wifes crotch pain!

vikingboy

For once, not caused by me :shock:

My wife has been looking to get fit and we recently picked her up a new bike. She has done a few miles on it this weekend but has been complaining of a serious pain in the delicate parts and i wondered if anyone had any possible suggestions of how to remedy this?

She has a ladies saddle with a wide-ish rear section which appears to match her sit bones. Its a WBT deva saddle with the love-groove to reduce pressure on the delicate bits.
I've tried raising the handlebars as high as they can go with her current 100mm stem, and moving the saddle forward to reduce the amount of lean she is using but it still causes pain in the general crotch area. Ive also tried to saddle both high and lower which doesnt seem to make any difference.

She doesnt look too stretched out on the bike and the frame appears to fit ok.

Do you think she might just need to persevere with some saddle time or is their another possible solution to this delicate problem - as you can imagine its putting her off going for another ride.
Its also killing my sex life too so please help quickly! :twisted:

LoUiS1985

My wife has been looking to get fit and we recently picked her up a new bike. She has done a few miles on it this weekend but has been complaining of a serious pain in the delicate parts and i wondered if anyone had any possible suggestions of how to remedy this?

i could think of 1 or 2

skyd0g

A pair of padded cycling shorts + a liberal amount of chamois cream.

skyd0g

vikingboy wrote:

For once, not caused by me :shock:

My wife has been looking to get fit and we recently picked her up a new bike. She has done a few miles on it this weekend but has been complaining of a serious pain in the delicate parts and i wondered if anyone had any possible suggestions of how to remedy this?

She has a ladies saddle with a wide-ish rear section which appears to match her sit bones. Its a WBT deva saddle with the love-groove to reduce pressure on the delicate bits.
I've tried raising the handlebars as high as they can go with her current 100mm stem, and moving the saddle forward to reduce the amount of lean she is using but it still causes pain in the general crotch area. Ive also tried to saddle both high and lower which doesnt seem to make any difference.

She doesnt look too stretched out on the bike and the frame appears to fit ok.

Do you think she might just need to persevere with some saddle time or is their another possible solution to this delicate problem - as you can imagine its putting her off going for another ride.
Its also killing my sex life too so please help quickly! :twisted:

You are probably heading in the wrong direction with the handlebar / saddle arrangement.
Lower handlebars and a higher saddle would make her lean forwards, therfore sharing some of the weight on her arms and relieving the amount of weight going directly on her, er...seat.

couldashouldawoulda

What sort of pain?

Muscles / sit bones / skin rubbing / ligaments etc?

An initial guess would be (based on my good ladies reports) the front of the saddle is too high. Ladies seem to prefer the saddle pointing slightly downwards?

vikingboy

shes complaining of everything hurting so sounds like a pain in the muscles AND on the skins surface. She hasnt complained about pain in the sit bones or ligaments specifically though.

I did try lowering the nose of the saddle as far as the post will allow it too which did help with a more intimate pain she reported.

I will try lower the handlebars as suggest by Skydog - your suggestion does make sense.

I raised the saddle to the approximate height to afford her a straightish leg when the peddle was at bottom dead centre (BDC?). The shop sent it out far too low IMHO - stupidly low. Given shes been out of the saddle for so long she preferred the ability to reach the floor easily so its a compromise of pedal power vs mental comfort knowing the floor isnt far away!

Im thinking of heading back to the shop for them to sort it out with her, it might need more adjustment than the parts currently fitted can provide, for example, stem length of seat post angle etc. Id like to explore the obvious before resorting to that.

couldashouldawoulda

I gotta say I've been thru this with my better half so I sympathise.

How long in the saddle til it hurts?

Is she on spds/ flats?

Do you have a flatter / less hammockky saddle (even a mans) she can swap in temporarily?

Is she used to cycling?

vikingboy

time in the saddle until it hurts = 30 seconds
She is on flats
She has the saddle her bike came with which is a own brand Lapierre which is pretty manly looking. I could refit that and try that with the current setup.
She isnt used to cycling and hasnt ridden in 10 years (which is why some of the pain Im assuming will come with desensitising the delicate area). However shes in such pain right now that I dont think she will get back on the thing LOL

whyamihere

Is she wearing something with a seam on the crotch?

skyd0g

I'd suggest let the good lady rest for a while until the area in question has returned to feeling normal, before getting her to try any new positions with you.
If you try too soon, any combination of positions will feel painful, even if it's the correct one.

A liberal and regular application of chamois cream (or milld antiseptic cream) will help relieve any immediate chaffing pain and get her laydee bits feeling better alot more quickly.

I raised the saddle to the approximate height to afford her a straightish leg when the peddle was at bottom dead centre (BDC?).

