I've been experiencing too much back pain recently. While I'm certain this is largely age related I'm resisting (at least for now) the urge to change my riding position which has been comfortable for some time. Bars are currently about an inch below my saddle height.

My question is what type of excercises can be done to help strengthen my back muscles and (hopefully) reduce my lower back pain. I'm looking for a solution to pre-medicating with Ibuprofen before each ride.

Thanks in advance,

TCN

"My question is what type of excercises can be done to help strengthen my back muscles"
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The best excercise is to ride a lot. If you get pain after 2 hours, go for many one hour rides. ( Or take a 15 minure break between hours)

... try some pregnant women's exercises for their lower backs. Years ago I had a low back problem that resurfaces every so often (like right now and for the last two days for example), and when I finally found a doctor who knew how to treat it he basically gave me a sheet of exercises for women who are pregnant and need to strengthen and stretch their lower backs. Regardless of not showing anyone the exercises, they worked wonders. Now when my back goes funky I get back into the exercises. Any decent bookstore or library should have an exercise book covering the basics on it. Gut tightening, on your back knees up hip rotations, on your side knees together and hanging over an edge foot drops further rotating the hips, gentle knee pulls to the chest, anything to relieve the tightness in the lower back and strengthen the gut to help support the lower back.

Hope this helps.

if you can, take a visit to the Boulder Center for Sports Medicine
they are the best in the biz

a lot of things could cause the pain.
one leg longer then the other will create a torque on the lower spine

is your upper body tight when you are riding?

do you stretch well?

I ruptured a disk last year and had lots of back / siatic pain. Needed steroid injections but never really stared to get better until I started a back exercise / stretching routine. Start in the morning, warm up for 5 minutes then do a down dog stretch (like a cat stretch) and be sure to stretch out the hamstrings well. They tend to get tight from riding and can put a lot of stress on the lower back. Go to a yoga class, you will be a new man.

But this is pretty much exactly what I was looking for. Definitely worth incorporating some of these into my routine.

Thanks a ton.

But unfortunately I've had to go back to where I make my living (notice I didn't say home). Colorado will always be home.

Anyway, you bring up a good point regarding stretching. I stretch but after looking at some of the things suggested on web sites for pregnant women, perhaps there are some things I can do differently that will help.

Given that this is a relatively recent problem I doubt it is related to long term problems, but there is always the possibility that issues could be masked by youth. Now that youth is fading, well....

I second the cat stretch, and the info re: hamstrings is absolutely correct.

Be sure you wartm up thoroughly before stretching. I like to do maybe 15 min on the rollers, so I'm really warm and disgustingly sweaty.

1. Stand before a table or chair, not higher than your knee. Place your right heel on the arm of the chair. Keep your left toe pointed straight ahead, and ease both of your hands down your right leg starting at mid thigh and going as low as you can. DO NOT BOUNCE...go slowly. When you're at your limit, hold that for about 30 sec., then ease back up. Repeat with left leg.

2. Lie on the floor face down. Place your hands in the push-up position. Push up slowly, keeping your hips / pelvis in contact with the floor. Do about 10-12 reps, trying to go a bit farther ea. time.

3. To build strength, buy an exercise ball. They come with instructions & illustrations re: exercises. They have a couple of good ones for the back.

4. Watch your posture. When I walk, I try to imagine that there's a big cup hook screwed into the top of my head, (painful, huh?), and that I'm suspended from the ceiling. Sitting is particularly hard on the back. When sitting, make sure your butt is as far back in the chair as you can get it, feet flat on the floor, spine straight.

#4 takes a lot of concentration, but it will build strength, and you'll develop terrific posture over time. Both will help to eliminate back pain.

I doubt you are suffering from weak muscles. Most cases of low back pain are caused by some type of mechanical strain. The first thing that comes to mind is stretch your hamstrings. Bending over a bike is not a natural position. Tight hastrings cause the pelvis to rotate down, and that puts a strain on the back. Stretching the hamstrings lets the pelvis rotate up and puts the back in a more relaxed position.

two books, both by Kit Laughlin (search www.Amazon.com if you like)

1. Overcome Neck and Back Pain

2. Stretching and Flexibility

I have both of these in my posession and I think they are quite good, lots of text and photos. In fact they have much more than any one person needs to do but they try to cover all aspects of stretching so you may just need to pick out specific exercises to help your own problem.

I have lower back pain myself (off the bike and most recently on the bike) so exercises in these books helped me. Stretching is there to be done *always*, regardless of sport. Kit Laughlin recommends it to be done 2 or 3 times per week max, not every day, but there are some daily stretches mentioned also.

Good Luck, I know how you feel. I am not over it myself.

You've helped my identify some potential issues that I had failed to consider. I'm going to take the information you've given me do a little more research and try to build a routine into my workouts that will help increase flexibility and to a lesser extent, strength.

Hopefully this will help as this is the primary factor limiting the quality of my rides lately.

Thanks again for the insight!

Tim