upper back pain

fuzzhead1

Hi guys, this is my first post. :?

I’ve been cycling for a few years now. I started off on my old marin mountain bike riding on towpaths doing 20ish miles. I'd go out on weekends with my mate and I would have no pain from knee or back. So a few months later we decided to ditch the tow paths and start riding on the road. Then we decided do the London to Windsor in 2009, which was about 45 miles. Did that and again no injury problems. Everything was good. Over the following months of riding on the roads, we started to increase our distance and do 35 miles sometimes more or less, but average 35miles. Then I started to notice my left upper back/trapezius muscle would hurt. This would only happen near the end of the ride. I never took much notice of it as once I got home I was fine. But it became more and more dominant in my riding.

Last year in july I did the London to Cambridge, which is a 60mile event. The last 20 miles my left upper back was killing me. So I decided to buy myself a road bike, which I absolutely love. I got myself a trek madone 5.2 from the guys at Rutlands cycling in Grafham. But the pain was still there. So doing some research I decided to get a bike fit. I booked myself at sigma cycling to have the specialized BG fit. The guy there nick was very helpful and said my stem size is ok, he raised my saddle height and put the specialized footbed in my cycling shoes. After my setup I was eager to get out and ride, but due to the crappy English weather I had to wait. When the weather was better I went for a ride. Again my left bloody back was hurting. By this point I was cursing and wondering if a bike fit isn’t going to solve my problem what is. I had read loads of articles on bike fit and how they are good but this one didn’t help at all.

Now IV been going to see a physio at the varney practice in hertford for 3 weeks. Done 3 sessions. I explained my problem. The chap there is very helpful. He starts off with electrotherapy, which includes interferential therapy, and then Acupuncture followed by deep tissue massage. He also put tape on my back (left side) to keep my back in the correct position for muscle memory correction. My last session with the physio was Tuesday. Now the weather is lovely at the moment I said the guy im gonna go for a ride and see if its helping. He said let me know next week how I got on. So started riding and again after an hour of riding it was hurting again. Before I went out for my ride, I did stretches. This really is putting me down and I have no idea how I can overcome this pain.

I spoke to one of my friends about this and he said I should knock the physio on the head and just do shoulder shrugs with some light weights to build up strength. My girlfriend said I should build up my core muscles to give my back muscles support. Another mate says I should go to this guy who gives him proper deep massage tissue. I just don’t know what to do.
Let me say when im out on my bike, im really comfortable and have no problem getting used to riding a road bike. I came natural to me when I first got on it.

Im not pushing myself because once the pain kicks in im more focused on trying to get rid of the pain by stretching my neck while riding, moving my arms, changing my position on the bike. I even changed the stem from 100m to 80m and made it worse, and very twitchy. Flipped the stem over, moved the handle bar position and still nothing seems to work. Im not going to give up on this. Im more determined to fight this and beat it, so others with this problem can save themselves money and time.

The reason im writing on here is to ask for help. I need advice, tips anything. Its strange my left side hurts but right side doesn’t. im right handed so im guessing maybe my left side is weak and I need to build up muscle. Im already doing shrugs with light dumbbell weights. I will see how that will go.

I really could do with anybody here to help me. Im sorry if I have written a biography, but I don’t want to miss anything out.

Again I really appreciate anybody who reads this and writes back.

I will keep you posted on how im getting on.

lib

CyclingBantam

No help to offer unfortunately as I have exactly the same problem. I had it last year but then it just seemed to go. Unfortunately this year it has come back after I got a new winter bike.

Now I am assuming it is the bike fit so I have tweaked things and am hoping it will go.

The only thing I have tried that you have not mentioned it moving the bars to the left hand side is slightly closer than the right. If your arms are not equal, the shorter one might be stretching too much (my arms appear to be the same length but I thought it was worth a try).

Good luck.

Bobbinogs

Hi there fuzzhead, sorry to hear about your problems, nothing worse than some ache or pain and I have had a few.

My thoughts (and these are only my opinion) are that I would give any physio who did acupuncture the big heavo. My preference would be for a combination of sports physio and osteopath. I think one of them works well but the two together seem to complement each other, at least in my experience. I used to do the same for my footy injuries. If you have medical insurance then that is it definitely worth looking at the policy to see what you can claim for.

The sports physio should recommend some stretches and then it really is up to you to do they correctly and regularly. Oh, I see you mentioned doing stretches before activity which the general consensus states is the one thing you should avoid (dynamic warm up is the man nowadays, stretching is for afterwards).

I think the worst thing about injuries are that they get you thinking you will never do the sport (footy, rugby, cycling, etc.) again but there seem to be very few injuries that really do put the kybosh on something, it can just take a lot of time and regular self application (like daily stretches or mini exercises, repeated endlessly).

