Tag: yoga

Managing Back Pain with Yoga

Managing back pain with STRETCH

Those of you who have been regular visitors to OCG will know that I came to cycling because I was no longer able to run or do high impact exercise activity because of spinal issues. Cycling was a way of being active whilst managing back pain. I have degenerative disc disease resulting in three lots of surgery to date and the insertion of spinal rods and plates in my lumbar spine.

More back pain

In 2016, I had yet another disc prolapse. When I visited my surgeon, he advised that surgery was not a feasible option due to scar tissue from previous surgeries. Instead, as a means of managing back pain without going down the road of surgery, he offered me spinal blocks and facet joint injections, and advised me to look at doing yoga to strengthen the deep paraspinal muscles. At this point, I was 32 with two children. The quality of my life was not great. I was in a lot of pain daily. I couldn’t bend, I had nerve pain in my left leg and I wasn’t sleeping. The thought of more surgery, which may or may not be successful, was absolutely the last thing I wanted. So, I happily took the offer of the injections and made a pact with him to do yoga. (more…)

Yoga Teacher Training – new beginnings and exciting times ahead!

Yoga Teacher TrainingYou will have noticed that it’s been rather quiet on Ordinary Cycling Girl these past few weeks. There is a very good reason, I promise. Life, as ever, has been busy, but aside from that, I recently made an exciting decision to start my yoga teacher training!

Regular readers will know that I have a number of back issues which all started when I was a teenager. At fifteen I had my first surgery to my lumbar spine. I have had numerous other surgeries since for degenerative disc disease including an artificial disc replacement, which had to be removed a few year later. I now have metal rods and plates in my lower back to stabilise and straighten a lumbar scoliosis. (more…)

Which Style of Yoga for Beginners?

Yoga for beginnersA few weeks back, I wrote a post about how yoga is great for cyclists. Thanks to those of you who contacted me to say that you too find yoga really beneficial, not only for cycling but for your general fitness and wellbeing. Some of you contacted me saying; ‘Yeah, great idea, but I’m so inflexible, I daren’t go to a class because I’m sure I won’t be able to do it!’. So, this post is for those of you who think yoga isn’t for you. It aims to put those concerns at rest and give you some words of reassurance on which yoga for beginners you should opt for! (more…)

3 very good reasons why cyclists should do yoga

why cyclists should do yogaDo you know your downward dog from you cat-cow? Or your crow from your camel? I am of course talking yoga poses, not just shouting random animals at you. And yes, all of these poses are supposed to work wonders on improving your flexibility to benefit your cycling! What am I talking about? Okay, I hear you. ‘How on earth can something so slow and sedentary such as yoga improve my cycling?’ Read on, my friends…

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