Have done thousands of miles on my present road setup, but over the last two months hvae been getting bad pain in my sciatic (right gluteus) that is also causing my right foot to go numb. I've done quite a few sciatic specific stretches which help with the pain, but the problem comes right back on the road.

When on my mtb or fixie, I don't have the problem. I've measured all bikes and every spec is close bike to bike. Nothing has changed on the bikes but this condition is clearly not going away with a whimper.

Any ideas what kind of position problems might be causing this? I actually feel fine when on the bike other than the numb foot, but after the ride and the next day or so, very uncomfortable.

Help!?

Mark

the same thing happened to me except my right leg went numb
l found also that it only happened on my road bike
l tried eveyrthing
-lowering my seat
-raising my seat
-fore aft seat changes
-raising and lowering my bars (old quil stem)
-cleat for and aft
and gave up for a couple of years came back to riding with a riser stem and l now dont get the problem nearly as bad
find l have to ride in a lower seat position and if l move around on the saddle which l changed 3 times to the rock hard selle slr l can ride for as long as l want
after seeing several doctors a physio, ultrasounds all which told me l was fine
and a doctor who told me that being able to ride more than 5miles was better than most people, it was the best l could come up with (lower stem stretches something to far)
ps. their is a series of videos by and Australian Stephen Hogg (Sitting pretty) that are all to do with problems like this, (he use to race for ONCE) they are great, might still be avaliable though www.bicyclingaustralia.com

sorry one more thing change from speed pays ot the old shimano clippless that helped a bit and them to the new wide platform peddle a bit better again

Tried my seat a bit more forward today, and after 30 miles my right foot is gone. 5 minutes coffee break and it's fine. The more forward position did feel better on my hip but still losing my foot. Makes it hard to sprint when your foot is numb..a bit frightening.

Using Dura Ace spd's right now, but may throw on my mtb pedals and see if that makes a difference.

I did notice that feeling came back a bit by sitting up straight, so though I'm not too stretched out, I may need to open things up a bit and lose some aero.

mg

I had the same issues, but on the left side...CAT scan & NMRI showed nothing (except to lower my savings account)... I went to another Neurologist and she said that surgery may or may not help; but nerve surgery could make things worse, so I opted to hop on the bike and see what happens... that was 4 years ago and zero hip pains since, but I don't have muscle response in my left-big toe. I'm 67yo and ride 40-70m (17-21mph @ 85-95 rpm) without any issues and recovery time is about 2 minutes, so I don't have any complaints...just hope I can be biking 5-10yrs from now........just listen to your body.
Keep in mind, that if you have insurance, you're 'money in the bank' to the hospitals....they'll do a million tests but always tell you that 'it may show nothing'....

hope it helps out l found it upsetting that l couldn't ride like l use to

some people think the stem rise looks a bit off but l would rather ride my bike than not
check out a picture of migel indurain (probably spelt his name wrong) the top of his bars where nearly level with the seat
that man had a motor
it also frees up your diaphram a bit so u can breath more deeply this counteracts the aero thing a bit
so best of luck and hope it helps, it can take a fare bit of time

l hope to be riding as fast as u at your age great
dont have to worry about the insurance thing in aus as we are mostly public funded
l also use to work at a hospital so no fees
l agree be gentle on yourself and listen to your body

I had sciatic pain too that started in my right gluteus and gradually ended up in my foot. Long story short I had a hernitated disc that was putting pressure on the sciatic nerve. I had a severe case thought since I could not stand for more than 10 minutes or eventually even get on the bike. I won't be lying if I tell you that I rode the electric scooter at Home Depot while shopping and even found that painful. I had seen chiropractors, had cortisone injections and nothing would cure it until I found a dr that knew what was wrong after taking an MRI. The dr went in and scooped out disc gel that was causing all the pain. Now I'm pain free!! So it's hard to know your cause but I'm just throwing that out there as a possible root of the problem. Most dr's won't perform surgery unless it's absolutely necessary but in my case it was. From talking to other people that have had sciatic issues it seems that some are fixed in different ways, just have to find what works for you.

