If anything, doing more core work seems to make it hurt worse. I still am paying a $1200 bill for the doctor that told me everything is fine so definitely not going back there.
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Ibuprofen is not good for your stomach and gut bacteria, so avoid taking it repeatedly where possible.
I suppose it may irritate the tissue more - it may not be that - it could just be flexibility but in the long run you need a strong core. I stopped doing triathlon in the early 2000 because of lower back pain - did nothing for 18 months - felt guilty and started running - and then ran again for more than 10 years running loads of sub 3 marathons, did a few more tris and now do time trials - all of that was made possible by just doing 15 minutes of planks and side planks a week - within 3 weeks of adding them to my regime my back pain had gone and has never returned even though I am now 51 
Iâve been doing core work 3 days a week for over a year. But I do know I have a weak core.
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Iâve browsed thru the previous post, Iâm surprised no one has brought up tight hamstrings or glutes as a possible cause. From my experience that can render lots of pain in the lower back. There are no shortage of exercises targeting the glutes on the internet, why not try some of them, for instance âHalf Lord of the Fishesâ?
Any other ideas? Kinda sol right now as going to the doctorâs or PTâs in the united states is illegal. So at the moment Iâm just taking breaks every 10 minutes to let the pain go away before I keep riding
Alex where are you that itâs illegal to do so? Clinics are operating as essential business is most states.
A lot of clinics are also doing video visits. You could call one local to you and see if theyâre willing to consult you that way as well.
If you were breaking hourly that would be one thing, but every ten minutes, definitely you need some attention there.
Alex,
If youâve got to take breaks every 10min to let the pain go away⌠maybe itâs gotten to the point you need to hold off?
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Yeah, wow⌠masking pain like that is a good way to make things much much worse.
Really not recommended at all. Nsaids have been shown to have possibly serious effects on gut permeability. Basically the gut becomes more âleakyâ if nsaids are taken before strenuous exercise allowing bacteria and other gut detritus to enter the bloodstream creating a strain on the immune system.
Couple this with nsaids deleterious effects on training adaptation and itâs a no no.
As well as all the advice on bike fit, stretching etc above have a look at supplementing with collagen, TR have reported some very useful findings with it
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The strangest part is that even if I take my mtnb out on the road and do hard efforts, like TrainerRoad outside worksouts, I have zero pain at all. Just when I get onto the singletrack and put in hard efforts
Thatâs an important detail.
Any difference in gradient, effort intensity/duration, or tension you hold in your body, between your singletrack vs other riding? Subtle difference in how you hold your body can change a lot.
Yeah itâs not strange at all, itâs very different on your body. Way more standing up (probably close to 100% pushing hard on singletrack) so more weight on arms/shoulders.
Lots of tips here - How To Stop Back Pain When Mountain Biking | ENDURO Mountainbike Magazine
I would not recommend taking Ibuprofen prior to rides. Ibuprofen interferes with prostaglandins which affects your kidneys. If you are cycling and get dehydrated that further compromises kidney function. If Tylenol works for you, that probably would be a safer choice. However, Tylenol can cause liver
damage, so do not exceed recommended dose. I also would not drink alcohol, when taking Tylenol, as alcohol is toxic to the liver, and when combined have an additive effect. Regarding your back, go see a specialist, and see if something therapeutically can be done. Hope this advice is helpful, and good luck.
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I took ibuprofen for a prolonged time several years ago and would not recommend it to anybody as a way of being able to exercise. I had a bad back at the time and could not get any help from the UK health service at the time. After visiting and spending thousands on Chiropractors that want to treat you but not put you onto a path of recovery did a back strong course run by a local sports facility (in Canada) they have sports medicine related Doctors, Physiotherapists, Chiropractors and Massage Therapists all based around treating athletes, sports teams etc. Having six or seven years ago been struggling to walk Iâm on my 2nd full year at TR and do several Fondoâs a year and enjoy life again. For me personally it was years of cycling and having strong cycling muscles and a weak body. Tight hip flexors are something I still work on as well as trying to improve my whole body strength.
@alexstenerson - from what youâve described I (think) you may have symptoms very similar to those which I experienced about 2 years ago.
My âcoreâ was not the issue and in fact the focus I had given to this was actually making it worse.
The issue was the muscles in part of what the sports physio referred to as my âposterior chain.
Specifically in my case, tightness and lack of suppleness (if that a word?) in my glutes, hamstrings, and a couple of other important smaller muscles that were super tight and were really the main cause.
Part of the reason I had pain on the bike (after a certain time in the saddle) was the compressed position. This was made worse by the fact I have a desk-job so am often sat in a âbent upâ position with regard to my hips.
Anyway, he did some physio magic on the affected areas of my glutes and hamstrings and also focused on two specific other problematic muscles:
- periformis
- psoas
NB: Iâm writing this on my phone so am not sure I have spelt these correctly 
Anyway, he said these two were common culprits in causing back pain in cyclists heâd seen.
He gave me some stretching exercises for both these muscles which I had to do daily for a few weeks before âall of a suddenâ the pain went away. I started super gentle and built up. I now so these regularly (4 times a week minimum) and it has helped.
He also gave me more general ones for the glutes and hamstring which I guess everyone is familiar with. He recommended doing them âafterâ a ride as opposed to before.
One thing that was a definite positive thing was using âbandsâ to âactivateâ the glutes before a ride - especially indoors.
I have a very âlightâ band that I have tied in a loop and the step into the loop and take the tension at my ankles, before doing a couple of dozen gentle side raises with each leg whilst standing up straight. This has massively helped.
Anyway, my recommendation is find a sports physio who is familiar with cyclist issues and see if you can get them to check out whether or not the issues I had are the same as you are experiencing.
I hope this helps
Good luck 
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Thanks for the info 
visiting a second physio today. First one seemed to be a bust
So 1 time use seems problematic?âŚ.Iâm considering Ibuprofen for a race.
@alexstenerson I have the same problem. I can ride my road bike, which has a slammed stem, all day in the drops without a single back pain. Throw is some hard efforts on the mountain bike and my back will get to the point to where I have to get off the bike and stretch to alleviate the pain. I have had a professional bike fit on the mountain bike and still have the same back pain. I spent a lot of the off season doing squats, deadlifts, and core, but that hasnât solved the issue.
I had another cyclist mention doing an exercise called âJefferson Curlsâ. I havenât started doing them yet, but plan to add them to my training routine to see if it helps.
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