Long Term Back Pain

I’m currently getting to the bottom of a medical issue which should have been sorted a long time ago myself.
Go to see a medical professional who knows their stuff. Self analysis and friendly advice can take you down the wrong path.
Good luck

1 Like

, I would recommend seeing a physiatrist, (PM&R), MD, who specializes
in treating nonoperative spine disorders. First, is getting a proper diagnosis.
After a proper diagnosis than a treatment can be recommended. Common problems in the low back, L5S1 area are facet pain, with associated degenerative disc disease. Other etiologies can be myofascial trigger points, sacroiliac mediated pain. Treatment often includes therapeutic injections , which serve diagnostic purposes to establish the pain generator, and hopefully therapeutic in alleviating pain. Always a therapeutic exercise program is part of the long term management. Hope this is helpful.

Exercise helps a lot and careful with your sitting posture. I sit for over 8+ in front of the desk but I do stretch between working hours. and I go to Vancouver osteopath two days a week and yoga two days a week as well. It helps me a lot, I won’t say osteopath do nothing or exercise doesn’t help. But when both of them work together perfectly, it helps my lower the pain of my back.

Hi There, may I suggest a couple of non-cycling related books that may be useful the first is the Back Mechanic by Stuart McGill. He is “The Man” for rehabilitating cranky backs! The second is one Coach Chad has mentioned Advances in Functional Training by Mike Boyle. The first is very useful for helping the layman understand their back problems and the latter how to strengthen it well. Kelly Starretts Supple Leopard is also good but can be a bit too much, too soon for a tender spine.
The fact you are ok on your road bike, where you don’t change position or have a “relatively stable platform” even when cranking out of the saddle suggests your core isn’t too bad. The mountain bike and other off-road bikes require much more “Core”. Look at Nino Schurters S&C videos so much more that planks and glutei. Its the difference between flying a plane and a helicopter. One is relatively linear and the other is 3D. Its a simpler task to strengthen a road core as the surface is regular and within reason repetitive. A full suspension MTB is unstable before you even pedal, this needs extra energy to deal with which means the tight and weaker muscles are fatiguing prematurely. This will cause you to adopt a Lower Crossed posture as mentioned above and consequently overload the facet joints. Which are a poorly acknowledged, but significant pain generator in the lower back.

1 Like

Swimming has always helped me a ton. When the pool closed for covid I had a lot of lower back pain. Found a place to swim and it got much better. N=1