I have been getting a knot/tightness in the right side (not left, just right) of my lower back when riding in the aero position for greater than an hour or so. It gets much worse, much faster if I go uphill in the aero position. If I go onto the pursuit bars for a while I can go back into the aero position for a while again. Any thoughts on adjustments I can make to alleviate this? Raise/lower the seat or the aerobars?
I never had this problem till my bike fit about a month ago. Before the fit though I was unable to maintain the aero position for very long. I now feel very comfortable in the aero position with the exception of this tightness. No complaints about the fit. The fitter did a great job I just don’t think I was able to give them the feedback he needed.
Here is my suggestion:
Raise your bars until the problem goes away, and then slowly begin bringing them back down to the position that you are trying to achieve.
I have read elsewhere and experienced personally one-sided pain while having a functional leg length discrepancy. In my case my right leg functions a touch shorter and low back pain while cycling can focus on just the left o my lower back. I wonder if you have a functional left shorter?
I still have a hell of a time going aero. I think it may be fit but if I’m aero for a while my lower back gets all cramped and I have to straighten out. I don’t know why. I otherwise have no back issues.
**Any thoughts on adjustments I can make to alleviate this? Raise/lower the seat or the aerobars? **
n=1
You may want to give some thought to the length of cranks that you are using. There seems to be some consensus amongst top fitters that for extended aero position riding for some riders that going to much shorter cranks may be helpful ( Please note all the points of emphasis - key)
We did this with my wife recently and we were pleasently surprised with the results - it was almost immediate. Much smoother and easier pedal stroke around the full clock face - particularly at 12:00 and the elimination of some niggling low back pain, that we believe was related to the problems at 12:00 with her stroke while riding aero for a long time.
Your mileage may vary.
You may be continuing to sit on your sit bones with a large amount of low-back bend to get your shoulders down to the aero bars.
You can/should do less low-back bend by rotating your pelvis forward and sitting more on the scrotum. Sounds painful doesn’t it? Well it is, and that’s why there is the Adamo. That could be your answer.
I have read elsewhere and experienced personally one-sided pain while having a functional leg length discrepancy. In my case my right leg functions a touch shorter and low back pain while cycling can focus on just the left o my lower back. I wonder if you have a functional left shorter?
I am a bit confused by this paragraph, but curious. So, in your reading and experience, when there is a leg length discrepancy, is the pain on the side of the shorter leg or the longer leg?
I only have tightness/pain on my right lower back, sort of in the upper rear area of my right hip if that makes sense, not the hip joint, just the muscles.
it could be a million reason like crank lenght, saddle, bike lenght, stem, pads, bar etc…
i dont think you can give someone a tip like this without having seen him on the bike…
to the Op…post a picture of you on the bike…seeing your position might help a lot to get that problem sort out…
or lower them until you don’t =)
I get a tight lower back but only on my ROAD bike
heh
Here is my suggestion:
Raise your bars until the problem goes away, and then slowly begin bringing them back down to the position that you are trying to achieve.
.
I have read elsewhere and experienced personally one-sided pain while having a functional leg length discrepancy. In my case my right leg functions a touch shorter and low back pain while cycling can focus on just the left o my lower back. I wonder if you have a functional left shorter?
I am a bit confused by this paragraph, but curious. So, in your reading and experience, when there is a leg length discrepancy, is the pain on the side of the shorter leg or the longer leg?
I only have tightness/pain on my right lower back, sort of in the upper rear area of my right hip if that makes sense, not the hip joint, just the muscles.Well, my shorter RIGHT leg has been a problem and if I don’t get overall low back pain it always goes just to the left. I read last year of a person who said that the side the low back pain is opposite from the shorter leg. Not sure why, though, and this may not be your problem, but there is obviously some strange side-to-side imbalance.
Weird. So pain/tightness on the right side COULD be associated with a shorter left leg is what you are saying?
