flexibility

A few years ago I was riding my daughter’s bike on a BMX track and I fell off the bike. It was a terrible fall, as I bruised my ribs and pelvis and had cuts on my elbows. As you can imagine, it was such an unfortunate event. I have been free from backache for ages then, I had been free to move and stretch, to do my daily work without worries, and just be free from the constant dilemma of feeling pain from any parts of my body, especially my back.

You see, you can just feel really free and happy every day of your life for many years, then boom! Accidents happen. It may not even be like a huge accident, it can just be tripping over something, bending over the wrong way, or just randomly reaching for things, then before you know it, you’ve injured yourself, your back has fled up and you will just sit (or lay down) for weeks and months, daydreaming about the days your pain-free to do things that you love.

You can not downplay the pain of having recurring backaches. It’s so annoying like a constant nagging, it’s such an interruption like the advertisements on your favourite show, and it is painful, for some almost like a toothache. Even simple tasks may become such a workload, and the things that you do with a huge smile before will become tasks you’ll loathe because of your backache.

Trust me, I know the feeling. The fall I shared with you all has been like a shock to my system. Unfortunately, I’ve experienced three car accidents, I’ve been through a lot trying to repair my body to be like brand new. Then the bike accident happened. It felt like I had a bad flare-up of reaction to my past car accidents that whenever I had pain, questions ran through the mind like “What if I can’t repair my body as I did before? What if the pain won’t go away, ever? Will I just endure this pain forever, all throughout my days?”

If you will go through or are going through some kind of recurring back pains right now, I know you’ll do everything to bring back your old pain-free body. You may have tried going to the doctors, taking the prescribed medicines, tried Chiros and Physios, creams, exercises, tried to lose weight, but to no avail. It is so frustrating to look at magazines and stare at fit women or watch YouTube of women doing amazing things you’ve been able to do before. You’ll feel deflated, no chance, and no choice but to live with the pain.

But I’m telling you right now, don’t be. I did it, you can too! If you are currently experiencing back pain that may be due to accidents or just clumsiness,  or you are not but understand that accidents happen and you want to be always ready, then take heed!

When you feel that your body is ready to go through the healing process, or that your muscles have come down to spasm, you may need some hot bath, a hot water bottle, an ice pack, go to the doctor and take the necessary medicines. After all that, you will feel ready to:

1. Get moving again. Little by little, get moving. Often back pain is due to weak core muscles try out my exercise to test your core below.

2. Stretch out those stiff muscles. Carefully move your body, so you can be more flexible and agile.

3. Learn how to be calm and cope with the situation, to help with the mental stress that it has caused you. Try out a short meditation here.

I wish no other women have to go through the unnecessary pain of backaches and to worry about their future. Join my pilates class where I explain how to reduce your back pain using stretching and strengthening. If you would like to speak to me about customising a plan to reduce your back pain, I’d love to talk to you (P.S. no pressure on any of my calls!). Let’s drive back pains away, far away!

Wishing you a backpain-free life.

Sandhya Coyle.