Lower back pain? how I got rid of it...

[triumph5ta]

Warning, this is quite boring...
At the risk of sounding like an old git, a lot of bikers complain of getting back ache when riding. Me too, it was agony it got so bad I went to the doc.
X-rays showed no actual damage, no slipped discs its just yer muscles not being stretchy enough so, when you are on the bike leaning forward your muscles are approaching fully stretched hence the pain.
I waited about 3 months for a physio appointment but heard nothing so decided to do something about it myself:
Try to touch your toes while your legs are straight. I couldnt, not by a long way. But by trying this gently twice a day I was able to gradually stretch those lower back muscles so that I could. I also do the same but with feet a little apart and putting my palms flat on the floor. Make sure you dont rush it and you are relaxed, dont force anything. Oh and make sure you close the curtains....
Hey bingo-presto, after a few days the pain was gone. I do this stretching once a day now when I remember. Nearly a year later and alls well.
If in doubt see your GP.

[Viney]

I must admit that just being in a fit state, this includes flexibilty, does ehlp a tremendous ammount when riding a sports bike. However, there are no known exercises that help with numb bum syndrome :?

[Professor]

Will try it out. Thanks for the suggestion, triumph5ta!

[inevitable]

Good advice that. Might give it a go.

I did my lower back trying to belt the golf ball 300 yards in Spain last summer and it's been giving me gyp for the last 6 months.

Went to the Docs recently and same as you, no obvious reson for it other than muscular so I had a course of anti-inflamatorys and (strong) pain killers which seem to have done the trick.

Time for the stretches to commence if I'm going to be on two wheels every day now then!

ETA: why does golf get asterisked? is golf a swear words round these parts???

[Foey]

I must admit that just being in a fit state, this includes flexibilty, does ehlp a tremendous ammount when riding a sports bike. However, there are no known exercises that help with numb bum syndrome :?


Try doing buttock clenches as you ride along, there not just for when the back end breaks away. :lol: :lol: :lol:

[K]

I must admit to being thankful that I'm as flexible as I am (thanks to a childhood filled with Gymnastics competitions I guess)

I've never suffered with back pain from the seating position on a sportsbike - but then I can bend over and touch the floor with flat palms, unbent knees and my feet together - I can even go as far as being able to put my head between my knees (though NOT as far as kissing my backside goodbye however). Just a nice little image there for you guys - I can still do the splits too!


One warning when doing this exercise though - DON'T BOUNCE!
When reaching for the floor/your toes - do it in a single smooth effort, then relax and try again - don't bounce you hands down towards the floor - this is how you can very easily damage you hamstring, lower back, knee ligaments and even you Achilles Tendon if you are unlucky.

[TC3]

my back went a month ago but has recovered now. I stopped riding for a bit and wifey stopped riding me for a bit and hey presto as good as new :wink:

[Peter Henry]

Foey wrote:

Try doing buttock clenches as you ride along, there not just for when the back end breaks away and for opening bottles of beer! :shock:

Yes a degree of natural suppleness is a great help. Even with my years of rugby I can still comfortably touch toes with no distress. I do pity those that suffer with back problems though. :wink:

[Balky001]

welcome to the lower back pain club! I recently went to see a physio after months of lower back problems - it started last winter when U was bent over double in my tiny garage working on the bike! Physio gave some simple exercises that worked a treat and like triumph5ta, it was to elongate the muscles. The physio also mentioned that although this was the problem, the cause was due to not having enough core strength and recommended pilates! Bouncy ball anyone?

[Jelster]

I have had a problem with my back for about 4 or 5 years, every morning I would wake up with backache and during the day it would come and go. However, I recently got myself a decent bed, and I haven't had back pain since :thumbsup:

So I have to say, spending a bit of money on a decent bed is worth every penny....

.

[jonboy]

So I have to say, spending a bit of money on a decent bed is worth every penny...

Agree completely - a quality bed is a personal investment.


.