So what’s the fix, cleat inserts on the left side to effectively lengthen that leg while leaving the saddle height the same? Or lower the saddle to a level appropriate for the shorter leg (my left) which would mean it would than be a little lower than appropriate for the longer leg (my right, where the pain is).
Weird. So pain/tightness on the right side COULD be associated with a shorter left leg is what you are saying?
So what’s the fix, cleat inserts on the left side to effectively lengthen that leg while leaving the saddle height the same? Or lower the saddle to a level appropriate for the shorter leg (my left) which would mean it would than be a little lower than appropriate for the longer leg (my right, where the pain is).That’s a good question. And yes, it could at least based on my experience and what i read elsewhere. However, it could be something else. Do you have any other symptoms like when you run? Any pain on one side but not another (some pains gravitate to the short and others to the long)? What about shoe wear? Are they 100% exactly the same?
Regarding addressing it, you could try an insert in the shorter leg to bring it up to the longer. I’ve done that before. I prefer now, and again based on what “most people” recommend, aggressive stretching of hips/pelvis to try and solve it, but either I don’t do it enough or it’s not totally curable in this way (a bit of both, I think), I still have the shorter leg :0
BTW, google “low back pain one side shorter leg”
and look at the links that pop up. Be careful, though, the tendency on the net is to find something that appears to be a match and is not. This is why I thought I had runners knee for a couple of years before self-diagnosing (the doctors couldn’t) that it was in fact patellar tendinosis. These can be a good starting point, though.
I sustained a compression fracture of my L3 vertebrae about 5 years ago. However, I was relatively lucky as the fracture is pretty symmetrical and healed well. I have no issues when running and have been putting in consistent 50 mile weeks.
I ride pretty steep and low on the tri bike, always feel fine until about the 1 hour mark and then the tightness and pain begins to become much more noticeable. It is made worse by climbing in the aerobars or riding into the wind in the bars. It is only tightness on the right side, as I said, sort of upper rear hip area, whatever muscles are on the outside of the lower back.
With some stretching on the bike, I can manage it, it’s just frustrating to be limited not by your legs, but by your back.
It is probably not that your bars are too low. Low back pain is usually a function of an overly long cockpit. However, what you have described doesn’t really sound like “low-back pain.” It sounds like pain in your piriformis, sciatic nerve, gluteals, etc. That’s more typical of a one-sided pain.
I would wager this is related to a functional leg length discrepancy. My first suggestion for this would be shorter cranks. I do not like shimming for functional discrepancies, because you are not addressing the root cause of the discrepancy (rotated pelvis, poor posture, etc.). Shorter cranks can alleviate the peak torque requirements, meaning if you have a muscle imbalance, it can be mitigated. You should also check to see if your saddle is too high by measuring knee angle ON BOTH SIDES. If you set your saddle height for your longer leg, then it will be too high for the shorter leg. Always set it for the shorter leg. This will also allow your pelvis to shift back into position, which shimming will NOT allow.
Sometimes, however, an overly long cockpit can still be problematic, especially if one side is weaker. This is especially true if you experience the pain worse when climbing, as people tend to slide back when the road pitches up, which lengthens the cockpit even more. Of course, it could also be that most people climb harder (and at lower cadence), meaning you are loading the sore muscles more.
My checklist:
-
check to make sure your cleats are aligned similarly on both shoes. You have no idea how many people have cleats that have slipped where one cleat is all the back and in. And the other is all the way forward and out. They never notice it in their feet, but when you ask, they’ll always say something like “yeah, I do get weird knee/hip/back/etc. pain.”
-
try choking up on your aerobars 1-2cm during your rides, and then maybe 2-3cm when climbing. If this helps, your cockpit is too long. Buy a shorter stem.
-
see if you can try a pair of shorter cranks.
The BEST thing you can do in this case is to go back to the person who fit you. They will have a good reference of what they did, and will likely be in a better position to help you correct it than if you go see someone new.