Repetitive back injuries while biking
 

Back injury while biking??? This might sound strange, but it keeps happening to me, and I don't understand it. I'm on my 3rd one right now and I'd like to keep it from happening again.

The first time, I was at a stop and was in a hurry to cross an intersection, so I stood up and pressed hard on the pedals to get going, and BANG! I felt a sharp pain all over my back! It got worse and so painful that I could hardly walk afterwards. I think it took several days to get better.

The second time, I was on a casual ride to a fast-food place (Arby's) a couple miles from home. It was shortly before I got there that I started feeling a slight pain in my back. I got off my bike and went in and got my food as the pain gradually got worse. On my way home, it continued to get worse to where I was wondering if I'd ever make it. When I got home, I just laid on the floor. It's all I could do. But the time came when I had to go to my job, but there was no way I could. I ended up slithering over to my phone and calling in telling them about my problem that I couldn't work that day. I couldn't even get off the floor. But about an hour later, it went away about as gradually as it started. I was shocked it went away within a few hours from start to finish. I still missed that day of work.

The third time was a few days ago. I was on another casual ride when pain in my back started gradually. It gave me flashbacks to the second time, which was about 10 years ago. It didn't get as bad, but it hasn't gone away yet either. It remains in the lower right side of my back and bothers me a lot when trying to sleep, so I have to lay in a certain way on my side and try not to move. It's been about 3 days like this without improvement.

So now to my question. Since this happens only while biking, whether aggressively like the first time or casually like the other 2 times, can someone please tell me what I could possibly be doing wrong that would cause this to happen? Has anyone else experienced something similar?

I'd see a chiropractor if I were you. It sounds like a sharp nerve pain, not a sore muscle? I may be a noob to biking, but I've got a janky spine (thanks, mom & dad) and plenty of experience with the chiropractor.

This ^^


And [MENTION=286442]Giant40[/MENTION] ... take your bicycle into a shop and have them set it up properly for you.


And ... work on your core strength.

I think it just may be a coincidence. I have had back problems most of my life after a rear end while in my convertible and I've had the same type of pain in the same place a few times over the last 10 years. The first was bending over to tie my shoe, and the few other times were just normal day to day task. I would see a chiropractor and consider doing some core exercises / rehab. What also really helped me was yoga / hot yoga.

Go see a real doctor or chiropractor. I highly doubt that any self-taught quack doctor on internet forums can find the causes of your back pain and then diagnose/remedy your problem for you.

It's simple: you have a weak back. So strengthen it. The first thing to do is start a program to fix it. Since you're starting at the bottom, buy yourself a copy of Core Advantage, start at the beginning and over the course of a year, work your way through it. Give yourself a whole year and keep at it, even though your back will start getting better in a month.

Once your core is functional again, you might want to expand on it by doing some upper body work at a gym.

You're experiencing muscle spasms in your back. Back in the day, doctors would prescribe rest and muscle relaxants. Finally some bright person figured out that a weak back needs to be worked, not rested. When I had a similar problem, I worked my back pretty good, until it started to hurt, then I'd rest it for a day, then work it again. After a while I could work it every day.

I doubt very much that it's a bike fit problem. If your core is strong, fit becomes largely irrelevant.

Thank you all for the replies! I forgot to mention that I also do strengthening excercises, including for my core. In fact, it was the morning of my latest injury that I did my core excercise for the week. I did planks (held for 1.5 minutes), side planks (30 seconds each side, twice) and side bends (worked my way up to 60 lbs. each side for 10 reps). Is this good enough for core strength?

+1 to the above. I've noticed some back strain/soreness after aggressive rides on the fixed-gear, where I might be using any muscle groups I can to keep the pedals turning on a hill. ;) But it always subsides in time, and seems only to happen when I exceed my back fitness.

Must not be or you wouldn't have this problem. This is an excellent website:
Exercise & Muscle Directory
Take a look at the directory to which I've linked and find the muscle(s) that are giving you a problem. Then find the exercises which work these muscles.

There are many muscles involved in one's core and they work together in a multitude of ways. It's good to have many, many exercises which work the core in various ways. It's also good to do core work every day, maybe something a little different each day, or the same thing for a month or so, then switch to a different program. Do have a look at that book.

Here's a good one from the book, prone snow angels. Lie on your stomach, legs together, arms at sides, palms down. Lift your hips, head, and upper chest off the floor or as much so as possible. Now describe snow angels by moving your feet as far apart as possible and arms directly overhead, holding them off the floor of course. Then return to starting position. 12 reps.

That book sure looks informative! I'll be looking through those excercise and see if I can find ones for not just my current problem, but to prevent it in other areas too.