Beating Backside pain

kingrollo

I have problem\injury that has curtailed my cycling to almost zero for 3 years - however there may be a bit of light at the end of of the tunnel

Brief and very condensed history.
When cycling home from work I got an excruciating pain right in the crease of my back side - being so into cycling at the time I went out and rode a further 40 miles in almost total agony. Big problems the next day as I just couldn't sit down in comfort on any chair....

Many trips to docs, physio's, orthopods, pilates, gym, swimming, bike fits bike saddles, scans, xrays- Finally I found a guy who took a fresh look said it might not be my back - but a condition called high hamstring tendonathapy - he did warn me it was difficult to treat - PT work was very slow - I despaired when dry needling injections didn't appear to work - in a state of despair i even brought a recumbent bike.....

Anyway I decided to continue going to gym with the excercise the physio showed me - more out of hope I got on my road bike - no theres no happy ending - it was still very uncomfortable - but the pain now seems to be sit bone pain - and its even on both sides - the agony grinding pain has (i think) subsided.....

I believe (hope) now I have a bike set up problem - even though I was fitted by a much recommended guy on here - I was put in more upright position (perhaps he thought this would help my back) - Anyway what to do next:-

I've thought about a brooks saddle - as over time this may accommodate my poor backside.....

I've have decent (giordona) shorts and use chammy cream even on short short rides

I've have thought about yet another bike fit

Tonight I noticed a video from Cobb saddles - who said what I feel - I am to upright - so all the weight is going in my backside - purchasing a saddle and leaning forward more may relieve the sit bone pressure......

Current saddle is spesh romin

So any suggestions as to what I should change next - or is it possible my sit bones will toughen up ?

imposter2.0

If the problem is physiological, then changing shorts, saddles or even position is probably not the answer. Get the problem correctly diagnosed (for certain) and then get a referral to someone capable of addressing it, is my advice.

rrsodl

I have spent years fiddling with my setup and I would agree with your views. A more upright position is OK for shorter distances but if you want to do longer rides you must distribute your body weight between your backside, feet and hands. That is what a good fitting would aim to find, the perfect balance if you like.

styxd

I think alot of people seem to sit too upright on their road bikes. Hence all the pictures of bikes that get posted on this forum with very short stems and a large stack of spacers. Rotating your pelvis forwards will take some weight off your arse and get you in a better position. I think the Romin is a good saddle, but getting the angle rigfht is pretty important. Have a read of these:

http://www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/2 ... sture.html

http://forums.thepaceline.net/showthread.php?t=127601

http://www.stevehoggbikefitting.com/bik ... bout-smps/

ai_1

If conventional saddles continue to be a problem (or even if they don't!), it may be worth trying a Cobb or ISM Adamo saddle. I currently use a Romin Evo Expert which I'm getting on pretty well with but while searching last year I tried the Cobb V-Flow Plus and the ISM Adamo Breakaway saddles and I was pretty impressed. Especially with the Breakaway. The main benefit is that they let you rotate your pelvis forward and get into a relatively low position without putting pressure on soft tissue which is a problem for me on many conventional saddles. It doesn't sound like that's your problem but the fact that you are supported quite differently on these saddles may help you. I found them excellent in very low positions especially on the drops or bar extensions but was less fond of them when sitting more upright climbing etc. They were still okay for mixed riding and I did a 160km ride with the Cobb without any problems but it's in lower positions where they really shine.

Just a thought and even if it helps it may be treating a symptom rather than a cause but hopefully it's useful.

kingrollo

Imposter wrote:

If the problem is physiological, then changing shorts, saddles or even position is probably not the answer. Get the problem correctly diagnosed (for certain) and then get a referral to someone capable of addressing it, is my advice.

Ahh - that was precisely my plan 3 years ago - unfortunately its not that simple - you get scan which shows whats wrong and they fix it - they make work for trauma, or when you're a younger man - but not so much when you're older. If you consider that loads of people are walking around pain free - but scan these people and you'd probably find loads of then with pretty severe arthritis - what shows up as bad on the scan isn't always the cause of the problem.

Down 'there' in the buttock regions theres a whole host of conditions that cause similar pain - Bulging discs, sciatica, piriformis syndrome, hamstring strain, pudendal nerve etc - I ve paid to see sports physio's chiro's etc - all find things wrong - but not necessarily the cause of the pain. The guy who diags hamstring tendonathpy is a consultant in sports injury medicine - best bloke Ive seen - but essentially I work with what hes give me - and then try to manage the problem myself.

Many thanks for all the suggestions folks - I think over the weekend I will tweak the position so I lean forward sligtly more and see what happens.....keep any ideas coming...
.

kingrollo

OK OP here,

Raised the saddle by a tiny amount - shifted it forward by a similar amount - but mostly made an effort to ride of the drops more - quite a big improvement - not there yet - but my comfortable ride in 3 years.....

Might unflip the bars the next week - definitely seems the upright position isn't for me