Thinking it's time for an x-ray/exam to see what's going on. This was a rather acute change, so something is now amiss. When I was a teenager, I dislocated my right hip in an mx crash and it's always been a bit funky...guess the years are catching up. (46 y/o now).

Stretching and r&r definitely help, and if I'm off the bike for about a week, feels perfect. While we had the fires going on out here, I stayed off the bike and my back felt great. But that's not a suitable solution.

Thanks for experiences...all the info helps.

Mark

best of luck when l was changing things like my seat post hight it was in increments like 1/20"

My experiance was the same as liveonedge. I'm 8 wks post-op, outpatient surgery, and I'm very glad I went under the knife. I could no longer ride to my potential while sitting and driving became very problematic so I had to do something. Good luck, I hope you can work your way through this but if not find a good Ortho and don't worry about surgery. You should also know - the longer you live with the pain the longer the nerve will take to recover and the possibility will exist that you may never fully heal i.e. perminant nerve damage can occur and a condition known as drop foot. Listen to your body, if things get worse get help sooner than later.

l agree always listen to a md u respest

sorry respect

As always, it's best to get a thorough eval from the doc of your choice. Aside from a herniated disc, another possible cause could be a tight piriformis muscle. It runs across the sciatic nerve in the buttocks region and can cause sciatic irritation and symptoms similar to disc issues. Generally specific stretching and NSAIDs are used to treat it.

Like others have said, above, the numbness can come from -- though not necessarily -- a herniated disc impinging on nerves in the neck or spine.
In my case it was in the neck (Cervical C5-6, C6-7). Awful pain in the neck, arm, shoulder and numbness in the forearm and left thumb. Also some left side big toe numbness and some occasional right thigh numbness. Pain 24/7, sleepless nights, and none of the following -- Advil, Oxycodone or Tizanidine -- worked!

Unfortunately it seems it had a lot to do with road riding position ... looking back in a journal, I was really hurting most after a 'personal best' long ride. At the time I thought the neck pain was par for the course, little did I know how bad it could get, and how quick. In retrospect, It just wasn't worth that kind of debilitation. The last time I went OTB was February, and before that 2-3 times during the previous year (all on or rather off, the MTB.)

I shut down biking and surfing and gym (weights/treadmill) to take 8 acupuncture sessions over 2+ months.

The acupuncture* and time off -- either or both -- helped enormously. Was back surfing and windsurfing (way more conservatively than before), running, and back in the gym, after 2 months, and even tried a little golf the next week. The golf -- just a bucket of balls, say 60-70 swings in all, was a disaster, too much speed and torque/twist in all the wrong places. That gave me a bit of a relapse and back for more acupuncture.

I haven't gotten back cycling or MTB ing in any meaningful way yet, since those were the two most potentially physically aggravating things to do.

On my new bike build that I started before all this happened, I may have to use an adjustable/riser stem with a shallow drop bar. At this point I don't care about aero and "cool" appearance, and damn the "stem police," just as long as I can ride. I may set the drops level with the handlebars and the hood a few inches higher. At 46 those things can be luxuries.

As always, it's best to get a thorough eval from the doc of your choice. Aside from a herniated disc, another possible cause could be a tight piriformis muscle. It runs across the sciatic nerve in the buttocks region and can cause sciatic irritation and symptoms similar to disc issues. Generally specific stretching and NSAIDs are used to treat it.
If you rule out a disc herniation it could be a tight piriformis muscle. This can mimic a disc herniation. If stretches help it could be the piriformis. Ultrasound on the piriformis or cold laser treatment can help.

I've been doing extensive piriformis stretches found on the internet, and a good deal of massage using a Brookstone shiatsu gadget that I just received as a gift. It really digs into the glute and feels great.

Since the stretches, have done 3 hard mtb rides without a problem, and one slow easy road ride without the numbing. But I clearly am more comfortable on the mtb, so thinking the stem position now as the seat/pedal relation is about identical.

Going to keep making little changes and continue the stretches as long as things keep improving.

Thanks for all the great input...it really helps,


Mark

Try Advil before you ride
Stretch when warmed up a bit.

