Hi knowledgeable folk of stw

Recently I have been suffering with lower back pain on rides, even short ones.

The pain is quite strong and seems worse in the lower left side, almost muscle pain.

I have recently been staying out of the granny and working harder in the middle ring on climbs, sometimes out of the saddle.

The pain is much more pronounced when out of the saddle and ‘giving it some’ especially on the descents.

Any tips, I understand its difficult over the inter webs 😉

Im about 5’10 and ride an 18″ 26 Scandal.

Cheers

Thats the complete opposite of mine! I get pain seated climbing, but standing up helps! I do find proper hydration and stretching before the ride helps though.

First try stretching/Pilates and then go to a Physio.

Go see a doctor. I had back pain, oo, about two weeks ago, nothing that I could think of to cause it. The doc said it’s probably a muscle strain, massively common and nine times out of ten you don;t know what caused it – he gave me some leaflets about some simple exercises and said to keep it moving (but obviously, refrain from entering the highland games until it’s fixed). I also got some advice second-hand from a nurse, who said take ibuprofen, wait two hours then take paracetemol, wait two hours and repeat – if you live with the pain, it’ll change how you move which will have a knock on affect. The doctor said it might take a couple of weeks to clear up – not cycled yet, but I’d say I’m about 80 to 90% there.

It might be due to bending down and then trying to exert some force while in a crouched postion – perhaps whilst trying to jemmy open a tumble dryer door with a screwdriver? 😆

I’ll just regurgitate what I have read from others then add in some experience.

First is identify the cause.

Bike setup? Particularly saddle position and reach. Too long and you are stretcing which could put pressure on the wrong bit of you. Saddle too high will make you hips wobble and your back hurt. Saddle too low and you are not working effectively. Also consider saddle to far forward or back.

Dodgy hamstrings – connected to lower back pain in some cases.

Lack of core strength – back carrying your weight not your stronger core abdominal muscles.

Injury – see a physio

For me it only really occured on long hard rides (basically races over 30miles)

I started Pilates 12 months ago and haven’t had back pain in the last 10. Pilates also helped me realise some bits of my body weren’t right (tight glutes) and that my hips and pelvis were moving all over the place on the bike. From this I moved my position, ~5mm down and a smidge (yes that is an SI unit) back.

All good advice, cheers chaps.

And danny, I suppose what you are saying is that the mrs Is the root cause due to her putting my shoes outside on a wet day, would she be classed as a minor change 😆

Try googling Sciatica as well, plus most people have one leg shorter than the other so may want to look at bike postion as stated above. Sorted a lot of my issues by fitting Specialized BG insoles..sounds stupid but worked for me!

EDIT- or buy a full sus 🙂

Difficult to diagnose over the Internet as back pain has a huge number of causes. From experience it could be coming from either the hip flexor or para spinal muscles. It might be worth some foam rolling in the affected area to determine if there is some muscle fibrosis or a trigger point. This manifests as a painful point within the muscle (I.e. not in the midline) and will hurt like f***. Repeated massage / foam rolling will help release this and pain should improve over time. Core strength and working on propper posture should help prevent recurrence. Midline pain or pain radiating to the legs won’t be helped by this and you might be best seeking medical help. If it persists I’d highly recommend seeing a physio or sports therapist

Also see James Wilson’s blog as he has some good thoughts on lower back pain.

Hth

Worth also looking up McKenzie method of treating back pain. The crux of which is lying on your front and pushing up with your arms whilst letting your lower trunk and hips sag to the floor, holding briefly then repeating for 10. Repeat exercise 3-6 times a day.

Cheers guys, will give it a try.

Pilates = core strength = happy rider 🙂

Switching to mid ring climbing is going to put more strain on your body while you adjust, your hamstrings are going to get much stronger and maybe a little tighter/shorter, this pulls on your pelvis which passes the stresses along to your spine. You can stretch your hamstrings and do some focused back strengthening.

Some times pedal stoke efficiency suffers because you are putting more power down than usual and other muscles are recruited to make up the slack… also as your muscles fatigue most people change the way they ride in a way that puts more stress on your back (like leaning to the side of the power stroke or excessive pulling on the bars when standing). Only solution is to back off a bit, intervals of easier pedalling or some easier riding generally, until you get used to mid ring climbing, which you will.

I found that after going 1×10 I had to switch to a 60mm stem from a DH stem, make the bike a bit more climb friendly. Im also careful what goes in my pack, if at all possible gear is strapped to the bike and I dont carry excess water.

Could be your hamstrings. I get lower back pain and a physio told me my hamstrings are stupidly tight, so were pulling at my lower back. A few painful physio sessions later, they were sorted. But still tighten up every now and then.

Lots of good advice – bike fit is a likely cause, even nudging the tip of the saddle down a fraction could make all the difference.

To check the seat height it would be worth getting someone to ride behind you to see if your hips are rocking from side to side, if so it is likely your saddle is too high; another sign of a saddle being too high is if your shoulders are lurching from side to side. A few mm can make all the difference.

Go and see a proper osteopath and get them to check you over. Then ask them for advice on exercises to improve core strength.
The other obvious one is bike position. I suffered a lot from back pain when riding for over an hour, improving core strength and bringing my saddle forward cured it.