This is something that comes up on here every now and then, people suffering from lower back pain, so just wondering what has worked for most people, usual suspects is ridig position – saddle too low, high, forward, bar position, stem too short/long etc. Just wondering if people could comment on what has worked for them, have things improved by just gettig higher rise bars so you sit more upright or did you get lower bars to stretch the back out more, or lots of trail and error, or was it a better benefit to do stretching and back exercises over everything else … ??

A bugger load of core exercises has seemingly sorted me out. I already did a few which i thought sufficed, but now have ramped up after issues all year. Rode 3 days in a row this week, which has been agony since early this year & am feeling pretty good.

For me, riding position is important and can help alleviate symptoms, but (and it’s a cliche) there is no substitute for core stability and flexibility.

Edit: there was a time when due to a back injury that I couldn’t bend forward more than about 20 degrees. Conditioning my core muscles has meant that they better support my dodgy spine. When I do have a back spasm, which is luckily an infrequent occurrence these days, the recovery time is definitely shortened by having trained my core.

Edit 2: like wallop says, tight hammies and hips don’t help. Lots of stretching!

Yoga. Sorts out the hip flexors and hamstrings – both of which are likely to be contributing to your problem.

Saddle angle. Anything off dead flat and I’ll know within a couple of miles.

I had really bad back pain within the first 5yrs of cycling so tried loads of things.

Usual as already mentioned, flexible hammys and butt, reckon if you can’t touch your toes that’d be a good start. Saddle height, if it’s too high it can put excess stress on your back (too low and excess stress on you knees mind). Also loadsssss of core work.

Might be worth seeing a specialist.

I was the kind a guy who refused to do so for a long time, convinced core exercises and stretching was all I need, they did help, a lot but something still wasn’t right, so went to go see a chiropractor. Turns out I has 3 seized vertebra that I might have had since birth! Few sessions later and the difference was night and day. Did a few 24hrsolos with no back pain what-so-ever 🙂

Thaks, looks like a bit of stretching and core exercises make the most difference.

I suffer a bit on long draggy climbs, fine on the flat and descents. I was reminising about my old bikes of the early 90’s and amazed at how low and long the front end was back then with no suspension and I never had any problems, younger and fitter I guess but I was doing a bit more gym, running and tae-kwon-do then, I think the stretching exercises we used to do for tae-kwon-do helped enormously as I was a lot more supple than I am now, I’d like to find something similar so maybe some form of yoga would be useful?

I use a foam roller, would look into this also. Very cheap, pretty easy to get into a routine and you will (hopefully) notice a difference immediately.

As mentioned above tight hamstrings seem to pull my back out of shape farily quickly, I’ve also gone down the route of yoga, all seems to help.

+1 for hamstrings.
Also saddle too low makes my back hurt.

Myofascial release with a tennis ball, the best 42p I ever spent. I’m plagued by severe back pain usually occurring 30-40 minutes into a ride. The only respite I get whilst riding is to stand out of the saddle and arch backwards to stretch the pain out.
Started with the tennis ball at the base of the spine & buttocks and it’s really sorted out my glutes, particularly the left buttock which seems to be my problem area.
I also strip my IT bands daily and Psoas release. I then carry on with yoga stretches followed by planks & side planks then dips.

Some of this may be of benefit to you, it’s certainly helping me.

Stu

http://www.thepilatesstudio.com