So apart from spending time at home playing with little Je-in, and never-endingly changing his diapers whenever i can over the weekends and holidays, I also indulge in my resurgent hobby of cycling. I’m in and out of the house in an hour or two riding around the area which is well endowed with nice long roads. The scenery around the water catchment areas are good too.
Am really thankful to Him that this little hobby of mine has come back to life after the whole degenerated disc episode and all those chiro sessions i’ve attended. So far i’ve done about six rides and the back is still holding up.
Alleluia 
Over the last few months, ever since my backaches became more manageable, I’ve had the green eye for getting back into cycling again. Mainly for fitness and partly as a distraction from the major change in lifestyle ever since Je-In joined our coop. So i’ve done my rounds at some popular bike shops and researched intensively online on what’s hot nowadays. Was pretty impressed with this bike – Felt Q720. But i was majorly holding back the purchase because it was too extravagent and i know its not in my interest to chase material stuff. Also, V wanted me to do test rides to make sure that my back could take the riding strains before buying anything.
Then out of nowhere, on a night when i was going on a test-ride with M at east coast, just before i leave the office, my colleague told me he had a friend who was giving up cycling and wouldn’t mind lending me his bike for awhile and if i liked it, he’d gladly sell it. Of course i jump at this great opportunity for a trial without even knowing what the bike is and on the same night, my colleague delivers this Scott Sporster P4 to me. Because he just happened to be having drinks with his friend and was going to send him home anyway.
Now isn’t that divine!
Honestly, the bikes are not in the same class, the one in my living room now is heavier and has lower-end components, but well, i guess at some point i really have got to stop getting “good” stuff anyway. Its just to get me by on a new fitness regime.
After 12 sessions, there was a simple review session at the doc. He took pictures of my posture and also took my weight using 2 weighing scales (one per leg). Interestingly, my left and right weights are much more balanced than when i first showed up. Which is a good thing cos the dull pain has kinda faded away so its actually showing up in the way i stand… Overall i must say there has been a mark improvement in my backpain and i hope this is able to last for a long time…
On a side note, V is going to start her treatment for her shoulder pain. Its not easy to commit 3 times a week at the doc when its not near your office, but she’s going to try…
Ever since i sold off the Klein Mantra, i’ve still been itching to do some cycling of some sort, but due to my bad back, most racer types or mountain bikes just weren’t gonna cut it. So i surfed around aimlessly on bike sites til i 
stumbled upon the local Strida site. Its an interesting concept bike that allows you to cycle with your back upright!
Actually it feels a bit like riding a unicycle or something like that. And the best part is the folding capability which is really nifty and hassle-free. The “chain” is also made of rubber so there its really a no mess affair with no oil and the only maintenance being a wipe-down of the frame tubes.
Was pretty excited about the whole thing and went down for a test ride at the shop today and now i’m the proud owner of a black Strida5!
Just took it out for a spin around the Holland area and here’s some comments on this cool bike:
The pros – Looks great, easy to fold/unfold, allows for straight back riding, no mess, disc brakes are tight, gear ratio is decent, went up a few slopes and it was fine.
The cons – Cost! Not cheap for a toy-like bike, compared to a regular full-frame bike, the handling leaves much to be desired, going down slopes at good speeds felt scary because the bike seems to pull towards the right. Initial riding on it also requires some getting used to because you have to learn to relax your arms, as tensing them made the bike wobble a lot. The 10kg weight was alright to lift up and down stairs etc but rolling it around for longer distances wasn’t that user-friendly as the wheels kinda keeps running away from you unless you use a lot of strength to guide it, so your arms will tire if you intend to roll it for longer commutes.
Overall, I’m still impressed with it but i really wished it handled better. Seems like i really have to stick to riding it in parks as i’m not confident of handling this thing in life and death situations along the roads.
Anybody wanna go riding?
We did our Xrays last week and turned up for our review today. It was an interesting experience. First there was an 8 minute video clip on what to expect from a review. This was produced by the American Chiropractioners’ Industry president or something like that so i assume the procedures are fairly the same no matter which clinic you go to. The doc then explained in great detail what we should look out for in Xrays of the spine in general, what are the textbook curves and lines to strive for etc
Then he individually reviewed our Xrays on the lightboard and it showed that my lower back, actually the two hip bones are not sitting on a straight horizontal on the sacrem and is misaligned by 1cm which is probably why i’m getting the pains. My mid-back is out by 11 degrees but that’s fine cos there’s a 10 degree tolerance for that. And my neck also have some twists around the C4/C5 bones. That’s as technical as i get!
