RPK79

I get some lower back pain once in awhile and there is a great chiropractor in my town who takes walk ins and for $30 gives you a little cracky-cracky and you're out. I'm always good as new the next day.

Ygduf

I have some of that. Good stuff!

TMonk

My Dr.'s appt is tomorrow. I will make sure to ask about cyclobenzaprine, as I am interested in anything that will promote recovery. At this point, I would like to start base training in earnest in October, which means starting to dick around on the bike in September. I feel this is totally do-able.

Symptoms have greatly decreased, but are not absent. On T I tried to ride at lunch, and definitely over reached. I went out for an hour at lunch at whatever pace felt right, of course that meant z4 with surges into z5/6. That kind of pissed my back off a little over the last couple days. Blegh.

I seem to be able to swim at the gym or perform ab workouts without significant symptoms flaring, so I may be sticking to that for a few weeks. I'm really looking forward to what I will learn at PT, which will begin next week.

wants185s

I am currently dealing with an SI joint problem that sounds similar to the severity that you experienced. Did you ever reach a conclusion regarding the cause? I am very puzzled regarding the cause of my issue. My mileage, bike fit, equipment has been unchanged over the past three years. I ignored the growing stiffness over several weeks. It never bothered me on the bike. Then one morning I entered the "couldn't leave the couch" situation. I have had good results with PT and I am beginning to slowly resume activities. I don't want to end up in the same situation in a few months. Other than being more conscientious with stretching/flexibility and core strength work I can't think of any other sensible corrective actions. I welcome any thoughts.

edbikebabe

I've just started running again (it was the last thing I did before it went bad). I'm taking it easy & ramping up slowly.

I don't know that I've really found a solution. I have a good Cairo/massage & stretch lots. For me pelvic floor exercises helped - but I'm guessing that's probably not an issue for you.

Good luck - I'm still worried it's going to become an issue again.

furiousferret

I use these stretches to pop my SI joint back in place:

Stuck! (Instructions for Unsticking a Cranky S.I. Joint) | Bernadette Birney: It's about yoga (sort of)

It may be a girly yoga site but the moves work like magic.

Also look into Mackenzie Exercises, which is essentially self-chiro exercises. The pelvic side shift helped my sciatica and I do it twice a day (listed below):

Managing Back Pain With The McKenzie Method | Brian Fulton ? Registered Massage Therapist

TMonk

My experience with chronic injuries has been that there really isn't any "quick fix" or sensible corrective action other than stretching/flexibility and rest.

Your injuries seem tougher to diagnose due to poor tracibility; are you sure there weren't any changes at all in your fitness and/or recovery routines? For me, the culprits were excessive lifting (deadlift, squat) and a couple backpacking trips with a poor-fitting back.

Does riding make it worse? That's a simple important question. It took me 6 or more weeks before I started riding again.

Also thanks for the links @furiousferret, that's good stuff.

Racer Ex 

A) CHECK YOUR BIKE. A buncha years ago I had a similar issue...the root cause was a slipped control and a slightly slipped cleat. Princess and the Pea syndrome hit after the 200,000th pedal stroke. I could barely ride. Fixed that then:

B) Go to a good sports PT. My back looks horrible on an MRI. Even with that I felt great. Got treatment, advised on proper stretches...pain free and in great shape for quite a while after I:

C) Worked the core. And back muscles. Build 'em up. We're an integrated system.

D) Go see a fitter. I had a great position and one leg longer than the other. A few shims brought A-C together.

E) Do go over the bars into a pile of rock and break 4 verts at San Dimas.

Can't stress "E" enough.