My back very stiff and sore after stupidly building a rockery on Friday. I’ve got 7 days till I do the manchester blackpool ride. Anybody got any miracle cures?

Try a cream called biofreeze my friend an osteo recommends its. Trapped a nerve once and no amount of drugs would touch it. Biofreeze 7.5 hrs without any pain. You can get it from tescos pharmacy.

where do you live? go a mate who can fix stuff

I’ll have a look in boots tomorrow. I live in Leigh near warrington pal.

mate is nearer stratford, try a good sports massage though

I’ll have a look in boots tomorrow. I live in Leigh near warrington pal.

Boots sell it as well you have to ask for it as its not normally on the shelf

Stretch for up to 4 mins at a time…
Lay on the floor, on your front, up on your elbows and look up at the ceiling, hold for 4 mins at a time, should work a treat!

You could try lying on the floor, on your back with your calves on the seat of a chair. Puts your spine into a neutral position. I’ve found doing this while I watch tv can help

yoga. no kidding. I had chronic probs with a muscle near the top of my spine (causing blinding headaches and neck pain/stiffness) and the daily cycle commute gave me no chance to rest it. also suffered sciatica since breaking my leg (esp when fatigued). yoga fixed my muscle issue and while I was doing the yoga my back was loose all the time and I felt much more energised just for that reason.

I found out that with some of these muscle problems, the issue is that while the muscle is in pain it won’t relax; unfortunately, all it needs is to relax (perhaps for several separate periods) for the pain to go away. YMMV of course.

Yoga +1 here.
Lie on front, Stretch yourself lengthways then lift opposite arms and legs ie right arm left leg, six inches off floor. Say six sets of six.
Then get onto hands and knees and ‘the cat’ (look it up).
Worked for me after laying a patio, and do it regularly as a top up.