I’m looking for some STW wisdom.

I’ve been suffering from lower back pain after cycling and sometimes in general for about a year now. I can”t sleep comfortably on my left side. I’ve changed mattress with no effect and my bike setup remains the same.

I’ve seen a physio then a chiropractor, the later has given me knees-to chest and Cat stretches to do which provide some relief.

However, yesterdays 4h bike race was an exercise in pain management after 2hrs, and I”m still suffering today despite using ibroprofen, hot shower, stretches and a first world pain management solution of heated seats onto max during my journey to work this morning.

Its not getting better – any ideas that work? I will admit to not doing those stretches daily, should I be?

any ideas that work?

Not entering 4 h bike races?

Works for me.

Rarely… i’ve had one the same in the past 2 weeks, but don’t recall having before…. I’m not sure if mine is cycling related yet…. but will keep an eye on the thread.

I think a firm diagnosis of what is causing the problem, for me it was severely dehydrated disc in lower back, and then i found the best thing was tackling posture and my chair at work, coupled with strengthening the muscles that support the spine.

When mine is bad, the lower spine itself really hurts but also the muscles either side just seem to lock up. Weirdly i found sitting on a turbo-trainer and gently pedaling helped as my pelvis rocked gently side to side and helped to free up the muscles around the spine.

swimming sorted mine out 30mins every morning before work, the chance to remove the effects of gravity so you can stretch it out is lovely and as a by product improves your core no end.

One thing that helped me sort the whole “leg pain” at night was a set of breathing exercises to strengthen the diaphragm and core (psoas / adductor/ abs). I’ll not go into why it’s meant to work but if you look for “wall short seated reach” then you’ll see how it’s meant to be done

Took me a few weeks to be able to do it consistently and often enough but the pain went pretty quickly and I could sleep better

Need to start doing it again tho

I’ve been managing a dodgy back for 5 years after herniating a disc. There’s no real magic bullet, but I’ve learned a few things. The main thing is that unless it’s excruciating and clearly getting worse, do not stop riding or doing things you normally would. Go down the doctors and get whatever high strength painkillers you need to get through it. I found diclofenac was the best, following that naproxen and ibuprofen. Tramadol is great for short term relief if it’s really bad, but you’ll be limited in what you can do on that stuff outside of watching telly and staring into space 🙂

Stretching I find doesn’t help with acute pain, but definitely has a long term benefit. Same with core strength exercises. If you get into the habit of doing daily core exercises and stretching you’ll feel a benefit in a matter of weeks, the trick is to then keep them going when you have no pain. I’m terrible at this so probably why I still get semi-frequent flare-ups. If you have a job which involves sitting down, get a mackenzie roll for your chair, this has helped me a lot. Also get up and walk around frequently. I never do more than an hour sat down if I can help it.

Good luck!

Do you ride with a slammed stem / low bars? – if so raise them a couple of inches. Low bars on a bike damage your back. Flattens the lumbar curve and over curves the cervical curve. Slouching in chairs also flattens your lumbar curve. Flattening your lumber curve means the muscles and ligaments adapt to this flattened curve and it feels comfortable at the time – but it puts huge pressure on your discs in your back causing long term issues.

Low bars on a bike damage your back.

Only if your pelvis is not suitably rotated. A better question is ‘is your lumbar curve right?’ You can have a look as you ride past a large enough window.

Molgrips.
I think the last thing Kryton needs is more looking in shop windows.
Can you imagine his next thread “crashed today after trying to look at…

😉

If it keeps getting worse, you might need an MRI for a proper diagnosis. I paid for mine privately on the advice of my physio because my GP did not seem to know anything about backs.

Then, after a sufficient period of rest and Ibuprofen (3 months in my case): pilates.

One-to-one sessions, ideally.

Sorted me out.

(I’ve also invested in a sit-stand desk, with a HAG Capisco chair for my home office.)

Good luck with your recovery!

I think the last thing Kryton needs is more looking in shop windows.

Lol. Obviously I don’t mean bike shops or car dealerships.