Perhaps you may want to change to a more upright position if needed.

Robert

Try Advil before you ride


Although I'm not the OP, and it's his decision, I'd advise against taking NSAIDs like Advil to mask any type of pain before exercise on a regular basis. Once, or occasionally, may be, but not regularly. Others may chose to disagree.

I've been there, done that, probably too many times, and know from experience that these things can do damage to the lining of your stomach, raise blood pressure, and trick you into thinking you are pain free, to the point where you could do more damage.

Although I'm not the OP, and it's his decision, I'd advise against taking NSAIDs like Advil to mask any type of pain before exercise on a regular basis. Once, or occasionally, may be, but not regularly. Others may chose to disagree.

I've been there, done that, probably too many times, and know from experience that these things can do damage to the lining of your stomach, raise blood pressure, and trick you into thinking you are pain free, to the point where you could do more damage.


Agree with you here. I took some Advil at first just to get the pain under control, but otherwise don't take it. It wreaks havoc on my stomach after a day or so, and not worth the discomfort. Advil does a great job killing pain for me, so it can definitely give me a false sense of comfort and resulting aggravation of whatever is causing the problem.

I've got so many broken bones, rips tears etc that something always aches. Part of the deal :)

mg

Agree with you here. I took some Advil at first just to get the pain under control, but otherwise don't take it. It wreaks havoc on my stomach after a day or so, and not worth the discomfort. Advil does a great job killing pain for me, so it can definitely give me a false sense of comfort and resulting aggravation of whatever is causing the problem.

I've got so many broken bones, rips tears etc that something always aches. Part of the deal :)

mg


Yes, I forgot to mention that handy aspect. It is pretty effective at getting the pain under control initially and bringing down some types of inflammation.

Likewise it wreaks havok and worse on my stomach, (not even in my initial pain control arsenal right now, since my stomach is also messed up.) And I know exactly what you mean when you said "I've got so many broken bones, rips tears etc that something always aches. Part of the deal :)"

Yes, hopefully you are already mid 40's cos if you are 20 something, you have another two decades worth of these "sports souvenirs" to accumulate.

.......Yes, hopefully you are already mid 40's cos if you are 20 something, you have another two decades worth of these "sports souvenirs" to accumulate.


LMAO...you pegged the age...46 and enjoying every minute of my childhood :D

Mark

LMAO...you pegged the age...46 and enjoying every minute of my childhood :D

Mark

SNAP!

'Tis a wonderful thing, the extended childhood, and bicycles are the pefect vehicle, it seems for keeping it rolling ... aches and pains notwithstanding.

Now I am finding out why Mark Messier made it to 44 and called it quits. The body just doesn't want a part of those impact sports after a while.

A few years ago those trips over the handlbars MTBing were par for the course. Now they start to become big deals. Kind of like what on Wall St. they call a "dead cat bounce."

Mark,

I had a similar problem when I started running. I felt fine while running, but could barely walk the next day.

It turned out that I couldn't stretch enough to keep my hamstring loose. The tight hamstring somehow resulted in a similar condition in my piriformis muscle. The piriformis is deep in your butt, and connects one of the lower vertebrae to the hip, and the sciatic nerve runs by it (or for some people - THROUGH it!).

You may already be doing these, but here are some specific stretches:

http://www.spine-health.com/topics/conserv/Sciatica-Exercises/Piriformis-Syndrome-Exercise.html

Me, well, I really didn't need to run. I'd much rather just ride!

Follow-up to my back/foot issues. Realized that doing situps on my incline bench was hugely contributing to the sciatic pain. Something to do with hip flexor muscles tightening when you use a bench. So I started doing situps with my feet on the floor and the pain went away significantly. So then I did a lot more situps, was very sore, and completely threw my back out last week turning in an awkward position.

Could barely walk so went to a chiro that worked his magic and had me in much less pain immediately. The sciatic thing didn't cause the blowout, but all the situps using different muscles that I was accustomed to did the trick (I have a history of back problems from the moto days). But with the adjustments he's done and a weeks time, my back feels 90%, my foot isn't numb, and 1 ride didn't make my foot disappear.