[Ceri JC]

One warning when doing this exercise though - DON'T BOUNCE!
When reaching for the floor/your toes - do it in a single smooth effort, then relax and try again - don't bounce you hands down towards the floor - this is how you can very easily damage you hamstring, lower back, knee ligaments and even you Achilles Tendon if you are unlucky.

I definatley agree with that. Quite what people hope to achieve by violently lunching towards the floor before jerking back up is beyone me. :D Also, when stretching (which you can do before you get on for a long ride, or even at petrol stations when refueling) do near the limit of your extension, relax (but not all the way) then re-tension further and repeat (further and further in the same session, not just over a period of days/weeks). We used to do this in Kung fu and it was amazing how much further you can get towards the end of a session than you can at the start.

[Quiff Wichard]

Foey wrote:

Try doing buttock clenches as you ride along, there not just for when the back end breaks away and for opening bottles of beer! :shock:

Yes a degree of natural suppleness is a great help. Even with my years of rugby I can still comfortably touch toes with no distress. I do pity those that suffer with back problems though. :wink:


yea Mrs Quiff has severe back problems...and I suffer!!!!

[Well Oiled]

If in doubt see your GP.

Is that your moto GP? (I'll get my coat)

[Professor]

My problem is that the pain starts in the lower back and then goes
into the leg. Does anyone else have this problem?

[Jelster]

My problem is that the pain starts in the lower back and then goes
into the leg. Does anyone else have this problem?

That's sciatica isn't it ?

My problem is right down the bottom, almost at the coxics, and is made worse when I compress the soine, so leaning forwards and high pegs make it much worse.

.

[timwilky]

I suffer badly with my back. For the medical people it is a narrowing of lumbo-sacral disc spaces with facet joint sclerosis. For the non medical it can at times f***ing hurt. When suffering normally I use Tramadol and a couple of time over the past 10 years of pain had to resort to morphine.

The strangest bit being the pain in my legs is actually my back.


I find riding my fully clothed SV is therapeutic if I adopt a concave back profile. Don't support my fat body on my arm/shoulders/wrist. But, instead take my weight from my hips and bend my body up. This then tends to push the lower discs back into shape. Although there are times when you need someone to apply a firm sharp push the offending part of the spine.


I have had loads of physio on my back, stretching etc. but there is always the nagging worry that if I do something I can end up on a heap on the floor screaming in agony. It is funny to be carried into an ambulance. them saying you will be home in a couple of hours. Get the Morphine. have a puke and hobble out a few hours later. Still it is nice to then get a few weeks off work as you are petrified to drive incase your back goes again.

Backs, I would not wish one on my worst enemy.

[madmal]

My problem is that the pain starts in the lower back and then goes
into the leg. Does anyone else have this problem? it sounds like siatica, and it can be very painfull. you need to excercise gently as stated in previous threads.....very gently. stretching and limbering up before any ride is a good thing as muscles will loosen and relax. i wear a neoprene belt (slot inside for inserting newspaper) and backprotector. the warmth keeps your back muscles supple aiding comfort on short/long rides. try one of the heat lamps from argos, cheap and works a treat especially for siatica. :) and a good bed - money well spent.

[Quiff Wichard]

tis sciatica..
and from th epain on my wifes face its painful..
I have had to put her knickers on before now..and her socks..NO JOKES !!

ya cant see anything though .....so it looks like shes an old lady fer nuffin and I aint too patients.

what cures it??

well going to see Adam in Nantwich the chirowotsitpractor..at £85 for half an hour !!!!!!!

[Jelster]

......but there is always the nagging worry that if I do something I can end up on a heap on the floor screaming in agony.

I know what you mean, the main reason I sold my GSXR was that I was really worried about being 2 days in to a trip in Europe, my back goes, and I can't ride. The bars were OK, the pegs were OK, but doing the 2 together with a bad back could be murder....

