Back pain, what could it be?

wollow007

Hi Guy's

Had no real issues with back pain since I have been cycling since last September, but recently after a visit to Afan and Glentress my lower back seems to suffer when I go for a trail ride.

I have 2 bikes which I use, an Orange Crush and an Orange 5 Pro. I have never really suffered on the Crush which is the exact same geometry as the 5 Pro so I have recently copied the setup to the 5 Pro to see if this resolves the issue.

After a ride over at Swinley today I cam back after a couple of hours ride with backache. I have checked everything and can't seem to nail the issue.

I have checked saddle height, saddle angle, reach to bars which appears to be perfect, legs nearly straight with heal on pedal, very slight drop on saddle at front (used a spirit level to check same as Crush). I have measured all distances with tape measure and all identical to Crush.

What could it be?

Might it be backpack, I have to use a bladder when using the 5 Pro as no water bottle brackets. Maybe I tweaked my back at Afan or Glentress which hasn't fixed yet. Weak back, although never really suffered until now.

I have a couple of events coming up and i'm a little worried that my back is going to play up to a point where I need to stop riding. I can ride 33 miles no problem on the Crush, do you think it's that I just have a weak back?

Any advice helpful and appreciated

.blitz

Back pain in cyclists is almost always caused by muscle imbalance. We all have a favoured 'leading' leg which takes the strain and gluteals are very big muscles to be imbalanced.

Try leading with your other leg or single-leg squats to help get the balance back.

Look for some basic stretches to keep your back flexible and do them religously

Drink gallons of water

Good luck

rock_hopper

A lot of cyclists get back pain and injuries. Probably one of the most common for cyclists. It could be a number of things.

Inflexible/tight muscles in the back/glutes/hamstrings/calves can cause back pain. Can you touch your toes with straight legs? Do you do any stretching?

Weak core/back muscles can also cause pain. Your core is your stability platform for you legs that provide the power to the pedals, if this is weak your back will fatigue quickly and cause pain. Do you do any other exercises apart from cycling?

Bike fit does come into it but not as much as body conditioning IMO. Hope this helps

nozzac

Since I'm not a doctor and even then couldn't diagnose over the net I can only comment on core instability...which it probably is anyway unless you tweaked it without noticing.

Google McGill back exercises and do those daily for a week or so and see what happens. Seems to help about 90% of people big time.

AshleyUK

Nozza, Could you post a link to the exercises you're talking about please as I'd be interested in looking at them and a simple Google search brings back various versions/sites with different info.

cooldad

Never take medical advice from random strangers on the internet.

nozzac

AshleyUK wrote:

Nozza, Could you post a link to the exercises you're talking about please as I'd be interested in looking at them and a simple Google search brings back various versions/sites with different info.[/quote

http://www.halfsquare.net/shetler_071505.php

They are the so-called Big 3 - Side Plank, Static Curl-up and Bird-Dog

He has a Stir The Pot one too which is more advanced and you need to be in reasonable shape back-wise to do it.

Someone on here bought a McGill DVD - I wonder how they got on with it?