Back pain

snoopsmydogg

I know back pain has been covered a lot (searched the forum already) but wondering if anyone has the same/similar symptoms and if it could be bike related.

I was a little under the weather on Monday but on Tuesday while feeling a bit better I went out for a quick ride as I hadn't been out since fri/sat. While out things were going well so I just carried on until the wife started calling wondering if I was at the side of the road or having a heart attack

On the way back I had a small twinge up the right side of my back that went after 5 minutes and after getting home I felt great. Wednesday all was rosey but couldnt go out to do it all again for other reasons

About mid-day yesterday my back went completely stiff and I struggled to pick up my 2yr old son and put him in his car seat. This continued on and off for the rest of the day and is pretty much the same this morning.

Is this likely to be from the ride on Tuesday? or more likely something else as had no symptoms at all on wednesday.

slowlanejane

Your muscles in your back are going in & out of spasm. Something will have twinged or popped at some point before, during or after the ride. It may not been due to the ride at all, just one of those things, the ride was when your back was under pressure and so that's when you felt it. It may have been the ride, although if you're a regular rider you'd expect to have felt this before now if it was related to your riding position.

From one who has just spent 5 months recovering from a slipped disc that is about the be operated on, do yourself a favour and outlay the best 40-odd quid you'll ever spend and get a quick once-over from a chartered physio. You'll then know what it is and what to do about it and how to manage it in future.

EarlyGo

snoops,

Had exactly the same last year. As slowlanejane says, your back muscles may well be in spasm. Take some mild painkillers such as Ibruprofen (read the packet first!) and take it easy on your back for a few days. If you carry on with a stiff back (I did) eventually it will all just seize up and be real agony. Your back muscles get into a cycle of pain leading to the muscle tensing, leading to more pain, leading to more tensing. You need to break that cycle and the earlier you break it the milder the painkiller you need. Please note that this is just my personal experience as advised by my GP. I have no medical knowledge or expertise whatsoever!!

Regards, EarlyGo

Peddle Up!

Being rather tall, I was subject to occasional back pains but (and I know I am tempting fate here ) since I have been going to the gym regularly and doing exercises designed to strengthen the core muscles I have been fine.

Hoopdriver

slowlanejane wrote:

Your muscles in your back are going in & out of spasm. Something will have twinged or popped at some point before, during or after the ride. It may not been due to the ride at all, just one of those things, the ride was when your back was under pressure and so that's when you felt it. It may have been the ride, although if you're a regular rider you'd expect to have felt this before now if it was related to your riding position.

From one who has just spent 5 months recovering from a slipped disc that is about the be operated on, do yourself a favour and outlay the best 40-odd quid you'll ever spend and get a quick once-over from a chartered physio. You'll then know what it is and what to do about it and how to manage it in future.

Excellent advice.

I've been there - had a badly ruptured disc and managed to bounce back.

I firmly believe that going to a chartered physio might have saved me a lot of grief. I go now about once a quarter as a sort of preventative measure.

snoopsmydogg

Thanks for the replies, was probably hoping someone would say its just using muscles I havent used in a while and will pass but looks like i'm going to be taking a couple more days off the bike. On Wednesday I had been arranging to do my first 40-50miler in the next week or so too

Its not massively painful, more restrictive than anything and makes me look like an old man when trying to stand up from sitting down position.

Peddle Up, I have had similar issues with core muscles and found the gym was the best way but time is a major factor and one of the reasons I started cycling was I can go to the garage and jump on the bike when I get a little free time.

Think the next move will be to raise my bars slightly to get a more familiar position to my mtb and do more core exercises (after my back has eased).

If the problem stays then it will be time to take slowlanejanes advice and get a professional opinion.

cryocon

EarlyGo wrote:

take it easy on your back for a few days.

This is probably the worst thing you could do. You need to get mobile, stretch and strengthen the muscles and become as flexible as you can. Get a foam roller and give them a good stretch out. Also build up core strength as this is the key to prevent further injury.

Rather than just raise your bars to be more upright, you need to check your overall position and handlebar reach. If your reach is too short this will cause back problems.

This is all from my own experience over the last couple of years of having a disc injury.

snoopsmydogg

wouldnt say the reach is too short, the frame top tube appears shorter than my mtb (not properly measured) but overall reach is similar. I think the bars are slightly lower on the road bike but even the mtb bars are below the seat height. The only difference I have really noticed is the saddle on the road bike is further forward and dont know how much difference this could make, its still within the markings on the rails but definately forward of the centre marking.

Using a preowned bike means that I have been setting it up myself over stages rather than getting correctly fitted like when buying a new bike from the lbs.

started with some easy stretches today and hoping that im not going to lose the whole weekend because of this.

unixnerd

Having the saddle too high will cause back problems. I was playing around with my riding position a few months and for some reason the saddle kept going higher and higher because it felt better (Lord knows how in hindsight). Anyway it gave me back pain and lowering it totally got rid of it. If you're near locking your leg out at the bottom of the pedalling cycle you're too high.

sancho1983

Thought I'd stick this here instead of starting a new thread.

I went out earlier, at about mile 12 my lower back really hurt, the left hand side. I kept going and it was hurting on and off until I got back (24 miles total)

Being quite tall lower back pain is not uncommon for me, however the second I got off my bike it stopped, and hasn't hurt since. Almost like I was 'trapping' something and that was causing it. Could this be linked to my numb nuts? (Which was lessened today as I kept standing up - slowed my average speed though!)