I'm also doing piriformis stretches, but much more gently until the lower back issues I'd created are fully healed. Also just received one of the ab roller exercise dealies as an article in the LA times and the chiro highly recommended it to keep your back and legs isolated while doing situps. It's only been used once, but my abs burned like hell and my legs/back were fine so it seems to work.

Plan on attempting my first long road ride this week and hoping all the parts are working properly again. thanks for all the input,

Mark

Follow-up to my back/foot issues. Realized that doing situps on my incline bench was hugely contributing to the sciatic pain. Something to do with hip flexor muscles tightening when you use a bench. So I started doing situps with my feet on the floor and the pain went away significantly. So then I did a lot more situps, was very sore, and completely threw my back out last week turning in an awkward position.

Could barely walk so went to a chiro that worked his magic and had me in much less pain immediately. The sciatic thing didn't cause the blowout, but all the situps using different muscles that I was accustomed to did the trick (I have a history of back problems from the moto days). But with the adjustments he's done and a weeks time, my back feels 90%, my foot isn't numb, and 1 ride didn't make my foot disappear.

I'm also doing piriformis stretches, but much more gently until the lower back issues I'd created are fully healed. Also just received one of the ab roller exercise dealies as an article in the LA times and the chiro highly recommended it to keep your back and legs isolated while doing situps. It's only been used once, but my abs burned like hell and my legs/back were fine so it seems to work.

Plan on attempting my first long road ride this week and hoping all the parts are working properly again. thanks for all the input,

Mark

Good luck! On another thread, I was basically complaining about how long it takes to recover from sciatica and a weak back. In particular, it's hard to work weights and ride. Be careful about your exercises, I would have *never* done incline situps with back problems. Be extremely careful of the ab-wheel, did you know that it is called the evil wheel in some circles? In particular, a number of people have injured their lower backs just from doing wheel rollouts from the kneeling position, and that is supposed to be "easy" http://www.rosstraining.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=21977
Keep reps and sets low (max 5 sets of 5 reps) as this is a true max strength exercise.

-ilan

Good luck! On another thread, I was basically complaining about how long it takes to recover from sciatica and a weak back. In particular, it's hard to work weights and ride. Be careful about your exercises, I would have *never* done incline situps with back problems. Be extremely careful of the ab-wheel, did you know that it is called the evil wheel in some circles? In particular, a number of people have injured their lower backs just from doing wheel rollouts from the kneeling position, and that is supposed to be "easy" http://www.rosstraining.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=21977
Keep reps and sets low (max 5 sets of 5 reps) as this is a true max strength exercise.

-ilan

In hindsight, the incline was a mistake. It hadn't been a problem for many months, and you figure situps are a good thing, so what the heck. But that was wrong.

I'm not using the ab wheel, as I can't kneel on my knee (reconstructed and fragile). I've got the ab roller, and yes, it's AS SEEN ON TV! :D . It's a very simple but seemingly effective way to get a burn without using other muscles that might be injured. The chiro highly recommended it as did the Times.

mg

In hindsight, the incline was a mistake. It hadn't been a problem for many months, and you figure situps are a good thing, so what the heck. But that was wrong.

I'm not using the ab wheel, as I can't kneel on my knee (reconstructed and fragile). I've got the ab roller, and yes, it's AS SEEN ON TV! :D . It's a very simple but seemingly effective way to get a burn without using other muscles that might be injured. The chiro highly recommended it as did the Times.

mg

Are you sure that your chiro doesn't work for the company? When I was at Occidental College, the kinesiology prof there was supposedly a serious cyclist, but he could never make time to go on a ride with me because he hadn't gotten his new bike yet (in fact, my own bike frame broke when I was teaching there, and I got a replacement bike in a week). I ended up seeing him on TV swearing up and down that the road to fitness lay with the E-Force exerciser (if I remember correctly) http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml96/96182.html

Since my memory is pretty sketchy (it was 10 years ago), I looked him up. His name is Stuart Rugg, but he doesn't seem to list infomercials on his CV.

