Muscle scar tissue

[Veronica]

I massage Badger Sore muscle Rub into my quad - and anything else that hurts - every night before I go to bed. I also do Yoga for Triathletes a couple times a week. That has kept my overuse injury at bay.

Veronica

[Catrin]

I found a video on You Tube called Yoga for Cycling, the link is here. It looks like it could be helpful, though I don't know much about Yoga. I will try this, her instructions seem quite clear.

I do have a series of stretches I do after I get off the bike, last year I didn't know what a stretch was...

[bmccasland]

Catrin - not sure what particular kind of scar tissue you're talking about - but my PT is having me do little circular massage on my knees surgical scars to keep the healing skin part from adhering from the underlying muscle. Of course I haven't tried my knee at a good spin rate either.

[tulip]

Tiger Balm. Just don't touch any sensitive areas (like, um, eyes, for one...) until you've washed your hands well.

[indysteel]

Tiger Balm. Just don't touch any sensitive areas (like, um, eyes, for one...) until you've washed your hands well.

+1. I carry Tiger Balm with me on every ride, mostly because it keeps my hot foot/toe pain down to a dull roar. During a ride last month, I was having some hip pain and thought, hmmmm, I wonder if Tiger Balm will help. Poof, the pain was gone. The stuff is magic.

But I also agree that use of a foam roller along with some yoga and gentle stretching might help, not just with the scar tissue, but in general.

[Catrin]

Tiger Balm seems popular, will check it out. I've been stretching after every ride using the same stretches we use after spinning class - hip, quad, hammie, and calf stretches. No soreness afterwards - but I didn't get sore last year unti it was too late.

Balm, more stretches, and rolling will likely solve this. Thanks!

[Owlie]

+1 on Tiger Balm. DBF and his fellow scouts apparently used to bathe in the stuff when doing the cycling merit badge...

[Becky]

The foam roller and yoga would be my two suggestions. Both have immensely helped me, but neither is a cure-all, and I have to continue to listen to my body....

[ultraviolet]

I found a video on You Tube called Yoga for Cycling, the link is here. It looks like it could be helpful, though I don't know much about Yoga. I will try this, her instructions seem quite clear.

I have no specific advice about stretching or your scar tissue issues.

I do have a comment about the YouTube video you linked. At under 5 minutes, it doesn't really seem like it offers much value. Especially if you aren't that familiar with yoga already.

If you don't want to buy a DVD, there are lots of video podcasts out there that can help. Here's one from Yogamazing that's titled "Yoga for Triathletes". http://podfreaks.com/view/yogamazing/37771 It's about 25 minutes (the action starts about the 2:50 mark), and has pretty clear instruction and goes at a pretty reasonable pace. You'll also see a bunch of links beneath it for other sessions.

I bought a LivingSocial certificate a little while back for a month of unlimited yoga at a studio near my house. It was probably the best $30 I've ever spent. The combination of strength building and stretching always leaves me feeling awesome. Of course, I also got completely hooked and was going to 4-6 classes a week. It now costs me way more than that to keep it up, but it will still come out to less than I was spending per year on massages and the inevitable PT visits when my muscle imbalances and lack of flexibility issues would land me up with some kind of silly injury.