… I should mention that I also had a few visits to a cranial osteopath, who was also incredibly helpful. I can never work out how that practice works, but it helped get rid of pain, so I am happy.

It “works” because chronic conditions come and go naturally, and you seek help when they’re at their worst. Regression to the mean.

Squats. Or yoga.

It was a tough course on backs yesterday.
Anyway, I do this sort of thing and variants of to release a sore back:

The images comes from an Abi Carver back session here:
https://www.pinkbike.com/news/1-hour-yoga-for-lower-back-pain-routine-yogaabi.html

edit – can’t post an image. It’s the spinal twist pose that I was trying to show.

Bridge exercises and hip thrusts, you have muscle imbalances that are relieved by stretching, but can only be fixed by engaging and strengthening the muscles that are in essence asleep.

Cycling exacerbates our natural modern world poor posture, avoid any pushing exercises, external rotation is your friend, look up YTWL this will also help.

Sorting this out will require daily attention.

I will admit to not doing those stretches daily, should I be?

DO them daily. Do them several times daily if you can.

That Yoga With Abi thing^^ Most of those excercises/stretches are either part of my daily routine or the warm up for the bike specific S&C group I go to.

It was a tough course on backs yesterday.

Technically I felt ok, just needed to stretch out on some of the paved bits.

Bridge exercises and hip thrusts,

Maybe this. I’ve stopped planking, and have been advised to start Kettlebells again. Maybe I’ll pick up a light one daily for a bit and see if that helps.

I’ve had a bad back for about 20 years after a game of squash went bad and I misjudged how much space there was between me and the wall. Currently I’m on good form without it flaring up for the past couple of years, but I know it is always there. I have been experienced the searing crippling pain, the annoying pain, the constant pain and (worse of all) the sciatica. Here is what I have learnt, often the hard way

1. If you sleep on your side, shove a pillow length-ways between your legs. It straightens things out and makes a massive difference. If you get a good sleep, everything else is easier. Try it, you might be surprised how much it helps. This is a simple, free and easy tip that you can do straight away.

2 – Like most cyclists, my flexibility is really poor. Regular stretching is key, not just when you have a bad back but all of the time. For me, hamstring stretching it critical, my physio links injury to isolating my back to changing posture to poor flexibility to further pain. Hamstrings seem to have more influence eon my back than the original injury

3. Decent Sport Physio is worth every single penny. Get in there quickly and pay private if necessary. I live in a big rugby area so physios are quite good at beating you up to get you back in shape. Sports physios seem to be less ‘cuddly’ and more outcome orientated.

4. Backs are very good at isolating injuries, if it spots a damaged part it just isolates that part and compensates by moving differently in other parts. If you have an injury, get down to a physio and get it sorted otherwise you risk carrying it for years (like I say, I learnt the hard way)

My Lower back flares up from time to time, saw a physio and a chiropractor.

Stretches particularly the glutes and hanstrings help.

The best solution for me I’ve found is using a Lacrosse massage ball on the muscles of the lower back, google and there are loads of videos explaining it. I find it helps release the tension which in turn helps everything else settle down.

It’s called 3 series back….

In all seriousness, I have had a bad back for years – eventually we worked out it was that I couldn’t get the base of my seat in my BMW flat enough which put pressure on the base of my spine. Eventually ended up having to sit on some special sort of cushion which helped but selling the car and reducing the amount of driving I do helped more.

My back went into spasm at the end of summer spent doing DH in the Alps.
I went to a physio who said exactly what twinwall said above. Muscle imbalance in my core.

Had lower back problems due to driving lots, physical job. Go to Yin Yoga on a Friday evening. Deep stretching class really. Stretches at start and end of day recommend by good sports Physio and the horrors of core strength class in a gym which I’ve just started. All a bit of a pain to be honest but not a pain in the back so win win.

I’ve managed a bad back for over 20 years – old rowing injury. These are the things I’ve found that helped:
A long bed (I’m 6’6”) so that your feet are supported;
Sleeping with your legs together (no jokes please!!)
Core exercises;
Sitting up at desks/tables – no slumping!
Keeping active (although it doesn’t seem like that is an issue for you);

Perhaps you should review your bike set up? Tiny changes can have a big effect on back, knees etc.

