I have had a bad back for quite a few years now and most of the time it is perfectly manageable and doesn’t really affect me. However when riding especially when climbing it is very painful right at the bottom of my back. It is getting to the point where I sometimes don’t bother trying to ride up the hills which is crap because I am really trying to get fitter and faster at the moment.

I have been to the doctors in the past and they don’t really seem to want to know possibly because I am relatively young for such back pain, I’m 29 and have had it for around 10 years. Does anybody have any ideas as to what I can do to reduce the pain.

Ask around and get a recommendation for a good physio.

I’m similar age and had problems on and off for about 10 years. Too late to fix the damage done by the original injury (playing squash in my case) but a few weeks with physio sorted me right out. In my case, lots of hamstring stretching made a massive difference.

Bite the bullet, spend some cash, do the stretches then ride your bike!

swimming, front crawl, cured most of my back problems.

I’ve been to the physio for lower back pain. The diagnosis was that my core wasn’t as strong as it should have been so may back was overcompensating, which put it under undue stress.

I was told to concentrate on core exercises such as ‘the plank’ etc.

Coincidentally, mine started when I was 19 too, about 18 months ago now I suppose but it has improved.

I did actually go to see a physio at one point and it really helped for a while however it seems to have come back again. I’m not sure if its worse than it used to be or just that I’m riding more and making more of an effort to climb, so I might just be noticing it more.

As per Will, doing regular stretches & exercises this year, such as the plank for strengthen your core muscles has improved my lower back pain enormously. I’ve found that physio and such like can sort your out temporiarily but you need to change (exercise/strech/adjust your seating positions @ work/in the car) to get a long term fix. Get advice from an expert for your specific issues though, and having a rubbish matteress did nothing to help matters in my case..

I found out that my lower back pain is from tight hamstrings. If I try and touch my toes from cold I get my hands just past my knees, if I hang there for a while my muscles stretch and let me reach the ground.

Apparently the lower back compensates for the lack of flexibility in the legs and ends up twisting and doing all sorts to make up for it.

I do this stretch daily and I’m not only able to reach further, but I haven’t ached on a ride for a while! My osteopath recommended this stretch to me.

Oh, and try dropping your saddle a few mm. I did this with my road bike; felt wrong at first but is definitely better now.

I forgot to mention the saddle height thing. If I ride a long with the saddle in a descending position so I’m in more of a ‘sit up and beg’ position it hurts less, and when the saddle is at the optimum peddling efficiently height it hurts more. Wondered last night if im bending over the bike too much and if tilting the nose of my saddle down a bit might straighten up my back.

I’m 30 and have just spent the last few months with a physio for this sort of thing.

Turned out my problem was that my core wasn’t working properly so my back muscles were doing most/all of the work. The result being that i’ve got some very well developed back muscles but i’ve pushed it to a point where it can’t cope anymore and it causes pain.

The physio did some nice cracking of my back to restore some mobility and stacks of pilates type exercises, all focussed on building core stability. I can honestly say that the pain is reduced and, although there is some way to go, i’m definitely on the road to recovery!

I wouldn’t want to say that this is exactly your problem but would say that a chat with a physio is probably worth it. Whatever you do, don’t do nothing; you’ll only start making old man noises and regret it in the future…

Well I went out again last night and tilted the nose of my saddle down a little just to see what happened. At first it felt like I was sliding off the front a little but I got used to that, strangely I didn’t get the extreme back pain that I have been getting of late it just ached a little. Could a couple of degrees in saddle angle really make that much difference?

yes it could. Try raising the bars a bit as well.

I_Ache – Member
Well I went out again last night and tilted the nose of my saddle down a little just to see what happened. At first it felt like I was sliding off the front a little but I got used to that, strangely I didn’t get the extreme back pain that I have been getting of late it just ached a little. Could a couple of degrees in saddle angle really make that much difference?

Do you know what the cause of the pain is? I used to suffer from lower back pain in my early 20’s. I have a slightly curved spine, and I think the beds in student accommodation weren’t particularly helping.
I’d never done any real back exercises before, so started doing overall stretching exercises as well as back strengthening exercises.

The pain went completely for many years. It has recently started creeping back and I think it coincides with sitting in a car for long periods due to my commute, sitting at my desk for long periods because of my job & not doing regular back exercises anymore…..
I need to get back into it, really.

Have you tried yoga or anything similar. I found it great for core muscle exercise and flexibility. If you find a class that is quite active rather than a ‘lying on the floor & farting’ type class, explain the problem you are having (so they can advise you to miss certain stretches or do them in a different way), I imagine it would help greatly.

TJ I did think about raising the bars but I quite like them as low as I can get them and with 160mm forks they are pretty high anyway. I might give it a shot and see how it affects handling.

Stumpy From when I went to the physio before he suggested I had previously got whiplash up my back from a mtb crash and managed to tare a muscle between my ribs and that causes the upper back pain, with my lower back trying to work around that for years.

Stumpy From when I went to the physio before he suggested I had previously got whiplash up my back from a mtb crash and managed to tare a muscle between my ribs and that causes the upper back pain, with my lower back trying to work around that for years.

did the physio not prescribe some stretching/ strengthening exercises to compensate.

I would suggest that tight muscles (lack of stretching), weak muscles (core strength) and position may be the problem.

Get it sorted in that order. messing with the bike before sorting out you is arse about face imo.

I had the same issue on my 06 enduro running my forks at 160mm as you. I was countering the light front end with my back. Winding down the forks makes it much better but lowers the BB so that pedal strikes are more common.
Good core also helps and keeping good posture with a static lower back position when climbing instead of bobbing and pushing through your back is also very good. Look up hip flexar(sp) stretches on google.
One last thing was moving my saddle an inch forward on the rails as it was quite back.
I have very little issues now compared to years gone by when I used to get a lot of pain during rides and then driving the car home it would attack again.

Hope this helps.

Seat post angle can be an issue. I.e. a slack seatpost angle can mean your quite far back on the bike and pedalling up a hill mens your pushing forward on the pedals as well as down which hurts the lower back.

Sliding the saddle forward on the rails can help as will making yourself straighten your back during the climbs… basically don’t “hunch” but push your tummy forward and shoulders back… works for me when I get twinges in my lower back.

Saddle forward on the rails you say. I have it all the way back to give me a little extra stretch, I might try pushing it forward a little.

and go for a straight back – with that ‘lordosis’ curve, not hunched over, when you cycle.

A thin saddle, not a sofa, and clipless pedals helps – you want to spin as much as possible so you have a more even effort over the whole pedal stroke, and not put all your effort into pushing the pedals downwards.

I have had lower back aches since a kid but found that it helped to stretch the gluts by trying to bend forward to touch my toes but keeping the back as straight as possible, so really just hinging at the pelvis.

If you watch women touching their toes that is how then do it, blokes go into an impression of a question mark.

And I also found that geting the cockpit size correct helps.

It feels correct to not be too stretched out so I feel tension in my arms and torso when I climb – not pulling on the bars as such but just a resistive tension.