Bad backs and Burger King

At least Alex is benefitting from my back injury. Today at the hospital, my physiotherapist (Hello Judith!) did a bit more traction, and then showed me some more exercises to do. The latest ones seem like dance moves from “The Rocky Horror Picture Show“.

So far the exercises have been helping, and I am feeling better, although the bit I really want fixed (being able to sit for more than 10 minutes!) is looking like it will be the last thing to come good. Any unplanned or sudden movement is off the scale, but the general ache is all but gone.

After doing “The Time Warp” at Physio, we headed into Camberley so I could get a waterproof jacket for my Nordic Walking. I was drenched the other day, as I want to walk every day, rain or shine, as I want this back fit and fixed. The trouble is the other day had horizontal rain and a partially flooded route. I have waterproof trousers and socks, so that all stayed dry…. Thankfully I found a jacket today!

Alex got spoilt for being such a good boy – He’s been so well behaved, and becoming a very helpful lad. He has two new Matchbox cars, a VW van, two articulated lorries and even had a Burger King for lunch. All little die cast models, but he loves them. This was his first time in a BK! One happy lad!

My Bad Back

After moving a heavy machine from the back of the company car I damaged my back. It doesn’t seem to be too serious, but it’s taking a while to fix. This has been driving me crazy, as sitting is painful, twisting is painful, carrying even light loads is painful…. brilliant. I’ve got pain killers which help – and the Doc’s advice is a mix of rest and gentle exercise (yay for painkillers!). Sleeping is a nightmare, as I can’t get comfortable, and if I roll in the night I end up waking up. Gah!!!!

Even worse is I can’t carry on my running programme or even shoot – I’ve already missed a shooting competition.

Luckily I stumbled on some information about Nordic Walking. This is like cross country skiing, but without the skis or snow….

It keeps the body in a more stable position whilst walking, and burns around 30% more calories than normal walking. With the new trainers that correct my foot fall and the Nordic Poles, I have found I can take a reasonable walk without causing any more back pain – which actually helps keep me active and helps with my back recovery!

Normal walking caused me discomfort – but this has almost been eliminated when I use the poles to walk. The painkillers still allowed me to feel what was happening around my lower back, but reduced the pain itself. This is how I found that the poles helped reduce the strain on my back. The main trouble now is getting up and sitting/laying back down again – but once I get up on my poles I feel a darn site better. Hmmm… that means I can either be horizontal or walking with poles… I’m having soooooo much fun at the moment.

Any way…. here’s a bit about the Nordic walking, and the advantages of it. The Doctor had said I should walk around, so I took some painkillers and set of to do 2km without the poles, and then another 2km with the poles.

This is a comparison test over the same route for 2km. The pace I set was simply a comfortable pace to walk at in both straight walking and Nordic Walking. Due to the extra push from the poles, the comfortable pace was a little higher for the Nordic Walking.

After the tests I felt more exercised from the Nordic walk, but I also felt like I could go on for further than just plain walking, due to the distribution of the effort throughout my whole body – as the poles give your arms and chest exercise whilst they help share the load on your back, knees and legs.

If you have a long hike to go on, then I’d say get some pole practice in, as it will help you sustain yourself.

Anyway…. The top chart in the following cases show:- Heart rate, speeds, kcal burn etc… The second chart shows the time my heart rate stayed in the specific training zones.
(More on the zones at the bottom of this post!)

You’ll notice that the use of poles raises the heart rate and gives almost 30% more kcal burn for the same distance as straight walking.

CLICK ON THE IMAGES TO SEE LARGER VERSIONS

STRAIGHT WALKING

NORDIC WALKING

ZONES

These zones relate to the effect the heart rate has on your body – the percentage is calculated from my maximum and resting rates – so the actual BPM that I have in these zones will be different to anyone else – BUT it is the percentage of a persons max heart rate that effects the zone range, and not the numerical BPM itself.