I’ve had a few probolems over the summer with serious back pain, caused
and agrevated by poor sitting posture. You know, office chair not
fitting, car seat with no lumar surport etc. So I’ve been in pain and
taken a few trips to see a physio, I’mnow physio free but still doing
the exercises.
Today I got told off for the mixed message I’d been sending my work
colleges because I continued to talk about unicycling at the weekend at
the same time as complaining about ill fitting chairs at work. ARrrrgh.
Did my boss really think I’d be doing something at the weekend that
would make the pain WORSE! I carried on unicycling with the blessing of
my physio because unicycling doesn’t involve slouching but puts the
spine
into a pretty good shape and helps strengthen the musles
that keep it in a nice
position. In fact I’m wondering if part of the reason the back pain
kicked off this summer is because I’ve unicycling less and driving
more. If I could bear getting out of bed earlier I’d be tempted to ride
into work for a week and see how it affected me.
One other good reason for unicycling to work, it always cheered me up on
the way home, bicycling doesn’t seem to be so good at that.
Rant over, thank you for reading this far, I’m sorry , I’ll try not to do
it too often.
I can’t speak for your back pain, but I know what causes my serious muscle cramp back pain occasionally.
If I am doing ANY regular exercise that includes my back muscles and then stop for a week cold turkey, I can almost guarantee that it will arrive. I found this to be the case with weight training, with balance ball workouts and with unicycling (all at different times, of course ).
People assume that because you wave your arms around, it must be bad for your back, like golf.
Since I started unicycling as a sport instead of as an occasional activity, I’ve had less back pain. A couple of weeks ago I had the ‘locked back and six miles to ride’ incident, but my fencing coach says that’s probably the fencing, not the unicycling.
Unicycling is generally good for your back.
It could be that your workmates simply don’t understand. If so, then the only answer is not to go on about it. A lady said to Louis Armstrong, “What does ‘swing’ mean?” and he replied, “Lady, if you’ve gotta ask then you ain’t got it.” It is a little known fact that Louis Armstrong would have been a unicyclist if he had been able to ride a unicycle.
I write as a unicycling, fencing Morris dancer with no TV set who works with people who can speak of little but football, soaps and clubbing. The British no longer value eccentricity, but regard people like us with suspicion.
I know that all through last year I suffered from horrible back pain on school days because of a 15-17 pound backpack, and an inherent slouch. This year I’ve had none of it because I unicycle to school and that’s keeping my posture perfect, makeing my backpack bearable. I also reccomend swimming, as it stretches and relaxes every muscle you have. At least it does for me.
Hope this helps.
as for back pain… I’ve had lower back pain for the last few years.
i just recently got back on the uni after 15 years, i’ll let you know how my back works out… I know my legs are killing me right now… what a work out on the quads.
as for your work mates… well every one needs, something or someone to talk about in the office. It just happens to be you this week
Glad to see it’s not just me that has people react with the “who cares?”,
“good for you!” attitudes when I tell them of my new found hobby (44 yr
male).
I enjoy doing it even though I don’t find there’s much exercise in it (maybe
it’s just me?) it’s all about balance.
I now prefer going to the store to get milk on the uni rather than the bike,
even though I know I’ll get pointed at (mostly in a good way).
I’m not looking for attention, I just love being able to do this now.
Can’t wait till I can idle, and maybe go backwards.
Thank God for these NG’s etc so us like minded people can have a chat and
rant.
–
Remove the OBVIOUS to autoreply.
“Sarah Miller” <sarah@vimes.u-net.com> wrote in message news:3f5f9826.184f@vimes.u-net.com…
> My work mates and boss just don’t get it.
>
> I’ve had a few probolems over the summer with serious back pain, caused
> and agrevated by poor sitting posture. You know, office chair not
> fitting, car seat with no lumar surport etc. So I’ve been in pain and
> taken a few trips to see a physio, I’mnow physio free but still doing
> the exercises.
>
> Today I got told off for the mixed message I’d been sending my work
> colleges because I continued to talk about unicycling at the weekend at
> the same time as complaining about ill fitting chairs at work. ARrrrgh.
>
> Did my boss really think I’d be doing something at the weekend that
> would make the pain WORSE! I carried on unicycling with the blessing of
> my physio because unicycling doesn’t involve slouching but puts the
> spine
> into a pretty good shape and helps strengthen the musles
> that keep it in a nice
> position. In fact I’m wondering if part of the reason the back pain
> kicked off this summer is because I’ve unicycling less and driving
> more. If I could bear getting out of bed earlier I’d be tempted to ride
> into work for a week and see how it affected me.
>
> One other good reason for unicycling to work, it always cheered me up on
> the way home, bicycling doesn’t seem to be so good at that.
>
> Rant over, thank you for reading this far, I’m sorry , I’ll try not to do
> it too often.
>
> Sarah
>
> –
> Union of UK Unicyclists
> By and for UK riders
> www.unicycle.org.uk
Most never do. If they don’t ride, they will always remain impaired in this area.
In this situation, I guess the thing to do is ask the person if they think unicycling is bad for your back. Let them assume all they want. Chairs and workstation environments are known to be associated with back and other problems. Unicycles are not. Unicycling strengthens your lower back muscles. I know this not from scientific studies, but from the obvious back muscles my fellow riders have. They don’t bulge or anything, but everybody has them. Just like the rock-hard calves and powerful quads we develop.
Unicycle = good.
Sitting in the same position all day = bad.
Make sure you don’t sit locked in any one position, but move around. Take frequent breaks, and whatever else your ergonomics reading material tells you (I’m certainly not an expert). The basic idea is that the human body is made to move, not be stationary.
> Make sure you don’t sit locked in any one position, but move around.
> Take frequent breaks, and whatever else your ergonomics reading material
> tells you (I’m certainly not an expert). The basic idea is that the
> human body is made to move, not be stationary.
Amen brother, preach it.
Thankfully I’m now released from the office and back in the warehouse
where i belong, lifting shifting and inspecting cable. Funny how they
don’t think that might be bad for me:-) I know it isn’t because i’ve been
taught how to lift and shift and don’t do it if its too heavy.
Mikefule <Mikefule.tkagc@timelimit.unicyclist.com> wrote:
> I write as a unicycling, fencing Morris dancer with no TV set who works
> with people who can speak of little but football, soaps and clubbing.
> The British no longer value eccentricity, but regard people like us with
> suspicion.
You may be right. The conversation in the kitchen at lunch time today was
based on football clubs, who s nicked someones personal coffee and how
rubish the work experiment lad is at making coffee( he used ground coffe
instead of instant, ooops , it was pretty bad).
I find I’m day dreaming about the forthcoming BMW more and more, thank
goodness I have that and the Darmstadt hockey torny to look forward to.
Along this topic, a couple of years ago I received a very inspiring email from a person with a degenerative disorder in his spine.
Sitting down was quite painful and he was increasingly unable to either walk or bicycle any distance, which was becoming frustrating because this was something he had really enjoyed doing with his wife.
Then he discovered unicycling. He told me that he could unicycle long distances with much less discomfort than any other form of transportation, and that he felt that unicycling had, in his words, “given him his life back”. He even went so far as to say that he thought that a unicycle was going to become his “new wheelchair”.
).
