Lower back issues
 

Pls excuse my ****** grammar.



I've been experiencing a bit of lower back pain. I barely rode my bike (Ridley Kanzo Fast) thru the winter; some rides here and there but mostly didnt ride. I was doing some swimming instead. Trying to do about 3 days a week solid swim workouts.



So I began to ride again in late March or so and have been riding a good 8-10 hours a week or from 100-150km per week. I usually ride around 5 days a week. I climb a bit for each ride from 150meters up to maybe 400m, depending on the ride. So here and there in the last month or so I'm noticing some sporadic back pain (slight) or discomfort. Not while riding BTW. Usually off the bike. I do a bunch of stretching daily and try and do some core stuff but I'm pretty lazy on that one.



BTW, I'm a 52 year old guy, about 80 kilos and 183cm tall. I've NOT been fitted to this bike (bought in May 2024). I did quite a lot of riding from May of last year til late fall and never remember having this issue.



Some days I have some pain and other days zero. I figured I really dont ride enough to have these types of issues or really need a bike fit since I figured that's for someone riding a lot more. Maybe I'm wrong? And why no issues last year or all of April this year?



Thoughts? Thanks!

What has your healthcare professional said?

Get a bike fit and see your healthcare professional.

Do not ask unqualified strangers on the internet to diagnose your problem.

For a fee, I'll jump out of nowhere and push you off your bike. My methods are controversial but my success rate is currently at 100 percent.

https://www.bikeforums.net/general-c...-crashing.html

I'm usually one of the "go ask your healthcare professional," but in this case I'd call it optional. You've got a good chance of getting the slack-jawed, "you exercise 10 hours a week?!?" response from a non-cyclist. So instead, here are a few suggestions.

First, consider the possibility you need to ramp up more gradually. I'm guessing you didn't go from zero to two hours a day on March 25. So when you're aching a bit, tone down the next day or two's ride. Take an easier route with less climbing, or ride a shorter ride, or gear down and pedal easier. Mostly. You may still want to attack a short climb, but take it easier.

Second, concentrate on keeping a flat(ter) back and make sure you're not rounding your back. Especially when you're fatigued, that's too easy a trap to fall into.

Third, and pretend I'm writing my best Teutonic accent here, you must complete your core workouts regularly and often. Planks suck, but they're especially good to build up your lower back muscles. And keep up with the stretching, particularly your quads and hamstrings. This ties in with suggestion #2; you want to ride with the flexing in your hips, not your spine.

Good luck!

I don't know .. I'd understand the concern over the need to see a doctor if they were having pain and did not suddenly embark on a cycling regimen. It is absolutely the case that a 52 y.o. that is not doing anything especially targeted vis a vis regular strength training can experience back pain upon taking up cycling or for no apparent reason at all.

As Jim Henson said, “Eh. It’s just a cold.”

Bike fit.

Saddle too high = rocking hips, which is highly correlated with back pain. Saddle too low causes knee pain. With any luck, there's some range of saddle height between too low and too high.

As I've gotten older (I'm 70 now), my chainrings have gotten smaller, and my handlebars have gotten higher. The Ridley Kanzo Faste looks like a pretty aggressive geometry; if you can stand to put a riser stem on it, you may find that it helps.

Thanks everyone for your informative replies and ideas. And even for the sarcastic/smart axx replies :)

Thx for this reply! Someone not being a prick :)

Good point! Everyone else who answered is probably compromised due to a belief in allopathic medicine and germ theory.

Go see a doc. You're at the age where degenerative disc disorder will rear its head and improper positioning on the bike can exacerbate the issue. You can alter your bike for your back, but you need a proper diagnosis first.

I just realized I did 40 rides from April 3 to now and I did 3 rides from January 1 to April 3. No wonder my lower back hurts lol

Proper advice, but be aware that once you go down that rabbit hole, you will find that every doc you see will try to convince you that his specialty is THE ONE to cure what ails you. Don't jump into anything too quickly, you'll know when the time is right to go further.

Start with stretching, core strengthening. Light weight training and resistance bands. Slowly increase your cycling and route difficulty. Take plenty of rest days, but keep at it. Give it time. Maybe not a formal bike fit, but make sure your fit is appropriate for you.

If all of that shows no progress, then start pursuing medical tx. That is exactly how I handled it. My treatments are probably of no interest to you, so I will not bore you with the details.

Small progress and consistency.