I sat on the 675 Triumph at the show on Saturday and could feel the pressure on the base of my spine... Small sports bikes are no longer on my "want" list :cry:

.

[Peter Henry]

Quiff wrote:

[I enjoyputting her knickers and bra on before I go out to work.I love the feel against my skin.

So for once you get first choice of the clothing then mate?! :? :)

[madmal]

in reality, a lot of bikes are not that practical in the sense you can not stay in a certain position for long be it hunched over a fairing or sat upright for many hours. i think the sv is one of those bikes that falls somewhere in between which is also why its so popular. tas got a hard seat though. i dont know the cure for sciatica but if i did i would be very rich. i road from bilboa to benalmadina across a day and only did this with regular stops and having the weight of a rucksack against my back (not heavy) on the move.

[chazzyb]

I suffer too, having a somewhat more mature physique these days, which really doesn't help. Sciatica isn't nice. The trouble is, my back can 'go' suddenly without warning if I'm not carefull. My back will go into spasm and that's it for days.

Exercises to strengthen the pelvic muscles have worked for me. Basically, learning how to hold the middle-aged belly in. A side-effect has been going down a trouser size. I've had serveral diagnoses - a different one from each physio I saw. Mind you, they costed me £26 per half hour, not £85! The first one said it was bone growth - 'spurs' - in the spine trapping the sciatic nerves, the next one said it was disks slipping out doing it, etc.

[Stig]

tis sciatica..
and from th epain on my wifes face its painful..
I have had to put her knickers on before now..and her socks..NO JOKES !!

ya cant see anything though .....so it looks like shes an old lady fer nuffin and I aint too patients.

what cures it??

well going to see Adam in Nantwich the chirowotsitpractor..at £85 for half an hour !!!!!!!

I have suffered this to the extreme. Eventually I had to have a back operation and the offending crushed disc that was pressing on the nerve was removed. A plastic one inserted and bone fusion made.

This was after months at a chiropractor which did not help. Finally I could not stand it any more. Literally. Went to the hospital where they put me on physio for more months. Every time I went I tried to explain that the exercises they were giving me were not working. They told me that this was my only option unless it got worse.

At the time I was on my fathers prescription pain killers I was taking two every two hours for 18 hours a day. The limit is 8 a day. Then next appointment I went without taking any pain relief to show them what REAL pain I was in. Within a month I had been given an MRI scan, and had the operation.

Anyone that suffers from this pain I have the up most sympathy. It has got to be one of the worst types of pain to have. No matter what position you try to move into to relieve the pain it just WONT go away.

[Ed]

Anyone that suffers from this pain I have the up most sympathy. It has got to be one of the worst types of pain to have. No matter what position you try to move into to relieve the pain it just WONT go away.

Sciatica is pain trawled straight from hell. I had it after my accident in 2004. Just when I thought everything was starting to heal, I woke up in the middle of the night with it, it felt like someone was ramming a red hot poker up my ****. It was simply unbearable. The only position which offered any comfort was in the foetal position, knees on the floor, so as to stretch out the spine and stop the disc from pressing on the nerve, but even then it simply dulled it rather than removed it. I guzzled tramadol every night in the hope of sleeping through it but I had to stop because I found I couldn't do without them, they were so addictive. In the end it went with acupuncture.

Like Ape - my profoundest sympathy to anyone who has the misfortune to get this horrid affliction.

[Professor]

Thanks for all the replies. Probably it is the sciatic nerve, though
it hasn't yet been diagnosed at such. The annoying thing is that the
problem is in the left leg which makes changing gears uncomfortable.

Reading people's experiences is sobering. I just hope that my
problem develops slowly (as it has been for the last 25 years) so I
die of other causes before I have to resort to morphine, as
timwilky. At the moment co-dydramol does the trick.

In my case the back problem isn't helped by the fact that I play a
lot of tennis. Anyway, if we don't do the things that we enjoy, what
is the point of living?