Stick with it, best of luck. You will get there and you can come back and tell us how you did it.

Simon G

Fuzzhead1,

I was going to reply earlier, but I got caught up in the 'girls in Lycra shorts' thread

I too have upper back pain which I haven't yet managed to cure. This is possibly going to sound a bit strange (dismiss this at your leisure if it doesn't fit your world view), but is there any psychological reason why you are holding tension in your upper back?

Cards on the table now - I have had two bouts of back pain during my last 20 years road riding and both have occurred as a 'single man' (i.e. when I am not in a relationship). This will probably sound crazy, but I simply don't 'feel' as well 'supported' when I am single as I do when I'm in a nice cosy relationship! I have a strong feeling that this psychological 'sense of a lack of support' is somehow transferred into my physical sense of support (i.e. my spine). My bike setup remains the same, my mileage remains the same, etc - but I don't feel the same!

Ok, so putting the above to one side and engaging logical 'man-brain' for a while, what have I done to help myself out physically:
1. Addressed core strength by taking up a pilates class.
2. Adressed any potential physical issue at the osteopath.

Nether of the above are touching the problem (it's been a year so far).

It's a frustrating old business when you can't even enjoy your hobby without pain, but I reckon when the anxiety goes out of my situation, the physical problem will also improve dramatically!!!

Anyway - I hope that this post strikes a chord with someone out there.

wanderinggirl

hi fuzzhead. i also had the same problem before, but i underwent a number of acupuncture sessions and they made the pain on my lower back even better. probably you must continue doing so, even if it is quite pricey. (thank god mine was under the coverage of mytravel insurance). i wish you the best, man. hope you'll feel better.

fuzzhead1

hi guys, thank you so much for your post. means alot.

the first thing im going to do is plenty of light shrugs. im going to change the stem from 100m to 90m and see how that goes.
im also going to take bobbinogs and simon g advice and see an osteopath and find a proper sports massage.

doing some research on this and the osteopath seems like a good thing. im just hoping they can help.

im also going to try and contact some local cycling clubs and speak to anybody there with my problem. maybe they can point me in the right direction. they even might be super nice and ask to see my setup.

before i go, can you give me some of your experience of osteopath. i mean what difference is it from physio to chiropractor. i was reading online what chiropractor do and i know its more spinal work but they also do muscle aswell form what i read.

again guys, i cant thank you enough for reading my long post.

cheers

lib

vorsprung

I am not a physiotherapist and even if I was I haven't seen you so no idea if you should continue with your treatment

Upper back pain is usually top tube too long and bars too low

But the way it is affecting you - repeated pain on longer rides - suggests that your core strength could be better. Look up exercises like the plank.

Another poiint of interest with your case is that you are using a "old mountain bike". Nothing wrong with that but old mountain bikes usually have flattish bars. The reason I have drops on my bikes is so I can change hand position on long rides and alter the stresses on my neck and shoulders

fuzzhead1

hi guys,

let me tell you where im at.
i have been doing shrugs everyday before i go to bed since wednesday. (Rocky was on itv 4 which helped)
i have also been doing some core strength exercise. The plank, alternate arm and leg raise. now bearing in mind i have only been doing this since wednesday.
i went out for a bike ride today and did a 40mile ride.

OMG!!! i cant believe it. it bloody works. normally when i get to a certain point in my ride my back hurts. but this morning.... nothing. Ill say it again NOTHING lol. sorry but im well happy.

im going to continue doing shrugs and add more core workouts, but man im still shocked. i have to say buy the end of my ride it was niggling a bit but that dont bother me. i know if i continue these exercises it will hold out.

i really cant express how happy i am. i cant thank you guys enough. if i won the lottery the bikes are on me

ill keep you all posted on my progress.

lib

fuzzhead1

i forgot to mention,

i canceled the physio, so saved myself a few pounds.(cha-ching)

lib

Bobbinogs

So, was it the shrugs or Rocky that did it? I would hate to think the latter since I don't mind daily stretches but I draw the line at Sylvester Shortasre

lef

check the difference in height between the bars and saddle? If its to extreme for you it may cause back pain.

suzyb

By shrugs do you just mean shrugging your shoulders?

fuzzhead1

im using light weights. doing about 30 reps x 3. 7.5kg each side.

also doing core strength is really helping. just saw an article in cycling active this month on how good core exercise are for cycling.

my saddle is slight higher than the handle bars but not too extreme. it did cross my mind but its slightly higher.

lib

lef

good news on getting the problem solved, one more thing that you could look at if it doesnt totally go is bar width. not sure if it would cause back pain if you have the wrong width bars but certainly a possibility