Exercises / stretches to protect lower back muscles

neeb

Got out of bed last Sunday with some muscle or ligament in my lower back slightly tweaked, but went for a pre-arranged 100km ride anyway as it felt like something insignificant. Bad mistake - at the end I could barely climb off the bike and and I've had to rest all week to let it recover. It's nearly better now fortunately, but I was getting a bit worried mid-week, and it got me thinking how rubbish it would be to end up with something like that as a chronic issue rather than just a short-term injury.

I don't normally get back issues on the bike even on long rides and I don't think there's anything wrong with my position or setup, but my lower back muscles do seem to be sensitive to occasional strains and stiffness off the bike. In this case it might have been something to do with resuming some upper-body exercises too quickly the night before after some weeks off (dumbbell curls).

What would be good exercises to stretch and/or strengthen those muscles just to either side of the spine in the extreme lower back? Is this a core strength issue?

alihisgreat

Sounds like a core strength issue to me given that you think it was caused by doing upper body work...so I'd work more core strength into your routine.. which should help your cycling anyway

I find these exercises useful: http://www.topbike.com.au/pdfs/ba-janfeb06-emma-colson.pdf

as well as the planks, dynamic planks, crunches, side planks, leg raisers, exercise ball push-ups, bicycle crunches etc. etc.

You just need to make sure you keep everything balanced so you're equally strong in all areas, and this helps to prevent injury.

Make sure your back gets 100% better before you try anything too strenuous though!

mrwibble

psoas stretch, glute stretch and do some butt squeezing exercises to get those lazy buttocks firing. Stand and squeeze your ass cheeks as hard as you can for 10 seconds. Do 10 per day...

sunburntknees

I've had a lower back for ages, caused by shortened hamstrings. Stretch your hamstrings!

neeb

Thanks for all the tips. Seems to be a huge amount of sometimes conflicting advice out there... I do know that my hamstrings are quite tight (despite stretches after rides), so maybe that's one place to start.

mrwibble

if your glutes are not firing, quads, hamstrings, lower back will compensate

Herbsman

sunburntknees wrote:

I've had a lower back for ages, caused by shortened hamstrings. Stretch your hamstrings!

I've had a lower back for ages too. I think I had it from the start of my life though.

My lower back pain stops me from training/racing as hard as I want to. I really should get my arse into gear and do some exercises but it seems pointless unless someone can show me something that will definitely work. Nothing seems to have worked so far, and it's a chore anyway. Might try swimming regularly - at least that's active and less boring than planking.

Davey C

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrgggggggghhhhhhhhh

The Bounce

Davey C wrote:

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrgggggggghhhhhhhhh

Wassup? Your back aching too?

mrwibble

guys, do your glute exercises, it will take the pressure of your lower back, i would suggest also piriformis stretch too to help your lower back too

neeb

mrwibble wrote:

guys, do your glute exercises, it will take the pressure of your lower back, i would suggest also piriformis stretch too to help your lower back too

Were you serious about the buttock-squeezing? :shock: How does that help to recruit them?

Maybe I should start doing some inline skating again, that certainly uses the glutes, I might start to remember where they are..

Incidentally, big relief for me today to go out for the first time in a week on the bike after resting to let the back recover - I was worried it would flare up again but it's fine, so I guess it wasn't the cycling that was the primary cause.

Welsh_Wizard

Have you got access to weights at all?? Stiff-legged dead lifts specifically target the hammies and strengthen a lot of the lower back muscles.

mrwibble

re: glutes, glutes are really big muscle group and they pretty much in men are lazy and don't fire. what happens is your lower back, quads do all the work instead. with regards to squeezing, it teaches them to work again, if youre sat down all day or on a bike, they will not be working. when one muscle is out of sync what happens is surrounding muscles will compensate, lower back, piriformis and quads. i know, been there with that one, not a good place to go...

Davey C

The Bounce wrote:

Davey C wrote:

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrgggggggghhhhhhhhh

Wassup? Your back aching too?

Yep. Not to worry, some sit ups will cure it.

mrwibble

lunges with dumbbells are good for cyclists..

liversedge

If you have lower back pain or if you are new to strength training DO NOT DO DEADLIFTS. That is asking for big trouble.

I'd go see a physio tbh. It could be hams it could be hip flexors, it could be all manner of things. You won't regret getting professional advice, but you may find the advice to stretch and the stetches given are a chore !

waterford123

I found getting a swiss ball to be a great help on core strength.

ms

After suffering with back problems for years I found the book "The art of backstretching" absolutely brilliant for my back, hardly have any probs now after regulary doing the exercises.

http://www.thebackcoach.com/index.php

symo

Going to chime in with my usual 'Go to Yoga'.
Worked for me, do a short practice for ten minutes every morning now.

oh and +1 on the Glute squeezes.

Davey C

liversedge wrote:

If you have lower back pain or if you are new to strength training DO NOT DO DEADLIFTS. That is asking for big trouble.

