60 yo male. The last year and a half, I have battled varying levels of back pain while cycling. SI joint. I have had a bike fit and 2 separate bikes. The result is the same. This pain only occurs while cycling. Sore afterward, but goes away. What adds a little interest, is the fact I can put in a good hard hour in spinning class and no such pain. Besides the obvious difference between the two activities, my setup on the spinning bike has the handlebar area much higher than the bike. My current bike is a Volagi. The previous was a Roubaix. Thoughts?

My expertise with back pain comes from dealing with my own back pain issues which may not apply to your problem. Part of my solution has been to be very careful with any lifting and to maintain the back straight and to lift with the legs. The other part of my solution is to work with some weights to maintain strong back muscles. As your back pain does not appear on an exercise bike that is more upright, your issue seems to be related to a bent back. This may not work for you but, on my road bike, rather than bending at the waist to reach the handle bar, I think of folding at the hip. This focus tends to keep the back straight. Best wishes.

You typed "SI joint," but I'm guessing you meant S1 joint, which is the joint between pelvis and spinal column. Am I right? If so, the problem is that on your road bikes you are not rotating your pelvis forward. That's what you need to do. Rotate it forward until instead of sitting on your ischial tuberosities, you are perching on your pubic ramus:



See: Riding Position Discovery

SI joint. Sacroiliac joint. The joint between the sacrum and the ilium bones of the pelvis.

One thought: On your bike you are hitting bumps and absorbing that shock, in spin class you are not. A Cane Creek thudbuster could soften the blows.

OK.



Never heard of anyone having trouble with that. But I can't see how that's "back pain" or even how one would be able to distinguish the exact source of internal pelvic pain like that. I know about referred pain, but if your doctor has diagnosed referred pain from the SI joint then they must have some idea about treatment.

But if that's really the source of your pain, and where you feel it, it must be just from the jarring of a bike ridden on the road. In which case, a suspension seatpost. The BodyFloat has very good reviews from users. Kinekt-BodyFloat Seatpost by Cirrus Cycles | Suspension seat post

It can be adjusted to eliminate bounce, unlike Thudbusters. I ride with a few folks who use suspension posts.

Bar height would have nothing to do with it.

Interesting thread. I have been diagnosed with osteo arthritis in my left SI joint, adding to my laundry list of middle age (or maybe it's elderly now) maladies, up to and including a L5-S1 fusion. However, I find that riding either full upright, drop bars, or bents provide the best relief from pain than anything. Although I am now taking Diclofenac and CBD oil I have determined that by far the best practice is to build your core muscles. Abs, abs, and more abs. I'm sure I have pretty well defined abs under all the flab. When bending, lifting, or generally doing what I am not supposed to and it starts to hurt back there, I realize I am using poor posture and when I stand up straight and suck that gut back in the pain almost magically disappears. I also learned early on to tell the difference between SI pain and lower back pain. This may or may not be useful to the OP, just my experience.

An interesting sidelight to all of this. One of the reasons I amped up my cycling miles was it's beneficial effect on my lower back. The Lumbar right side was a real bother before I cycled regularly. Spending time on the bike virtually eliminated the pain. Off for a few days and it returned. Now my pain is on the left side and is caused by cycling.

All that I have confirmed is that yes, my pain is in the SI area and that cycling is the cause. I am about to get more in-depth into it all. I entertained the idea of the actual road jarring being the cause, but I don't really think so. Used to be it took 60-70 miles for the pain to get my full attention. Now, I can be 5 miles into a ride on the best of surfaces (I'm mostly a road guy) and feel it. Not eliminating it, but I'm thinking more a fit or fitness issue of some kind.

Working on the abs. I think you are correct here.

So it's not skeletal at all. Therefore it's tendon or muscle related. Goggle iliopsoas tendonitis and syndrome. That's a likely suspect and quite common.

Not abs, but core. That includes hip stabilizers, glute stabilizers, etc. All that affects controlling the ROTATION of your pelvis and spine, and rotation on the moving, swaying bike on the road is probably the big contributor to your SI joint pain. (versus a fixed position spin bike).

I used to have SI joint pain only when I got out of the saddle to climb (rotation when no saddle to fix my pelvis position).

Somebody posted this cycling core training video in the training forum recently, it is very good. The walkout band exercises she demonstrates in the second half might be particularly good for stabilizing your probable rotation issues. https://www.fundamentalvelo.com/2017...lists-artemis/

Thanks Theo. Since I have posted on this, I have doubled down on the core exercises. I have found that those exercises where my pelvis is not fixed, will cause pain in my back. So thanks for the core video, I will take a good look at it. Just checked the scale and I'm close to being down 30 pounds since November and I know the core is stronger. Anxious to see how I fair on the bike once winter lets go of its strangle hold.

Cool, congrats on the weight loss! The video is worth watching even though it's 45 minutes - much better advice than your average Bicycling Magazine article or GCN vid about core training.

I had a similar problem with one particular bike I couldn't get comfortable on. It turned out that because of an odd geometry the centerline of my saddle was too close to the centerline of the bottom bracket compared to my other bikes. That changed my pedal stroke which affected my back. A couple of miles into a ride I would already be sitting up and stretching it. So I slid the saddle back 2cm, installed a shorter stem and it was good to go. Even if your fitter adjusted your saddle so your knee is over your pedal spindle that doesn't mean it's perfect for you since no body is the same.

Just a little update on the back. Spring has given me some days to ride and I've been able to take advantage of it. Curious as to how the back would feel during actual cycling. I still get some pain, usually at around mile 20 to mile 70, but not as intense. After that, different parts of the body have their time of discomfort. But bottom line, losing the weight and working on the core has helped of course. Helped, but not eliminated it. Otherwise, I'm a much stronger rider upon improving my fitness. First Brevet this year (200K), I finished 2 hours sooner than last year. Just continuing the core exercises and watching the weight. And racking up the miles. Still playing with the fit of the bike a little, but no big changes.

And another update several months later. No back pain. Core exercise and dropping weight, along with many road miles and hours on the spin bike, have improved my fitness to the point of the back presently being a non-issue.

Awesome, congratulations!