Please help with my sitbone injury!

Training
1

Hi all,

I’ve got an injury that I’ve never heard of anyone else suffering from and I’m not having much luck with treatment. It has been three months since the injury and I’m starting the lose any hope of ever riding again, which is devastating.

The issue is that when I sit on the saddle and pedal I get a sharp shooting pain up the left side of my pubic area. The issue only occurs when I’m pedalling though, not when sitting stationary on the saddle or sitting down on any other kind of chair.

I believe the issue is related to my sit bone on the left side. After the injury first occurred, pressing down on the sitbone region caused the pain in my pubic area as if I were pedalling. However, it has been three months since the injury occurred and the pain of pedalling is pretty much the same. However, pressing on the region long longer causes any pain (maybe inflammation has gone down?).

There was no particular movement that caused the injury, I just started to notice it about 3 hours into a 4 hour ride. I actually thought that I had got stung by a bee because there was a stinging pain. At the time, I was using a Specialised Power saddle, and have since tried an ISM (more padding) but the issue still remains. I’m not new to cycling either, having done between 6-8 hours a week for the past 3 years without any sort of injury or major saddle discomfort.

I’ve seen a doctor to rule out any major nerve damage, and also been to the physio who believes that it is a tendon injury. I’ve also been completing a number of exercises to improve tendon strength around the sit bones.

Since the injury occurred, I’ve only ridden on the trainer twice (50% FTP), there was a little bit of pain for the first 10 mins of each ride, but then the injury was not noticeable after that. In the 10+ other attempts to ride the trainer, the pain has persisted for more than 10 mins causing me to abandon.

Has anyone else heard of this issue before? I haven’t been able to find anything on this injury across multiple forums.

Sorry for the long post.

2

A few things I’ll ask/recommend:

  1. When was your last professional fit? Assuming from your OP about switching saddles for more padding I would assume it’s wither been awhile or never.

  2. You mentioned seeing professionals. Have you tried foot reflexology? Sometimes our bodies respond to injuries and stress in weird ways.

  3. How much water do you consume? I recommend drinking approximately 128 ounces per day.

  4. Practice breathing. Take a deep breath…in through your nose and out your mouth.

4

Thanks for your response.

  1. I am due for another fit, but was holding off until I purchase my new bike. I am going to buy a race geo bike from my endurance geo, but that’s been put off until I get over the injury. My issue is that a fit on my current bike would only mask the underlying issue that I currently have, I need to get over that first before another fit. Obviously a fit on my new bike would reduce the risk of further injury in the future

  2. I’m not into alternative medicine unfortunately

  3. I live in a warm climate, so I’m aware of the importance of drinking water