I'd go see a physio tbh. It could be hams it could be hip flexors, it could be all manner of things. You won't regret getting professional advice, but you may find the advice to stretch and the stetches given are a chore !

This. Don't listen to anyone on here who have picked up information from the Internet, an article they flicked through in cycling weekly, an interview they saw with a pro and their own (unreliable) experience.

You've injured yourself, go see a professional. See what he/she says. FFS don't start flapping about on an inflatable ball, start a weights regime or stretching around like Mr Fantastic until then.

d87heaven

Could be
Tight/lengthened /weak/dominant/restricted hammy, psoas, spinae erector, abs, quads, glutes. Or any combo. Go see a sports therapist or physio.

neeb

Thanks again everyone for the tips.

Take home message: it's very complicated and you need to be very well informed to diagnose the ultimate source of any problem. There are also controversies among people who are very well informed, so the best thing is probably to 1) inform yourself as much as possible 2) seek professional advice from truly informed people, but with the knowledge that different professionals may have different opinions.

Just for the record, I've done about 150 miles since Sunday and the very residual mild stiffness/discomfort is improving daily, so I'm sure this was an acute injury caused by something other than cycling. Only question is whether there is an underlying imbalance that made me prone to it in the first place.

I'm reluctant to mention this in case people jump to the conclusion that it was the cause of the problem (pretty sure it wasn't directly) but I did have a new bike fit done a month or two ago where they rotated me forward a bit around the BB, widened pedal stance, put new footbeds in, replaced angled cleat wedges with forefoot wedges, and (probably most significantly) put a 3mm wedge under my left cleat to correct a significant leg length difference... New position feels great (more centered on bike, I had previously been sitting slightly to one side of the saddle), but he did warn me to take it easy until I got used to all of the changes...

He also said that my main current limiter was hamstring tightness and prescribed stretches...

Headhuunter

I've had increasing back aches since I was in my 20s, it got worse after my bike crash in 2009. The general pattern is that every 6 months or so I suddenly have a twinge... I've had them at the gym, on the bike and once just simply sitting down at work. Following the twinge my back is bad for a few weeks, getting up is quite painful, straightening up is difficult etc. I slowly do gentle stretches - sitting on the floor and gently reaching for my toes with the legs straight. Face down on the floor then push the torso upwards being sure to keep the hip bones touching the floor. Piriformis, hamstring and psoas stretches as mentioned by others. All these help. Also strengthening excersises like the plank, the reverse plank, side plank and strengthening the side of the glutes. Make sure you get up and move around gently as much as possible, sitting at a desk at work for hours on end simply makes things worse. A hot water bottle on the area affected used to also help relax the muscles as well as ibuprofen. Since I've been doing stretches and strengthening exercises at the gym 3 times per week, my back problems have subsided a bit...

d87heaven

Just because your hamstrings are tight doesn't mean they need stretching. Was It a physio who fitted you?

neeb

d87heaven wrote:

Just because your hamstrings are tight doesn't mean they need stretching. Was It a physio who fitted you?

No/maybe - there were two guys there, one of whom was being trained and I think had a background in physio. But the hamstring stretching wasn't for back problems (I don't generally have them), it was to with being able to generate power with a tighter hip angle. I think the stretches also work on the muscles/tendons at the side of the hips/top of hamstrings.

d87heaven

If you don't have enough range of movement in the hammy guess where the pain usually ends up being when you you go out of that ROM? Yep the back( or sometimes the back of knee). Your bike fit should fit you. If your don't have the ROM in the hip area then you shouldn't be fitted so you can adapt to it but fitted to what ROM you do have.

neeb

I don't think I was fitted outside my ROM, it's just that they were also giving me tips to work on increasing my potential in the future - obviously if I could get lower down at the front while still generating the same power that would be good. But he actually raised my bars, and wanted to raise them further (the current steerer length limited that).

Honestly, I don't think the new position caused the injury, I don't feel any pain or tightness when on the bike (other than the day I went out for a 100km ride the morning after it happened..). It's far more likely to have been the dumbbells the previous evening or a funny position I was sleeping in. In terms of general lower back stiffness when off the bike, if anything I've had that less after the bike fit.

cyco2

I have had lots of lower back pain problems originally instigated by lifting a heavy machine. Since then I get the occasional twinge that has me walking awkwardly for days. Doing exercises to strengthen would help. But my take on it is to immobilise the muscles so that they can be rested and heal. Otherwise they can spasm which is something I don't understand why they should do that. To immobilise the back muscle I wear a wide belt even when I am cycling. It does give me a lot of relieve from the pain and means I can function well again. After several days I take the belt off and see how the muscle is.
Surprisingly the belt had no effect on my breathing even when I raced with it on. A lot of riders complained of back pain when racing but I just made it harder for them knowing I wouldn't get it.