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Back Pain

Atif MalikAtif Malik
in General Training Discussions

Getting in to see the doc this week (hopefully) , wanted some feedback. 4th week of putting some miles on for IM LP , after the out season. And I am getting the worst lower back pain. It radiates out from the spine area all over the lower back. I have tried stretching , heating pads nothing seems to have helped. It is painful pretty much as soon as I am up and about in the morning, and gets worst during the day. This weekend was a complete dud 1hr bike on sat, took sunday off and I am still no better.

Both the bikes are correctly fitted. I had them fitted before the IM last year by a professional fitter. The postion has not been moved, 

 

Comments

  • Nate ParadyNate Parady
    Atif,
    no expert here BUT I wouldn't discount the fact you may need to adjust your bike position...How agressive a position are you in? What worked last year may not work this year? A "professional fitter" can set you up in a number of different type of positions. All of which have consequences in terms of stress to the body versus aerodynamics.
    Did somethng else change for you outside of Tri? New seat at work, new mattress, longer commute to work? All could potentially have an impact that you may not have considered.
    How old are your running shoes?
    How's the stretching going??? The pain might be tightness whcih could be solved with spending some extra time stretching out your back i.e. on the floor with your knees over to one side.

    just some thoughts to consider...Good luck...
  • Atif MalikAtif Malik
    Nate,
    The bike position on both the tri and the road bike are not super aggressive. We dialed it down because of the IM race last year , and I traded to get some comfort and lose some speed. Not really sure if the other stuff has changed much either.
    As for stretching .... Was always average flexibility thought I was doing a better job with stretching on days off . but I guess not. lets see what the doc says on wednesday.
  • Atif MalikAtif Malik
    Well this sucks. After a trip to dr. , find out I have 2 lower vertebrae with stress fractures. So I guess I will be watching the IM from the sidelines and cheering you guys on.
    Need to do PT for 3 weeks, and then can start biking.
  • Carrie ChavezCarrie Chavez
    Bummed for youimage. I am a PT but have never treated this in my 19 years of working. I have treated compression fractures in the elderly. I had to look up your condition. Is this what you have? How did they find it? Xray? MRI?

    http://www.physioroom.com/injuries/back/lower_back_stress_fracture_full.php

    Sounds like the rehab is strengthening your core to prevent compressive loading in the lower lumbar area. You'll want to figure out what caused the injury. So as to avoid it. Maybe it was unrelated to working out? Just thinking out loud.

  • Jenn EdwardsJenn Edwards

    Hi Atif,

    So sorry to hear about your injury. My N=1 in your quest for causation: I had this injury at 17 likely due to weight lifting.   The culprit was probably box squats.   It took me out of my Sr. year of volleyball but I was able to return to load bearing activity after about six months of “appropriate” strength and core training.   The silver lining was I got to join the swim nerds and go to the state tourney. I’m sure you’ll find your silver lining as well and you’ll probably have abs of steel to boot when all is said and done! 

     

    All the best, you'll be back at it before you know it!  
  • Atif MalikAtif Malik
    @carrie thanks. I had to look through the link detail. It does sound like what I have. The dr. just called it a stress fracture spared me the actual terminology. Funny how it is considered pervasive in cricket fast bowlers, which I was in a previous life 15+yrs ago , so I doubt if it is that causing anything now.
    They suspected a hairline fracture after the xray, and then confirmed it after an mri.

    As to what caused it. I think that had the doc stumped. He said in very rare cases it could be because inflexibility and putting miles on during training. Personally I think it some nagging issues from years of playing competitive squash and other sports catching up with me. I had a small back pain during the ironman race in 2010 in LP but ignored it because hey at mile 20 of the run it does hurt.
    I am going to be working with PT on core strength and stretching . Yes now I have no excuse not to stretch image Also no excuse not to build up swimming.
  • Scott AlexanderScott Alexander
    I had my L3 and L4 'permanently' fractured (the right side of vertebrae-the 'wing'-are sheered off), several years ago in 2003 I think. They're still floating around back there too, they've never been removed. The only remedy I ever had was to work to strengthen my core and back with exercises.

    I've only had occasional issues with pain; and most of that was from increasing volume and/or intensity too fast/too soon.
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