Persistent lower back pain, need help.

[dude7691]

Do you also stretch glutes and hip flexors?

Yes I do, I do reclining twist poses in yoga after I ride, which stretches your glutes and hip flexors pretty well. Also bridges and cobra to make sure I'm getting all the muscles

Also I would take pics of my stem but that top tube storage is a pain in the ass to take on and off haha it's got cable ties securing it lol

 

[T.M.H.N.E.T]

You look upright and tense. IMO the saddle could go back a good bit and perhaps up, do both in small increments but do the fore/aft first

Also - re level the saddle

 

[fossyant]

Do you also stretch glutes and hip flexors?

This. Hip flexion is a major cause of lower back pain. I work with an expert in this.

 

[vickster]

Yes I do, I do reclining twist poses in yoga after I ride, which stretches your glutes and hip flexors pretty well. Also bridges and cobra to make sure I'm getting all the muscles

Also I would take pics of my stem but that top tube storage is a pain in the ass to take on and off haha it's got cable ties securing it lol

It’s fugly, take it off

 

[dude7691]

It’s fugly, take it off

I agree it looks terrible and anti-aero It holds my asthma pumps and food though which I very much need, when I can get down to halfords I'll grab myself a saddlebag so it can go in the bin xD

 

[vickster]

It’s far less anti aero than your position in the photos

 

[dude7691]

You look upright and tense. IMO the saddle could go back a good bit and perhaps up, do both in small increments but do the fore/aft first

Also - re level the saddle

Got you, I'm very much a hamstring dominant rider anyway so no complaints there. I agree my arms look tense as anything, my shoulder strength is poor as I used to be very underweight and never really put any weight on there. I'll start doing some light weights on my arms so they can take more of the weight off my back. I'm only 54kg to start with but probably good idea.

 

[dude7691]

It’s far less anti aero than your position in the photos

I agree! Baby steps though I can still get decent averages in this position though, my excuse is that it's resistance training

Also I haven't got any drops so getting aero is surprisingly hard on a flat bar hahaha

 

[Slick]

This. Hip flexion is a major cause of lower back pain. I work with an expert in this.

I get some issues with this. What do you mean by an expert and what do they advise?

 

[ColinJ]

Too upright, arms too locked out and, But difficult to tell as one foot on floor, saddle a bit low.

That's what I was thinking. I would want to be leaning forward and much more stretched out, not with a shorter stem giving an even more upright position! And the saddle a bit higher...

Only change one thing at a time, in small steps, and don't go crazy when testing new positions or you won't know if any pain is due to overdoing things or just by making the position worse!

 

[dude7691]

That's what I was thinking. I would want to be leaning forward and much more stretched out, not with a shorter stem giving an even more upright position! And the saddle a bit higher...

Only change one thing at a time, in small steps, and don't go crazy when testing new positions or you won't know if any pain is due to overdoing things or just by making the position worse!

Thank you for this, I've been hesitant to move my saddle further up just due to the fact my back is already in pain and I didn't want to start rocking my pelvis but I hear you. Instead of half assing it on the steeper climbs (slightly lifting up and rocking my pelvis to use my glutes) I just need to get out the saddle and do it properly.

First thing I'm going to do is re-level my saddle. If my shoulders and arms are taking more weight, I'm guessing my back might be compensating for my super weak arms.
I'll move my saddle back 1-2mm per ride, because I'm so traumatised from the time I moved my saddle forward 5mm, big mistake. Legit I'm lucky to have not torn a muscle the amount of pain I had. Raising the saddle another half an inch will move me back further anyway. I'll try and stretch out more in my rides, maybe part of the problem is indeed that I'm so upright.

 

[T.M.H.N.E.T]

Got you, I'm very much a hamstring dominant rider anyway so no complaints there. I agree my arms look tense as anything, my shoulder strength is poor as I used to be very underweight and never really put any weight on there. I'll start doing some light weights on my arms so they can take more of the weight off my back. I'm only 54kg to start with but probably good idea.

Don't go mad just yet. There's not meant to be very much weight at all on your arms/hands, which is what the correct setup of the bike will help to achieve. Step 1 is saddle further back

 

[dude7691]

Don't go mad just yet. There's not meant to be very much weight at all on your arms/hands, which is what the correct setup of the bike will help to achieve.

Would that weight on my shoulders perhaps be contributing to the lower back pain? Surely tilting the saddle forward has possibly caused my back and shoulders to be picking up more of the load and less weight to be placed on my sitbones? (I'm wearing padded shorts btw and I've never had a problem with butt pain so I can afford to take up more of the slack there).

 

[T.M.H.N.E.T]

Would that weight on my shoulders perhaps be contributing to the lower back pain? Surely tilting the saddle forward has possibly caused my back and shoulders to be picking up more of the load and less weight to be placed on my sitbones?

I think the weight on your shoulders is being caused by you over utilizing your lower back due to the position and subsequent fatigue.

*You are IMO using far more postural musculature to hold your current position than you should be.

 

[dude7691]

I think the weight on your shoulders is being caused by you over utilizing your lower back due to the position and subsequent fatigue.

*You are IMO using far more postural musculature to hold your current position than you should be.

Got you, I'll re-level my saddle and see what the difference is. It's nothing to do with my perineum which is a common reason for tilting the seat forward, I just noticed it helped me produce more power on shallow climbs so I stuck with it. But yeah, if I'm using more muscle in my upper body than I should be that's likely because my weight is unsupported by my sitbones.