Go down to the

Fifty Plus (50+)

forum, there is a lot of input there.
At 74 with osteoarthritis I am fully with JohnDThompson comment above.

This is totally random but I've had what my Chiropractor thought was a sacroiliac issue. Symptoms very much like yours. About two months ago I was diagnosed with an inguinal hernia. Had the surgery last Thursday. That morning my back was killing me. After the surgery I noticed that I no longer had the back pain. It has not come back. I did a search and it is possible the back pain was caused by the hernia. My Chiropractor confirmed. Just something to consider.

Learning and doing the basic yoga poses have helped my back issues more than 25 years of therapy and injections.

I guess a "prick" is someone who doesn't tell you what you want to hear.

So why did you ask for our "thoughts"?

It is not unmanly to consult a real doctor. X-RAY and MRI can reveal simple truths.

I had to have help getting on the MRI table thingie. You don't really have to wait until it reaches that point.

Ok, a sudden ramping of use or effort over many days can bring out many different types of issues... And how you're going about it has some bearing.
Doing 5 rides a week, 100 to 150 km, 8-10 hrs & 250-300m ascending is not a heavy schedule, even for starting a season. BUT it CAN BE, depending on what you do on those rides.
Persistent Hard pace, pushing gears, sprints/intervals, overall high effort is not a way to start a riding season after many months off the bike.
Cycling is a repetitive load type use, which can cause repetitive use injuries or body failures... and not being sure about your 'fit', position, posture can be a point of contribution to the issue.
Now that you're into that phase of dealing with an injury/failure, it's best to define the problem more specifically.
There is a difference between 'Pain' and 'Ache'. A well defined injury area is different than one which might be an ache in a specific 'area' of injury.
If its a really specific point, then certainly go see a professional/MD to help define the issue...
If it happens 'after' riding, and only after riding, then it might be a 'Use' issue. If it also happens during or after other activities, then it might be a more general problem.
One point I can offer - Sciatica type condition/injury - also manifests pain in the hamstring muscle/area (back of upper leg) and might indicate some impingment on the sciatic nerve, either spine structural or Piriformis muscle... But certainly worth consulting a Med Professional versed in Sport related injury.
Consider your current Fit, how did you come to that? Any common and widely accepted self-fit methods? If Not, then there are a number of good methods to come to a good start point for bike 'Fit' - from which you can then do adjustments to suit yourself more.
Don;t go Hog-Wild with sudden significant changes to 'try' something or 'fix' something. Small, incremental changes, one at a time and try for while ( a cm change in saddle height is a BIG change...)
Restarting riding, after many months off.
Best to not get into a heavy workout load at the start. Ramp Up slowly over a few weeks/month. Cycling is VERY repetitive and needs to body to re-adapt.
I always focus on easy or moderate pace, with attention to keeping a strong cadence to help rebuild muscle memory in the interaction of muscles (70-90 rpm range) with very occasional harder efforts well after being quite 'warmed' up'. But predominantly steady, moderate for most rides. Slowly ramping up the effort, after the first 20 or so rides...
If I was in your shoes now, with the potential injury/issue and it wasn't getting worse. I would now bring my rides to a steady effort ride, at a pace where I can maintain that 70-90 rpm with the heartrate in Mid-lower Zone 2 or high Z1, for some weeks. With the idea to allow the body to recover. And after apparent 'recovery' I would very slowly ramp up stronger riding again.
OR
You may want to consult with a SPorts/Health Pro now...
Ride On
Yuri

i just find your typical sarcastic A hole trolls online to be quite annoying. i should have known they'd come out. anyways...

Cautionary tale: Last year, when I set up a bike I'd just built up, I set the saddle too far back by quite a bit by 1) writing down a measurement wrong, and 2) the saddle creeping in the clamp on the seatpost. I started having some pain in my hip, but I tried to ride through it, AND I was ramping up my mileage quite a bit - like a sudden increase of 30% or more. I ended up in excruciating pain, and ultimately I appear to have done damage to my L4 nerve, so now I have a numb patch on the inside of my right knee. So, my advice is not to ignore it.

There was absolutely nothing sarcastic about his response. He suggested two very good courses of action -- get a bike fit and see a doctor.

Bikes do nothing for the lower back. Weights are really the only thing worth doing for developing and maintaining lower back muscles. This guy specializes in physical rehabilitation, especially the knees, but he addresses all other areas.

https://www.youtube.com/@TheKneesovertoesguy/videos