Dealing with back pain & riding. | GTAMotorcycle.com

Dealing with back pain & riding.

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PrivatePilot

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Anyone have any magic elixirs or solutions?

I’ve got what I’m 90% sure (still not 100% diagnosed but it’s what the doctors are leaning towards, and then symptoms fit) ruptured disc in my lumbar. Too many years of being a human forklift at work...?

Anyhow, usually it seems to heal up and I go for months at a time without much pain, but them suddenly I move the wrong way in the most ridiculously silly way, and boom, I’m pooched.

I have a TENS machine and am actually wearing it as I ride right now on the way back from Montreal. I’ve seen a chiropractor but it seemed like a waste of money and did nothing. I have a backrest on my bike and have it adjusted to support my lower back.

I take a regular prescription level max dose of ibuprofen morning and night (maintenance for a previous C1/C2 neck spinal fusion) and when my back is screwed up I take as much robaxecet as I can every day without going over what’s safe. Yes, you can mix NSAID’s and Acetaminophen based meds, don’t worry, I know what’s safe and what’s not. It usually takes the edge off, but not totally recently. Pretty sore still today, for example.

I don’t want to do anything narcotic as it just masks things of course, and I refuse to ride under any sort of influence whatsoever.

Any suggestions? This is really sapping some of the enjoyment out of the distance/endurance riding thing I really enjoy.
 
If it’s a herniated disc , time , lots of time of not lifting , pushing a lawn mower or sitting on your arse on a motorcycle .
I recommend getting one of those tilting tables , it changed life for my wife that had a ruptured, herniated disc , no meds and it took weeks but that was 15 yrs ago, now it’s just maintenance. Best $300 we ever spent on health


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An inversion table has been on my radar recently, even looked at a few on kijiji and such. Thx for the reminder, I’ll get one as soon as I’m home... certainly willing to give it a shot at this point.
 
one suggestion, but you're not gonna like it :)
different bike with pegs under you to take the load off you're spine

agree with the position of no narcotics
they do work for pain, and any other concerns in life
as you drift off to chemical oblivion and your health and life disintegrate

doc put me on them after my foot injury
very dangerous stuff, flushed them after a few weeks
 
On top of the tips made so far, I'd also underline the importance of core strength exercises. It'll help the vertebrae deal with the bumps and strain from riding.

Logically, cruisers don't help when it comes to riding with back problems, especially with the impact and pressure that gets directed right up your vertebrae and to the herniated discs. Core strength does help manage this, as my surgeon said after assessing my case (had surgery 9 years ago), that there are pro athletes with more damage than me still managing to play their sport because of their conditioning.

The chiropractic that did help me was treatment that leaned much more towards massage therapy (my chiro spent a lot of time massaging and relaxing all of the connected muscle groups before doing the adjustments). Massage therapy helped too.
 
You're chiro isn't the right chiro for you, then, imho
My chiro fixes up most of my issues regularly
I don't have any first hand experience yet, but looking at DDP Yoga
Seems to help alleviate issues

And just an FYI, the Kirkland branded back meds at Costco are about $12 for a 2 pack. Way better than the close to $30 for Robaxecet I was paying before.

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Could try Naproxen (Aleve) instead of Advil. Could try a different chiro, as I've gone to a few and had wildly different experiences (some are great, some are quacks). My suggestion would also be to do physio as I've had some success dealing with shoulder pain with them.

Besides that, like someone else suggested, core strength exercises are important. Your abs should be engaged while riding if possible, and if you're rounding your back, that'll cause problems both short term and long term with posture. In addition, going to the gym and losing some weight may be of some benefit; I'm not sure what sort of shape you're in now, but if you can lose weight, it means less stress on your back supporting your body.
 
A different bike? I like bikes where I can easily stand up on the pegs and them your back is protected from any impacts. I haven't ridden many cruisers, but those I did ride, there was no way to do this. Any impact at the wheel went straight up your spine. Pulling your butt off the seat made you into a weird unstable banana.
 
All I know is it gets worse the older you get.