PS. I must brush up on my knowledge of anatomy. At the moment I
don't understand half the words people use in this thread.

[Professor]

The only position which offered any comfort was in the foetal position, knees on the floor.

My problem is that my dog attacks me when I adopt this position:
he thinks I am fooling around.

[Jelster]

IThe trouble is, my back can 'go' suddenly without warning if I'm not carefull. My back will go into spasm and that's it for days..

I know what you mean... Suddenly it just "goes" and your knackered....

.

[Quiff Wichard]

I will get kim to read all of this..shemay want to move in with you all as you all will be sympathetic !!!!!......

I do try and understand ..but I suppose until it happens to me Iwill never know- and the pain I see I dont ever want to experience it..

[Peter Henry]

Quiff what a 21st century kind of guy you are! Maybe if you had not insisted on all that parking up and jumping in the back of the mini...this problem would not have arisen! :wink: :lol:

This thread is like walking in to an episode of Casualty! :)

[Ed]

I do try and understand ..but I suppose until it happens to me Iwill never know- and the pain I see I dont ever want to experience it..

The acupuncturist I had was female. She had had sciatica when she was thrown off her horse. She said it was like childbirth. Thank God I'm a man!

[Quiff Wichard]

well I have had 2 kids...

twas easy !!!

[MrMessy]

My wife suffers with terrible back pain that also goes down her leg. Seen the specialist and it is not sciatica. She is on really strong pain killers etc. Had physio and acupuncture. I have had to help her dress and is not nice to see your wife reduced to an old person. Doctor and physio say moving about and trying to get on with things helps, laying about is generally no good because you just seize up. She is waiting to go to a pain management clinic!

[Stig]

My wife suffers with terrible back pain that also goes down her leg. Seen the specialist and it is not sciatica. She is on really strong pain killers etc. Had physio and acupuncture. I have had to help her dress and is not nice to see your wife reduced to an old person. Doctor and physio say moving about and trying to get on with things helps, laying about is generally no good because you just seize up. She is waiting to go to a pain management clinic!

I would seriously think about going elsewhere for a second opinion. Pain that shoots down the leg IS sciatica. There is no other possible diagnosis. I was told by the chiropractor, and the hospital that it was not sciatica. Only when I had an MRI scan did the hospital change their opinion.

My brother has the same problem. All the doctors and the back pain specialists told him it was not sciatica. He paid to have an MRI scan. The result was, he has a protruding disc that is pressing on the sciatica nerve. He is now waiting to have an operation.

[joelowden]

I suffered from this for years ; and the only thing that cured it was a Chiropractor ,
not the first , not the second but the third guy I went to sorted me out and gave me some exercises to do if I felt any twinges.
Now I get very infrequent twinges only.

So.. Word of mouth recommendations for a good Chiropractor and stretching .. The ones I do are based on a Cat's stretch as it gets up after waking.. works for me.

[madmal]

when i visited a chiropractor (4yrs ago) i could hardly walk in the pain was so bad, in my back and my leg. he put me through the pain barrier and then some with stretching moves, finally finishing with a heat lamp on my lower back.

each time i came out i genuinly felt a lot better: more supple and the pain was virtually gone. i saw him for about six sessions and now follow a stretching routine if i feel any twinges.

again can't stress the use of a heatlamp enough. i use it for 20mins after said routine and it seems to keep the pain away for a fortnight or so at least.

as i stated in an earlier thread, i bought an orthopedic bed/matress also and this is a godsend. at least i get a good nights sleep nowadays.

[JakeRS]

I am possibly the least flexible teenager there is, cant even straighten my legs out totally...

My back is a killer usually, especially since riding the ER5.

Will give your tips a go, maybe it'll help!

[madmal]

sorry to hear so many people suffer with said symptoms. this sort of pain is def no laughing matter at all.
i was advised heat will help reduce swelling in damaged muscles etc but possibly not in all cases.

