Anyone else suffer from this? It seems what I thought was down to other back injuries is a problem with the sacro-illiac joint, been seeing a chiropractor since March which has improved things but flares-up when climbing a lot or long drives. Does anyone have tips for reducing pain and allowing near normal riding? I am down to do SiTS solo again in 3 weeks and at the moment it's looking doubtful.

I built a new bike up a couple of months ago, and had pain like this on the first few outings, it wasn't sit-bone pain, it was truly base of the spine pain.

Over a couple of weeks I raised the saddle slowly each ride and moved the saddle forward a couple of cms on the post, and that has helped a lot, last time out no pain. My feeling was that the position was too low & long & the base of my back had to be rotated too much to compensate.

get it adjusted then start a good Regular stretching programme, it sorted mine :O)

Proper posture and core stability exercise help mine, but I'll have to manage it for my whole life since some of the ligaments are damaged.

I've suffered from sacro illiac pain for years

Initially the GP thought it was related to the Sciatica type symptoms I had

Chiro thought differently & asked for the GP to refer me to the local hospital for further tests

After tests it was confirmed that I have Ankylosing Spondylitis, which can display similar symptoms.

Well worth finding out the route cause of the problem, if you don't already know

I have some pretty strong painkillers & anti-inflammatories, along with physio exercises it helps keep the pain levels down, but I do still get flare ups

Yes, I get this every couple of years (for the last 15 years or so).

If I can spend the first day sitting still, learning against a hot water bottle, with max dose of ibruprofen, it clears up MUCH faster. Diazapam (valium) helps at this stage as well, as a muscle relaxant.

Long-term, building up your core muscles is worthwhile. And a back support will help in whilst driving.

Good luck with your recovery!

This is the back support I use in the car
Backfriend
Highly recommended, even though expensive

Thanks for all the advice, I'm off to the chiro this coming Friday so hope that helps. Sounds like it's an on/off thing for the foreseeable future that I have to manage. I suppose for strong painkillers I'll need some sort of letter from the chiro to the GP to say what treatments I've had already?

i have had good results doing the pigeon yoga stretch thing.
you will find it on you tube.

Chiro sorted mine out too but I still have to quickly stretch twice a week min.

Hope you get sorted. Ask for the diagnosis and how long/sessions needed.

Same as Orangista for me. Exercise (certain types) and anti inflams help but flare ups happen still. Now on disease modifiers, occasional physio (NHS – so very occasional!) and acupuncture. Strangely, I have no SI joint pain anymore but hands, ankles, neck and knees hurt like hell! Hope that cheers you up!

Well worth a mention to your GP about AS – it may not be that of course but my GP was and still is clueless about it. It was a surgeon looking at potential back damage (I had private insurance at the time) that recognised it and referred me to rheumatology.

My wife gets it when pregnant (which is now) – good physio really helps.

The Low Back .com

If you are willing to study a bit and try to understand instead of just skipping through the pictures this might help.

(useless internet anecdote) It worked for me 😀

It's free and doesn't involve blunt force trauma while trying to put you back into the correct alignment.