... riding more does 'seem' to help.
 
If you have a ruptured disc, there's little chance you could toss a leg over. Herniated disc, ok.
I've been thru it all. Back injury in 85. Spinal fusion / decompression in 91.
My L4-L5, and L5-S1 discs were removed. Replaced with screws and a rod, along with some bone graft from my hip.
Prior to the fusion surgery, they sent me for a test, a barbaric test. Called a discography / discogram, where they inject air into every one of the discs. If you don't recognize the pain, it means the disc is ok, and onto the next one.
If you're serious about a fix, ask your specialist for this test.
 
Stretch often (I get tight legs from sitting in a car a lot, this causes most of my back pain), walking, a well thought out full body work out 3 times a week and a good chiropractor. Maybe an on the bike change could be a set of bars. I'm a lot more comfortable with taller bars then most crusiers come with.
 
Slightly tangent suggestion, no idea if it will help, but if you can find access to a hot sauna (traditional is slightly better than infrared) go 2-3x a week for 20 minutes at a time to as high of a temperature as you can tolerate. Most are default to 155F, but if you can get closer or above 200F, even better.

Will help with a lot of inflammation which will trickle down to other benefits. (formerly broken c6/c7; + acl surgery).
Hot yoga too.
If you have the cash, fly down to Mexico/Panama for stem cells, that'll probably be the long term fix you're looking for and getting off those lousy meds.
 
BB722 said:
Look into an exercise called the reverse hyper
Click to expand...
If that forces your back to curve like when bending backwards, ya that helps,
except once I get in that position I just stay there for a while, is not much of an exercise the way I do it but if feels so good.
 
JavaFan said:
very dangerous stuff, flushed them after a few weeks
Click to expand...

i trust you mean flushed them metaphorically, we dont have the capacity to filter a lot of that out of the water supply. Folks, take your expired/no longer needed meds to any pharmacy and have them disposed of, its a bit of a danger to all of us.
Catching a trout with a big raging Viagra hardon would wreck anybodies day. Well, most people
 
crankcall said:
i trust you mean flushed them metaphorically, we dont have the capacity to filter a lot of that out of the water supply. Folks, take your expired/no longer needed meds to any pharmacy and have them disposed of, its a bit of a danger to all of us.
Catching a trout with a big raging Viagra hardon would wreck anybodies day. Well, most people
Click to expand...
Phew, we're good, my wife flushed hers into a septic tank,
it was like here, go buy 80 bucks worth of poison.
 
Exercise more:
reelie.jpg
 
I have back issues a lot. Part of getting old plus I had sciatica quite a few years back and never want that again so here goes:

1. Vitamin I. Ibuprofen. I always have some with me on the bike.
2. Never lift heavy crap like a hero. Always bend the knees.
3. Having said that, I weight lift every week. 2 main sessions, one for upper body, one for legs. Every session starts with planks for core strength. Planks are fantastic. Build up to long ones. Then deadlifts, squats, bench press, everything.
4. Yoga...not all of it, not the granola vegan kind...just some downward dogs and the opposite one, whatever the **** it’s called. Flexibility is king. I have a yoga mat on my deck. I’m also not averse to doing yoga with a beer. **** the hippies.
5. Riding....I always spend some time off the bike even on a long day. It’s good to get out of a single position. If I can’t do that I stand on my pegs for a while to stretch.
6. Like the 80 year old farmers...if you stop doing any of the above for any length of time you’ll seize up. Keep at it and build a regimen.
7. This is the big one.....lose weight. I still haven’t mastered this one....mainly due to the beer thing. The less mass you have moving around on a pivoting spine the less back pain you’ll have.
 
Lightcycle said:
+1 on getting a different bike.

Riding like the letter C with your arms and feet pulled out on that cruiser is what's causing your back problems.

Optimum seating position is when your shoulders, hips and ankles are all in a vertical line: "Sit up and beg".

ie. ADV bikes.
Click to expand...

For myself I prefer just a slight lean forward as with my FJR. Takes any pressure off the tail bone.
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