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Back pain...a real pain in the as...ankle.
I usually put about 6-8k miles of riding during a year. Several long trips this year allowed me to ride around 17k. Since right before Thanksgiving, I started having lower back pains and tightness. Related to too much seat time? Changing tires with the twisting and turning of the body (there's another point favoring those who take the bike into the shop), too much sitting at work / home watching silly youtube shorts? Combination of factors?
Who knows...but I'm interested in your experiences with back pain in general, lower back specifically. I have a pretty good stretching, hiking, swimming, light weight work-out routine that I've used for years, but this month-long pain has been nagging at times, somewhat debilitating at others, interrupting workouts and riding, and generally feels different than other back pains I've had.
Pain is at base of spine and spreads out around the waist and down the rear and into back of legs with bending, getting up, sitting down, taking a few steps after getting up, etc. Sciatic nerve? I read the symptons and try some stretching, take some ibuprofen, but nothing really seems to help, laying down feels best, sitting at length seems to make it worse. I'm getting my computer station at work set up for standing. And I'm seeing the doc on Tuesday to talk about it.
Meanwhile, what are your experiences? What has worked? What hasn't? I'd appreciate any experiences, figuring I can't be the only one. Internet says:
"Motorcycle riding can significantly aggravate sciatica pain, as the prolonged seated position with vibrations and potential twisting motions can put pressure on the sciatic nerve..." Which of course nobody hear likes to read.
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I have suffered from two types of back pain over the years. Most frequently is the one at the base of the spine, right above the butt crack. Feels like someone jamming an ice pick in your back. I've gotten it so bad it actually buckles my knees. The other which I got earlier this year from incorrectly putting my bike on the centerstand is in the middle of my back on the right side next to the spine radiating outward. It has somewhat gone away but I still get twinges sometimes when I twist my upper body.
The lower back pain I relieve by lying on the floor and resting my calves on a bench with my butt as close to the bench as I can get it. This flattens the spine. However the true way to alleviate getting it in the future is though core strengthening. There are exercises for that. Plenty of you-Tube vids on them. I have a huge exercise ball I work out on too. Funny, Iwas once going to PT for it and of course I rode my mc to PT. The pt therapist told me as long as I rode my bike I'd never get better, to which I replied the only time it feels good is when I ride my bike. So I quit going to PT and just rode more.
If it gets bad, besides Ibuprofin, there are always muscle relaxers available thru prescription.
Once your back goes out, it's really easy for it to go out again. You have to be really careful with it. Particularly sitting wrong, lifting and twisting.
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I have a tender lower back from the rigors of hard physical labor. I have triggered it from time to time by lifting something wrong. Worst case I have to wear a back brace and use a cane and stay off the bike for a while. Had to skip a DGR because of it. But I can’t list riding as a cause.
I do a lot of YouTube stretching videos. Check out Jessica Valant. She’s got great lower back stretches that really help me.
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I would have my butt fall asleep/painful numb with the stock cb setup when we rode alot of highway going to other states.
When I went to the lower type ll bars the pain shifted to my lower back on the same exact trips.
Long story short I've messed around with the bars and seats and found that it always change where the fatigue was on my body on long rides. I've landed on a Corbin seat and the stock bars with bar risers at the moment.
One of the second biggest impacts was dehydration. Most people don't drink enough water/Electrolytes to begin with in day to day life. Then we sit on our bikes in typically warm weather, typically layered up in protective gear and add a full face helmet for some people and you'd be surprised how fast you are in a dehydrated state. (Not like most of us are drinking water during the act of riding either).
Its also great to actually do some stretchs on the gas stops. Instead of just "stretching the legs" walking into the gas station and back out to the bike haha.
So your muscles will cramp and fatigue even faster.
When we have a multi day ride coming up we try to make it a point to be hydrated going into it and then we'll make sure we get a water or some form of electrolytes in when we stop for gas. Thats makes a big difference in riding fatigue.
