practiced on
>my uni most evenings this week. I only realised last night that for the
>first time in months my back wasn’t sore. Previously my left lower back
>was solid as a rock with muscle spasms but now it feels fairly loose and
>evenly matched with the right side (balanced muscle tension seems a lot
>better than unbalanced).
>
>I’m certain that this is a direct result of my uni riding. You’re forced
>to sit in a very upright position and all the twisting and turning from
>the waist seems to have given me the exercise I need. I’ve tried various
>stretches and exercises over the years, but they’ve either had little
>effect or kind of get forgotten about after a while due to boredom.
>Unicycling seems (so far) to be the way forward for me, and it’s a hell
>of a lot cheaper than a series of trips to the
>chiropractor/osteopath/sport injury clinic/etc. My uni cost about the
>same as three chiropractor treatments.
>
>I’m not saying the usual remedies are useless, just that finally I’ve
>found a FUN back treatment that seems to work! You have no idea how
>great that feels!
>
>Have fun!
>
>Graeme
>
>
>–
>Graeme
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Graeme’s Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/767
>View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/17593
>
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Wow, reading this post has made me realize unicycling has also helped out with my back. I’ve slept on a waterbed for the past 10 years or so. Constantly throughout the day I’d find myself cracking my back, or in pain. Since I’ve been riding my back doesn’t bother me at all and I pay no attention to it.
I have a condition called Spondylothesis L5-S1.
I can stand up for about 20 minutes before I have to move around, or sit down for a minute or so.
I can only walk for about 20 minutes as well.
I can unicycle for hours.
I think that as I age, this unicycle will be my ‘wheelchair’
This is the best thing I could have found; It’s fun, It stands out in a crowd, it’s theraputic, it impresses skateboarders, and it’s fun!
