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Hi all,
Normally healthy but since returning from an injury that meant 10 weeks without exercise I started getting lower back ache. Now I have it all the time and can't seem to shift it. Any ideas or tips for exercises that help to ease it up?
New babies means much less frequent cycling so this has helped a lot
http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/Backpain/Pages/low-back-pain-exercises.aspx
The plank
Side plank
The bridge
Put into google, you should see instantly the gist of each exercise. 😉
I need to get back (seal clap) into a routine of doing these myself!
I find that bridge one is really good, as are ab roll outs. Also, lie on our back and hug your knees into your chest while pushing your lower back upwards.
The lower back twist is also another good one.
Possibly helpful. With the joys of old age I now tend to pre and post exercise stretches. I especially find that post hockey and post biking (both bent over sports - which are apparently hamstring shortening) doing back and hamstring stretches helps - I now no longer feel stiff the next day.
I wouldn't do much exercise concentrating on your back until you know exactly why it aches. I hurt my back years ago, saw the Doc, saw a physio who said 'it's probably...' that wasn't good enough for me so I kept looking for an answer as to what I had actually done. I eventually saw an osteopath who diagnosed it and as a result got me an MRi scan sorted. This confirmed what he had said. I had perhaps 4 sessions and my back was right as rain for year after (he gave me specific exercises related to my issue)
Yes, think I will go to the doctors tomorrow but some of those exercises might be helpful in the short term
Started doing a few of these stretches recently and seems to be helping. I know it isn't an overnight fix so I'll be keeping at it!
http://www.pinkbike.com/news/short-yoga-routine-lower-back-pain-2015.html
Combination of hamstring and glute stretches certainly helped mine.
Experiment with seat position fore/aft.
10 weeks without execise is a long time. Sounds to me like you became deconditioned and then went straight into your old routine too quickly and overloaded the muscles in your back. Don't panic, it is very fixable! As above, strengthen that back up. The above exercises (The plank, side plank, the bridge) look like a great place to start, also maybe scale down the cycling for a couple of weeks while you give yourself a chance to get your back closer to the level it was at before your accident?
Your muscles may or may not be too short, hard to say without seeing them, so I can't say if stretching will do any good or not.
The last thing you want to do is rest your back any more. This will be as damaging as overloading it. So get busy with the yoga, swimming, plank etc, whatever you enjoy the most (the best exercise is always the one you actually do!) and do it every day.