2014 CB1100, 1981 KZ440 LTD, 1993 Yamaha XJ600 Seca, 1994 Yamaha XJ600 Seca
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(12-15-2024, 01:38 AM)The ferret_imp Wrote: I have suffered from two types of back pain over the years. Most frequently is the one at the base of the spine, right above the butt crack. Feels like someone jamming an ice pick in your back. I've gotten it so bad it actually buckles my knees. The other which I got earlier this year from incorrectly putting my bike on the centerstand is in the middle of my back on the right side next to the spine radiating outward. It has somewhat gone away but I still get twinges sometimes when I twist my upper body.
The lower back pain I relieve by lying on the floor and resting my calves on a bench with my butt as close to the bench as I can get it. This flattens the spine. However the true way to alleviate getting it in the future is though core strengthening. There are exercises for that. Plenty of you-Tube vids on them. I have a huge exercise ball I work out on too. Funny, Iwas once going to PT for it and of course I rode my mc to PT. The pt therapist told me as long as I rode my bike I'd never get better, to which I replied the only time it feels good is when I ride my bike. So I quit going to PT and just rode more.
If it gets bad, besides Ibuprofin, there are always muscle relaxers available thru prescription.
Once your back goes out, it's really easy for it to go out again. You have to be really careful with it. Particularly sitting wrong, lifting and twisting.
Yes...this is what happens...has felt like my legs are about to give way.
I appreciate the sharing of experiences and what has helped. I have a doc appt and we'll see what that brings up.
I've done a lot of helpful stretching over the years, so hopefully it will be a question of finding the right ones.
We've had rain and more rain of late, and a forecast of another week straight of rainy days, so that makes it easier to not aggravate the back by riding too much, even though riding doesn't really seem to bring on any pain. It's the slight lean over the sink, the getting up, sitting down and all of a sudden it's back, sometimes stopping me in my tracks.
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As a teenager, I had a motorcycle accident, several surgeries on my left leg resulted in a worn-out knee after several decades, and the leg became more and more bent outwards, which resulted in a curved spine...
Only a few years ago, a good orthopedic surgeon performed a successful and miraculous operation and the spine returned to normal.....
If I have pain in my lower back, then occasionally, after sitting incorrectly.
Several exercises relieve the pain, sometimes I have to take over-the-counter medications.
The BEST thing for skeletal, lower back or spine pain is to ride the CB for as long as possible without stopping, it fixes everything... has never failed... knock on wood!!
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(12-15-2024, 06:53 AM)peterbaron_imp Wrote: As a teenager, I had a motorcycle accident, several surgeries on my left leg resulted in a worn-out knee after several decades, and the leg became more and more bent outwards, which resulted in a curved spine...
Only a few years ago, a good orthopedic surgeon performed a successful and miraculous operation and the spine returned to normal.....
If I have pain in my lower back, then occasionally, after sitting incorrectly.
Several exercises relieve the pain, sometimes I have to take over-the-counter medications.
The BEST thing for skeletal, lower back or spine pain is to ride the CB for as long as possible without stopping, it fixes everything... has never failed... knock on wood!!
Haha...I'll take two of those rides and call you in the morning, doc!
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Been dealing with an injury to the discs between L3/L4 and L4/L5 for over a decade. About twice a year I go in for steroid epidural injections that seem to take care of that sharp pain at the base my back that you and Ferret both describe. That is the pain that gives me the most trouble riding. More-so on the CB1100 due to the forward lean and cramped leg position. This one causes sciatica, particularly in my left leg that can cause numbness in my feet. This is my favorite flavor of back pain.
The other flavor I have is foraminal narrowing that pinches the nerves that radiate out from the lumbar spine to the sides of my back. Every year or so I go in an undergo ablations to those nerves. That pain is more of a constant dull ache that radiates out from the lumbar spine. It doesn't really affect my riding like the disc damage does, so I like it less than the first pain flavor.
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choice 4 is my life since age 15 and braking it a few months ago has been no help
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I remember the first time my back went out. I was lifting a filing cabinet completely wrong out of a delivery van. I thought I had been shot in the back. I was laying on the ground screaming, and someone ran up to me. I said I was shot, and the other person said "You're not bleeding anywhere!"
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