Originally Posted by adrian knight .
Folks
Any one got the same problem as me ?
Had a lower back injury yrs ago that over time now stops me riding a bike. The odd thing is, I can actually ride without pain but a few hrs later (and lasting for days) I cannot sit down for very long with out immense discomfort. I have slight scoliosis due to yrs of injury distorting my skeleton and am slightly twisted. Could this be the problem ? I have been told by consultant that the lower back pain is osteoarthritis and was sent on my way. Need to fix this. Have tried all sorts, any one got a similar problem they managed to fix ?
Anyone tried an ISM saddle, did this help ?
I'm a chronic lower-back fellow myself, and your symptoms are nearly identical to mine. My spine isn't twisted, it's straight at the bottom (called a Military Spine, it doesn't curve inwards towards my belly button like it should). When I started riding last August, I very quickly had a major issue with my lower back that took 3 weeks to work through.
Since the spine doesn't have feedback nerves, you're likely irritating a disk, which then presses on a nerve until the swelling goes down. It requires you to move in order to get circulation to the area and help it heal, when all you want to do is find a comfortable place to lay down.
Basically the way I overcame it was as follows:
1. I forced myself to up my cadence. When I rode at 70-80, I ended up legging it up hills too much. Grinding the pedals started engaging my lower back muscles and irritating my spine. Now I ride at 90-95, and if I can't easily keep that up I down-shift, speed be damned. Generally my policy is, if my legs hurt I'm doing it wrong. This was not easy; I'm a big tall dude and grinding those pedals comes naturally.
2. After my back issue I rode for a while with a no-pain/no open mouth (i.e. no panting) policy in order to slowly build support muscles. I still try to shy away from leg pain, but I don't have to be as ardent now unless I've had a flare-up and am recovering (like I am now).
3. Regular trips to the Chiropractor are a must. It's pretty predictable; when I go every 6 weeks or so I'm OK, when I skip a visit or two things go south. Regular adjustments keeps the pressure off the disk and prevents it from bulging, which keeps it from pinching the nerves and causing the chain reaction that leads to the pain (and in my case, left leg pain). I don't know if you get cracked or not, but if you don't, don't be afraid of it. When my back is so torqued I can't take 3 steps without the muscles locking up and sending lightning bolts of pain through me, my Chiro still never hurts me when he gives me and adjustment. It may be the only type of medical care that doesn't hurt you to help you.
4. If you do have to leg it up a hill, tighten your abs while doing so. Stay in the saddle; for some reason getting out of the saddle is a guarantee for lower back pain later that day for me.
5. Double-check your bike fit. For me, if my quads hurt, my seat has slipped too low and this seems to irritate my back. If my seat is high enough I feel it more in my hamstrings.
6. Shortly after your ride, but before you expect to experience the pain, take a short, brisk walk to get circulation to your lower back. Remember, spines don't have their own built-in circulation, they circulate fluids when you move, and that's essential to healing.
7. Try not to ride with your shoulders in your ears. Maybe that's just me, but I catch myself with my shoulders way up and have to force myself to relax them back down.
That's all I can think of right now. I have found that biking very easily (So if 15Mph for 10 miles is all out, easy would be 8 miles at 12-12.5Mph) actually improves my back over time when I'm having trouble, but only once it's started healing on it's own.