[Anonymous]

My wife suffers with terrible back pain that also goes down her leg. Seen the specialist and it is not sciatica. She is on really strong pain killers etc. Had physio and acupuncture. I have had to help her dress and is not nice to see your wife reduced to an old person. Doctor and physio say moving about and trying to get on with things helps, laying about is generally no good because you just seize up. She is waiting to go to a pain management clinic!

I would seriously think about going elsewhere for a second opinion. Pain that shoots down the leg IS sciatica. There is no other possible diagnosis. I was told by the chiropractor, and the hospital that it was not sciatica. Only when I had an MRI scan did the hospital change their opinion.

My brother has the same problem. All the doctors and the back pain specialists told him it was not sciatica. He paid to have an MRI scan. The result was, he has a protruding disc that is pressing on the sciatica nerve. He is now waiting to have an operation.

I was about to say the same. I'm surprised/slightly amazed its not sciatica (not that kind of Dr tho so just opinion, not 2nd opinion!). I also suffer about once every couple of years. One time it was so bad I could just about manage to drive to work and then get the blokes who worked for me at that time to tie my shoelaces. Humiliating for both parties :(

The funny thing is each time before it happens I just feel a slight pressure in the back, a sort of crunchy poke :shock: and then thats it, next day screwed (or not due to a bad back :lol: ). And the first time it happened bad I instantly remembered I had felt that odd feeling once before. Lifting and empty cardboard box out of the car boot when I was 20! So that must be when I first skewiffed the disc.

One thing has really helped (and I must get back to this) is back muscle strenghthening exercises. Like the stomach muscles in most of us they are just not strong in your normal deskbound male. And like the effect of strong stomach muscles in holding in that paunch the same thing appears true for the back. Worked for me anyway, but take it easy to start.

Btw I am not practising what I preach here :( :lol:

[Professor]

I am writing to report a miraculous recovery from my back pain. The
miracle happened during a business trip to Poland. I was very
apprehensive about going ahead with this trip given my condition but
I am glad I did. The conference was in an area of Poland
http://www.ift.uni.wroc.pl/karp42/#Loc renown as a health spa and,
in particular, my hotel http://www.geovita.pl/en/ladek/zdjecia.php
had an excellent physiotherapy department so I decided to make use
of these facilities. Namely, I started every day by having hot mud
put on my lower back and thigh, then I was placed inside a magnet :shock: ,
and a couple of hours later I had a massage session. Had 4 days
of physiotherapy in total which completely cured me. My recovery
made an impression on other participants of the conference and
towards the end of the conference the physiotherapy department
became rather crowded.

Physiotherapy in Poland is very cheap. A 20-minute massage session
(this is the most expensive procedure) costs £3.50 and the guy who
does it is a real pro. Flights to Poland are also very cheap: I paid
£37 for my Ryanair flight Stansted-Wroclaw-Stansted but it was
possible to buy an even cheaper ticket (£25) only in this case the
dates and times would have been less convenient for me.

I've seen all these TV programs about people going abroad for
medical treatment ("dental holidays", "cosmetic surgery holidays", etc)
but never thought that I would find myself doing this. It is really worth it.

[Professor]

Went on a test ride today, that is, tested my back after the Polish
physiotherapy. Was surprisingly OK, apart from the end when I had to
push the bike back into garage - slight discomfort in the knee.

Hope Mrs Professor doesn't find out :-$ (did my test ride when she was
shopping).

[madmal]

prof, glad it worked for you mate. it may mean you doing it on a regular basis. but if it works for you, good for you.

the problem with sciatica is( from what i have been through and many others from talking to them) that you can reduce the pain level and longevity with regular excersise but it never goes away.

treatment generally seems based on keeping muscles toned as opposed to no excersise at all. i know of friends who have been reduced to tears because of the pain and wish i had the perfect answer/remedy.

i definitely have to choose a bike that is not too radical a riding position on my back or legs which is probably why the retro/cbr600f bikes have been the most comfortable for myself over a long journey.