Likewise for V, her right shoulder showed a upwardly misalignment which is probably the cause of her perennial shoulder pains which also shoot pains down her arm when she is over-worked and stressed.
So everything sounds pretty logical and scientific and he explained that our scans showed that its just phase 1 of degeneration problems so the treatment should prevent it from advancing to stage 2 which is pretty scary cos your discs in between the bones get dried up and the bones themselves start to have spurs around the edges and the pain will probably be alot worse.
We then moved on to the “adjustments” which was basically the doc twisting our backs and necks in the specific directions that are needed for the corrections. You do actually hear the “pops” just like when you crack your knuckles and I actually felt relieved because my back was pretty sore to begin with from standing around for a couple of hours the day before.
Everything’s fine and good so far, the only negative aspect is as expected the costs! The recommended treatment plan is 3 times a week for 3 months and 2 times a week for the next 3 months and finally maybe a once a week or once a month for the remaining part of the year. With sessions costing $75 each. Its definitely a heavy financial burden. The sales pitch given was that just like training for a marathon, you can’t just go jogging once a month and go for the race in 3 months time, so similarly for the adjustments, the body needs the frequency for it to be corrected. Fair enough i guess. Now the only problem is choosing payment packages. Typically the more sessions you sign up for up-front, the bigger the discount on each session, but we’re talking about thousands here, so we might just have to take smaller packages and see what happens after a month or two before committing such $$.
Recently, after going through about 4 months of physiotherapy for my aching back, I stumbled upon a roadshow at a shopping mall for a chain of chiropractitioners. That set me thinking and i started doing some readings on the art/science of Chiropractics. I liked what i’ve seen so far, the idea that pain is all caused by nerves not properly aligned etc and since your main central nerve system is in your spine, thus maipulating the spine would be a logical way of managing pain. Also the concepts of non-invasive, non-pill popping type treatments made it more attractive.
The physio treatments have so far been alright, the massages were the most effective pain relief and the heat treatment also felt good, but i figured if i’m going to be depending on massages and heat treatments all my life, that’s just relieving the symptoms and not really solving any problem. Hence the look at the alternatives. Also, i think the ultrasound treatments are bollocks. Just simply rubbing a magic stick around the affected area for awhile isn’t going to do jack 
So anyway, i made appointments for both V and myself (cos she always has shoulder/neck pains) yesterday and we popped by the clinic.
At first glance, it got my radar up abit cos it looked like some timeshare sales pitch place cos there was this giant screen showing the wonders of it and a couple of rows of chairs which i assume they use for sales pitches.
We filled up a couple of forms on our contact details, pain symptoms and medical history and went in to see the doc. He told us about how the spine works and how everything is interconnected and then did some initial questionings and examination which included probing the back and looking for pain spots. I’ve still got a little skepticism about the whole setup but he does seem knowledgeable enough and there were other people who were popping in for their sessions and they seemed happy enough.
The other thing that bugged me was the lack of privacy. Why did they have to put the treatment beds in the open – four in a row, being overlooked by the rows of chairs with the giant screen behind.
So the next step is to get our Xrays done next week and we’ll pop back for the initial review and recommendations. That’s probably when they’ll start selling us packages for “adjustments” – that’s what they call the sessions where they fix your back.� Yesterday’s damage including the payment for the xrays was $300 per head (if anybody is interested in this).
Thus begins our chiro journey…
The doc sent me for an MRI yesterday and its really quite an experience! I’m sure people who have some form of claustrophobia will freak out. You get into this dead mummy position and they slide you into the machine which is like 2 inches from your face, and worst of all, the loud buzzing and clanging sounds are so in your face you feel like you’re in some alien� movie where they suck you up into their mother ship and try to extract your brain juice or something. The noise is so loud they actually give you ear plugs… Imagine being stuck there motionless for 20 min.
Anyhow, the scan confirms that “The L5/S1 disc is dessicated and narrowed in height with a focal annular tear posteriorly. It shows a small central disc protrusion indenting the thecal sac but not causing significant central canal stenosis”.
Boy do i love those medical jargon… In my own words, four letters – ouch!
So i finally get a letter to downgrade myself in the army after serving all but 1 more in-camp, and i guess i won’t being doing anything too twisty forever… sigh.
Just got some xrays done on my back today cos of the pain i’ve been getting and his verdict is that its caused by disc degeneration. Yet another one ailment to add to my collection of “old men” problems. This stuff suppose to start happening when you hit your 40s or 50s. I guess i’m just too mature for my age!
Damn it.
Well, at least that should stave off the freaking army fitness zealots. And there goes the mountain biking and squash for good. Sigh.
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