I have a Specialized Allez Sport road bike and have been riding it for the past four years. I started getting a muscle cramp in my right upper glute/low back the past year or so. My right leg happens to be my shorter leg by about ½â€. The pain only occurred on my right side. So at the end of last year I had a static bike fit. The person moved my right cleat forward to compensate for the leg length issue. It seemed to help but it really only lasted a few rides. Long rides are tough to do as it cramps up. I just did an Olympic tri this past weekend and it hit me at mile 13. After that I could not really push hard. I have read that it could be from pushing too hard, so to remedy the issue you would increase your cadence. I also heard it could be due to weak hip abductor muscles, which I just started working on. Any other ideas out there? Maybe lower or raise my seat?
I have the same back issue and also have a leg length difference. I’ve worked with multiple fitters and have had it handled two ways:
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Spacers under the cleat to make up some of the difference (fitter put on a stack of two, it was unwieldy and not my favorite.)
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Since my leg length difference is partially functional (collapsed arch,) different fitter recommended putting in better arch supports and using only one spacer. This was a big help with running off the bike as my foot is a lot less jacked up by the time I get to T2.
I’ve also had shorter cranks suggested as a solution, to open up hip angle, and upon trying it I could feel that the stress was off my back at first. However, during harder sets the cadence required to maintain power finally ended up causing a worse back meltdown. That was not for me. YMMV. All of this was while also working with a PT.
See if this article helps you to understand better the shim/cant/fore/aft/rotational/side/etc aspect of the cleats
http://bicyclingaustralia.com.au/content/2010/steve-hogg/footloose?page=2
Your upper glute/hip pain may or not be related to the leg being shorter. Do you drop your hill or pedal with toe down? Your hip/leg may be trying to reach the bottom of the pedal stroke making extra effort (stretch) than your left leg. If that’s the case you may try lowering down your seat (but that’ll require modifying how forward is the cleat). Since you have a road bike, I’m assuming the ‘hip angle while on the aero bars’ value will not be affected given you don’t adopt such position. Do your knees flare out or in? How about the shoe free float?
I’ve experienced myself great improvement after visiting a knowledgeable/experienced shoes/cleat fitter (DIY technique may actually make it worse since there’re at least 5 aspects to modify when dealing with cleats -see article)
I also ride a Specialized, have a shorter *left *leg, and have routinely cramped in lower back, right side.
I’ve been to some excellent fitters but the only thing that’s really helped is adding an extra half insole to left shoe (weirdly, I do the opposite for running/walking). My pelvis twists to 1:00 (if a normal one squares up to 12), and the lift helps the shorter leg compensate for its longer reach, if that makes sense.
If you get a really good fitter they might sort you out, but what’s really helped me most was trial and error on long trainer rides, corraborated by long rides outside.
I sort of have to agree with using trial and error. It is time consuming but at least I may figure it out. Even when I got fit the adjustments had to be tweaked based on some rides. I had a friend get a dynamic bike fit with probes hooked up to him and a power meter but it cost him $250. I am not that great of a racer to invest that kind of money into it.
Go see a sports oriented physiotherapist and get them to evaluate your basic posture and core strength. Ask them for exercises and stretches to develop strength and flexibility in your lower core because you want to fix the underlying problem, not just band-aid it with positional adjustments, spacers, and wedges. Then work on those exercises daily for six to nine months and if you’re at all like my N=1 case you’ll be amazed at how much better your riding and running goes.
I took Big Endian’s advice and talked to my friend who is a sports PT. I told her my situation and she showed me glute, piriformis and other hip strengthening exercises. The last time I rode I felt the tightness but it was not as bad. I am hitting the gym at least twice a week to work on this and will post an update. I did try changing my seat height but that did not work at all. I will try to post an update to let all know if the strengthening is working.
Thanks for all the help from everyone!