Today sees the start of Samsung Cycle week. This is the story of how my client, Chris and I worked together to ensure that he, who had never cycled before, could cycle all the way, injury free, from London to Paris. The time we had to get this done: 3 months! Chris never does anything by halves….

So we set to work. Chris is a very busy executive, at times working up to 90hrs/ week. Thankfully, he also believes in having some recreation time and this was when he was going to train for the bike ride.

Here is the Testimonial from Chris Heath telling the story from his point of view.

My treatment protocol consisted of the following:

• Releasing tightness in his entire body using different massage techniques and stretching. He found this painful to start off with because all those hours he spent sitting in boardrooms, aeroplanes and airport lounges had significantly shortened his hamstrings, which was causing further tightness in his back. He also had a habit of nodding off on planes and on the settee whilst watching TV – hardly surprising after an exhausting 90hr week! So I spent many an hour releasing his neck and shoulder muscles
• Realigning his spine and pelvis – Chris had a rugby injury when young and one of his legs was a good inch shorter than the other as a result. Unfortunately, unbelievable as it sounds, no other practitioner he had consulted in the past, had spotted this or recommended he have a corrective orthotic inserted. I recommended he get one urgently. 30 years of limping had caused serious tightness in one side of his body, which needed to be corrected but without the devices in his shoes to maintain this levelling, it was pointless. So Chris got the required orthotic in his shoe and the effect was fantastic.
• Stretching – I devised some specific stretches for Chris to do on a regular basis, including stretching his neck, shoulders, arms, hands and fingers whilst stationary at traffic lights. His fellow bikers looked on incredulously but he insisted he had to do his ‘Diksha stretches’…
• Mobilising his own healing – whilst practitioners of Western medicine believe they are the ones who ‘cure’ the problem/disease, complimentary practitioners like myself believe firstly, that there is no such thing as ‘cure’, it is all maintenance of health and secondly, the body heals itself if the balance within the body can be restored.

Challenge weekend dawned and off Chris went. Suffice to say I was on tender hooks all weekend because Chris had invested me with his trust and an enormous responsibility and I didn’t want to let him down.

My worrying was pointless: upon his return, Chris told me that he was so ecstatic on having completed this gruelling ride without any injury that he went around the Arc de Triumph one extra time to consolidate his achievement! Well done Chris!

Simple attention to detail, a holistic approach and good quality massage, coupled with realignment treatment, can be very effective in restoring health to the body and once balance is in place, well, anything is possible…and injuries can be kept at bay…

So if you are a competitive cyclist or a fair weather cyclist, make sure you do some stretches to keep yourself flexible and let me know if you need some specific help….