Sadly, I am entirely too familiar with the issue of back pain. In 2013, I ruptured my L5-S1 disc badly enough to require surgery to prevent permanent disability. The MRI I had prior to surgery identified non-trivial problems all along my spine; annular tears in two discs, bulged disks in two more. Good times. What this all means for riding is that, so far, I have been unable to ride pain free. I have 3 bikes now, a 54 Hunqapillar with Boscos, a 56 Atlantis with Noodles, and Brompton... an embarrassment of riches, as they say. I had a bike fit by my physical therapist with the Hunqapillar, and was surprised to learned that I had the fit pretty dialed. She recommended a little more back angle, since the Boscos have my spine almost vertical. My Atlantis with the drops puts me forward a lot more. As things are right now, I can ride the Hunqapillar for a long time (hours) before the ache sets in. On the Atlantis, I get about 90 minutes, tops. I really like having drops on the Atlantis, so, I'm going to experiment with moving the bars up, and maybe a shorter stem, to reduce my back angle. On the Hunqapillar, I'm going back to albatross bars because when I last had them on I was able to ride a 100+ mile day on a short tour just 3 months post-op. Sure, I hurt like hell, but I figured I was going to hurt like hell after a 100 miles regardless. It sucks to have a bad back, but with enough Vitamin I and some finesse dialing in the fit, I can still ride as much as I want to. I hope I can still say that when I take on the Northern Tier in 2016...
On Sunday, February 15, 2015 at 8:12:05 PM UTC-8, K Griffin wrote: > > Your experience and the explanation sounds reasonable. In this case, the > former is probably more important, as each of us is slightly different. > Even if there were a strong anatomic reason why more vertical than 45 deg > would be "best" your body may not have read the same textbook from which > the experts have learned. I'm fortunate not to have the disc issue, but > when I have lower back spasms (typically with my prior job), the two things > that would really make it feel better would be riding my bike or swimming. > My position would be with raised bars compared to most road bikes, but > still over far enough to put a nice, natural lean without having to crank > my neck to see past my wheel. > > Kurt Griffin > Sioux Falls, SD > > > alan lavine <[email protected] <javascript:>>: Feb 15 11:56AM -0800 > > Hello All...Thought I would share this, as I'm sure I'm not the only > "mature" cyclist with intermittent low back pain. I have a small disc > herniation at L4-L5 level that protrudes posteriorly and compresses the > nerve root as it exits the vertebral column. My first response was, well > Grant was right, now I have to be more upright on the bike. Not a problem > for a chronic cockpit changer like me, anyway...is there a bar I haven't > tried? Doubt it. > > So I put Albatross bars on the Ram, also tried porter bars on another bike, > > experimenting with various bar heights as well. THIS MADE THINGS WORSE! I > went to moustache and albastache bars, with a shorter stem, bars level with > > the seat, and did much better. The neurologist explained it: with your > back bent forward at a gentle angle, 45 degree angle of trunk to > horizontal, the vertebral column is bent in a way that opens up the > posterior (back) aspect of the column and helps to relieve the compression > > of the nerve root. An upright posture is more like a series of blocks one > on top of another and all the force is directed straight down, compressing > > things further. > > I realize this scenario is specific to my particular anatomy but I'm > curious to hear about others' experiences with this issue. How has your > riding changed as Father Time marches on? > > Alan > > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
