Lower back ache on the bike
garyroberts
Posts: 869
in General Chat
Ok......i do realise that i'm treating this forum as my tri-team.......oh.......there's an idea.......never mind.....bet somebodies already thought of that!
Anyway.......i'm sure this has come up a thousand times before.......but...
Lower back ache on the bike, what are the causes, what are the fixes? Would love to hear what you lovely people know.....
Anyway.......i'm sure this has come up a thousand times before.......but...
Lower back ache on the bike, what are the causes, what are the fixes? Would love to hear what you lovely people know.....
0
Comments
From what I remember people saying, its could be a combo of things:
Stem length: you could be overstretching so fix is a shorter stem after moving seat as far forward as possible.
More common is cleat position: having the cleats too far forward, so move them back a bit usually sorts it out.
Also generally flexibility and strenght are a key consideration, especially after your time off.
So streches and strengthening the lower back (planks etc) should help.
do you get the aches very quickly or do they only show after a freakish average speed 60k? do you get it regardless of distance / road type / number of hills etc?
suspect it is a fitting / posture thing but if you only get it after 120miles then it could be something else!
Get your position checked. Make sure the saddle is neither too high, or too low. I think these are more important than reach, as you will naturally move the hands to a more comfortable position - altering the reach each time.
Then, try to keep the cadence high, even if it means a lower gear. Pushing a high gear (too high a gear) really stresses the quads, glutes, and lower back.
If this happens on gentle, but long rides, check the position... and also look at doing some core strengthening - especially moves that work lower back, glutes, and quads - e.g. bridge curls on a swiss ball (you don't need a gym to do this!)
......more thoughts?
Work on core strength in your "gym" sessions!
Is this a similar issue, or could it be that I'm too tense in my shoulders on the bike and just need to relax more?
Stretch and work on your core.
Also try doing some back extensions to help realign your back after riding aero.