If it hurts – stop. Would be my best advice.

Oh yes, car seats.

Get a Volvo.

I’ve just invested in a standing desk….. will let you know if it helps mine.

Number one, don’t take a diagnosis from people who have never seen you.
Next up – get somebody to look at you in context, that means on the bike too. Can suggest somebody near Warwick who is very good at looking at the whole body/picture
Finally you can normally only fix something properly once you have found the problem, that will tell you what you need to work on and look at.

Hmm.. if I get rid of one of these shelves I could make myself a standing desk.. hmm..

Hmm.. if I get rid of one of these shelves I could make myself a standing desk.. hmm..

I “made” mine by fitting some longer legs to my existing desk top. If it works ok I might buy a proper one

I had a bad back, after lots of chiro and also doctors appointments what made a huge improvement to me was going to see a sports physio….the person I saw dealt with rugby and football players after injury. He gave me exercises which really seemed to help.

The only issue I have now due to my height is tingling pain in my back after prolonged sessions washing pots (I’m not kidding) and j also warm up and down after a ride too

I can get quite a sore lower back at weekends or on holiday, but never at work. I reckon the 30 minutes bike ride in each morning must have some sort of back benefit.

I had an issue post hernia op – left side lower back pain ,tingling “discomfort” in hip,knee & toe. Had an MRI and sent to specialist who diagnosed L5 vertebrae “degeneration”causing sciatic pain. I was offered injections or loads of core exercises. I favoured the later. Now I give my hamstrings a good stretch a couple of times a day plus planks,leg raises and squats. A few sit ups for good measure too. And glutes, they get done in the bath.
The discomfort is now only occasional and greatly reduced.
Changing the height of my car seat from “low rider” to a more upright position also assisted imo.

Do you only get a bad back after cycling? Likely to be either your core muscles aren’t strong enough to support you, or your bike position, or probably both i.e. you can’t support yourself in the position you’ve setup that might be comfy for 1-2 hrs but after that you’re core muscles get tired.
I started a thread earlier in the year about a persistent bad back, gave it one last shot at fixing it myself before heading to the docs. It gradually got better, not had a relapse since. What I do is –
Bend my knees instead of my back. For everything. I mean EVERYTHING. ok, maybe not everything, but e.g. getting a pint of milk out of the fridge – bend your knees. Tying your shoes – bend your knees. Feeding the cat – bend your knees. If you do need to bend your back, try and bend at the hips.
Secondly – I do a lot of the exercises and stretches as mentioned above. Everyday. Most helpful one I found is back extensions and cat/dog first thing in the morning. Lie on the floor and lift my upper back off the ground for a count of 10, then lift my feet/legs lower back off the floor for 10, repeat a few times. I alternate between plank / press-ups / crunches each day and variations of these.
Little tip – to help to motivate me to do these each day I try not to care if I do the same number of e.g. press-ups as last time, I just do as many as I can – otherwise if I’m feeling tired I feel anxious that I won’t hit a perceived target so I end up making excuses. Just get on and do something, even if it’s only 1. Once I get started, I’m generally ok.
Most importantly – try and work out what works for you, I found the unsupported back stretches e.g. bending at the hip to touch toes etc. exacerbated my back.

Physio – they will identify weaknesses and work with you to strengthen those. I never had a bad back till someone broke it for me 3 years ago. I have to work with the physio and do exercises now as I’m permanently in pain.

Good thing is, it shouldn’t get worse, but I’m missing half my L1 !

Its not getting better – any ideas that work?

Walking. 8k – 10k steps/day.

I went to my oesteopath today. In general I’m leaning to the left due to slight curvature of the spine, a prior broken coccix and smashed / pinned right shoulder. His view is that I need to do what I can to have a good posture, stretch loads to avoid undue tension, and that a MTB racing (cycling posture, physical battering) is a bad thing.

Look after it, stretch and seek remedial help after racing and it’ll likely never get better while bike racing – which is actually what a prior physio said to me a year ago, so at least I know it’s not quack advice.