Good - this is correct.

Given shes been out of the saddle for so long she preferred the ability to reach the floor easily so its a compromise of pedal power vs mental comfort knowing the floor isnt far away!

Understandable, but wrong. Lowering the saddle in this way will put more weight on the seat and other (now very sensitive) bits.
The saddle should be level, or ever-so-slightly pointing down at the nose.
The handlebars should be below the level of the saddle (or at most level).
Treat the good lady to a pair of padded lycra shorts.
Use above shorts with chamois cream if necessary before and/or after rides.
Go for SHORT trips at first, with frequent mounts/dismounts. This will relieve having constant pressure on her errm, region. It will also allow her to gain confidence in having the saddle higher than she may initially like.

Soon she'll be riding like a PRO! 8)
...did that sound right? :shock:

whydoesitalwaysrainonme

take a good hard look , well that's what i'd do anyway.

trailpuppet

what skydog says

I would add that if you ride behind her and notice her hips moving up`n down whilst pedaling I`d suggest seat is too high.

My wife has been off the bike for 20yrs or so. Managed a 10ml cycle path route no problem recently. She has a pair of cheapish Polaris lycra/padded shorts, no knickers etc. She has some joint problems so needs to be comfy on anything she sits on btw.

We tried various saddles way back when she got the bike and I`m not sure that saddles with the cut-outs are all they are cracked up to be and may in some people cause problems. Tried one myself once and it did`nt last long, found it nipped my bits!!!

Go back to your lbs and see if they will swap some saddles around.

Are you really sure the bike is the correct size?

Need her vitals and bike make `n size to help decide.

GTi-R23

A woman.....complaining?! You must surely be mistaken?!

I'm flameproof btw.

bomberesque

couldashouldawoulda wrote:

An initial guess ... the front of the saddle is too high

^ this

from your descript you have been moving stuff around but haven't tried tipping the saddle forward or aft. I'd try tipping the saddle forward a little and see if that helps. It should be horizontal or a little forward of horizontal. If teh nose is sticking up in the air at all then I suspect you have your culprit.

If you know a decent LBS that can help you, get them to take a look at body position also, it's a little complex to describe in a single post but as skyd0g says; you aer changing the load balance to the rear with the changes you're making, going the other way will put load on the wrists and off the behind.

+ cycling shorts (and no knickers) if she's not already doing that. I know girls/women can take some convincing of this, but there's nothing that ruins the effect of a decent pair of cycling shorts better than cotton pants

tarquin_foxglove

Plenty of women with similar issues here.

miss notax

Yep, agree with the front of the saddle being too high, other than that she should be wearing padded shorts with nothing underneath. I personally don't like the chamois cream but it might work for her? Also try another saddle - some are just bloody uncomfortable, and what works for one person won't work for another.

Other than that it's just time in the saddle.... When I started riding it hurt like hell, and still now if I go for a mega long ride it can get a little painful :oops: :shock:

It really does get better though (and yes, MTBing is not necessarily good for your sex life )!

dave_hill

Just because she's a laydee doesn't necessarily mean that a laydee's saddle will be better for her.

As has been said -

- make sure it's the correct height (you know how to check this, right??)
- top of the saddle level, or nose down slightly
- padded shorts with no grots underneath

Saddles are a VERY personal thing and unfortunately it's often a case of trial and error finding one that suits. I never got on with my SDG Bel Air, but as soon as I swapped it for a Ti-Fly (narrower and less padding) it's never been an issue. Both my bikes have Ti-Flys now.

kitenski

dave_hill wrote:

no grots underneath.

out of interest, why no grots???

dave_hill

kitenski wrote:

dave_hill wrote:

no grots underneath.

out of interest, why no grots???

Seams. Chaffage. Be like stuffing barbed wire down there. It would be like someone giving you a three-hour wedgy.

Seriously, the pad should be worn next to the skin.

Where are my stabilisers?

I have that saddle and used to get pain because my seatpost wouldn't tilt it down enough. I bought a Raceface Deus xc seatpost, coz it can tilt a lot and now I've got no pain! - Was all in the tilt for me!

MrsT

Strangely, I always use a mans saddle with the front tilted down slightly, and find this much better than a womens one. Could be because I always had boys/mens bikes passed on to me as a kid! At the mo I'm quite happy with the fairly cheapy one that came with my bike. However, the seat should be level with or just higher than the bars. And padded lycra shorts/leggings are the best things ever invented, no knickers underneath though. If they feel a bit odd to begin with a short wrap around skirt is a good disguise, especially as skirts with leggings are trendy at the mo!!

Where are my stabilisers?

Agree with MrsT, wasn't so much the saddle, but the angle that was causing the issue.