-ilan

P.S. Here is an interesting article on the value of abdominal exercisers http://www.musclewithattitude.com/readArticle.do?id=459269

Are you sure that your chiro doesn't work for the company? When I was at Occidental College, the kinesiology prof there was supposedly a serious cyclist, but he could never make time to go on a ride with me because he hadn't gotten his new bike yet (in fact, my own bike frame broke when I was teaching there, and I got a replacement bike in a week). I ended up seeing him on TV swearing up and down that the road to fitness lay with the E-Force exerciser (if I remember correctly) http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml96/96182.html

Since my memory is pretty sketchy (it was 10 years ago), I looked him up. His name is Stuart Rugg, but he doesn't seem to list infomercials on his CV.

-ilan

P.S. Here is an interesting article on the value of abdominal exercisers http://www.musclewithattitude.com/readArticle.do?id=459269

He didn't mention a brand name, but it did cross my mind that there may be alterior motives. I read the link from musclewithattitude, and their evaluation wasn't all bad. Their concern with resting your head on the pad is valid imo, but the company mentions that you don't have to rest your head on it...mainly for when you're tired to avoid strain. While I don't mind doing situps on the floor with nothing, this thing does help you from getting sloppy especially when you're getting tired. No matter how hard I try, when doing freeform situps, weights, etc form gets a bit messy.If this gets me exercising after working all day v. working more, it's worth having around.

mg

He didn't mention a brand name, but it did cross my mind that there may be alterior motives. I read the link from musclewithattitude, and their evaluation wasn't all bad. Their concern with resting your head on the pad is valid imo, but the company mentions that you don't have to rest your head on it...mainly for when you're tired to avoid strain. While I don't mind doing situps on the floor with nothing, this thing does help you from getting sloppy especially when you're getting tired. No matter how hard I try, when doing freeform situps, weights, etc form gets a bit messy.If this gets me exercising after working all day v. working more, it's worth having around.

mg

Well, in terms of core strengthening, the freer the form the better. For example, stability ball crunches are better than regular crunches. From my own experience, I went from bent knee situps to chinnies (lie down and cycle your legs alternating touching opposite elbow and knee) to ball crunches. For years I could do hundreds of situps, no problem. Then I started chnnies and still could not do 3 sets of 15 chinnies with perfect form, even after 2 months. When I started doing ball crunches, I could hardly do 8 without having to stop due to searing ab pain. After 2 months I could do 3x15. I then tried chinnies to see how I had progressed and easily did 3x20 in perfect form. I just bought an ab wheel and I think I will be able to do ball crunches very easily after using it for a while.

The point is the following: The core stabilises the body. To get a very strong core you need to get a very strong contraction of the core muscles (in general you gain maximal strength by maximal contraction) which is best achieved in a very unstable position when absolute core stabilisation is necessary. Any kind of support device defeats that purpose. This is why weight belts are discouraged except for competitions or personal records.

When doing strengthening exercises, you can keep reps low, so an ab strengthening workout doesn't have to take very long. If you can do 5 crunches on an exercise ball in good form and feel the burn, then you have done enough. There is no point continuing if you don't have good form, it seems that you might have been doing too many reps in your ab routine.

-ilan

Do you go to the chiropractor now? If not I would find a good one and start going. I always feel and perform better when I get adjusted every couple weeks. I'll also notice a different if I haven't gone.

The Cleveland Chiropractic College is here in my town. I'm sure there's info on their website about finding a doctor.

I had a similar problem...pain started in right heel, then over two months worked itself up the entire right leg to the butt...after much searching discovered that there was an internal cyst growing, pressing on the sciatic nerve...only option was to cut the cyst out.....after the surgery, took about another 5 months for the inflammation in the sciatic nerve to subside.....that was in 2001 but I'll never forget the pain...have had no problem since. Had great doctors (but my insurance (#$@% bean counters!) demanded going the whole 9 yards--anti infammatory drugs-->chiro-->direct epidural....before getting to the orthepedic surgeon.

It's been a few weeks now, and after seeing the chiro, adding some specific stretches to sciatic issues and dropping the bench situps...pain is gone. Lots of causes for different people, but I'm hoping I've found the problem. What a relief!

mg