3 Stretches to prevent Lower Back Pain
Carson City’s Luke Wold of Wold Fitness shares three stretches to prevent lower back pain from cycling.
P.S. I already teased Luke that he wouldn’t have as much lower back pain if he didn’t ride a 1990 Trek Singletrack! Those old machines are brutal…
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Who is that big goofy guy? Find someone better looking next time!
Thanks for these great stretches, I just did my longest ride to date yesterday and I’m feeling a bit sore today. I’ll take a few minutes and do these. I also had terrible toe cramps by the end of the ride ~ any idea on how to help that?
Thanks!
Jackie
Hey Jackie,
Toe and foot cramps are really common in cyclists. This is because of weakness in the feet.
See, if they wear a stiff cycling shoe, they crunch their toes up trying for some extra power. If they wear regular shoes, their foot flexes and works some muscles they don’t normally use.
To strengthen the muscles of the toes and feet, I like to have my clients work out in their socks. This has an added benefit of fixing a lot of knee problems.
Think of a foot next to a shoe. For performance and health, which of the two should be stronger? A great foot will do good in a crummy shoe, while a great shoe can’t make up for a weak foot.
I’d prescribe:
– sock/barefoot walking and warming up when doing land-based exercises
– Massaging the whole sole of the foot with a tennis ball
– taking your shoes off at your desk and crunching a towel up with your toes, then spreading it out and crunching it up again
– adding in some calf raises where you really focus on pointing down your great toe, this trains the flexor hallucis longus, which seems to cramp the most
– making sure to drink enough water
Have fun riding!
~ Luke Wold
PS – For you really hardcore types that want a KILLER calf exercise, try one-legged hops holding a dumbbell on the same side as the working leg. Hop hop hop!
OMG that’s fantastic. Thank you so much!! I’ll get on it. I thought it might be something to do with this because I seriously noticed when I went into a headwind it got dramatically worse. PHEW. At least that’s something I can fix!!
Jackie
Great stuff. My back has been bugging me for most of the year, so I am open to suggestions. I just did these stretches in my office and immediately noticed a reduced stiffness and pressure. Only complication is the gravel trailhead isn’t the best for kneeling or rolling around on one’s back. But I think a foam rubber pad could do the trick. At any rate, thanks for the tips.
Hey Doug,
You can also do the piriformis stretch seated, here’s a pcture: http://doubleyourgains.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/seated-piriformis-stretch.jpg
And if you’re going to go the rubber mat route, you might as well do a complete warmup. Send me an email at LDWold (at) Gmail.com and I’ll send you my favorite warm-up routine.
Thanks!
~ Luke
PS – Jackie, I’ll see you on the Facebook!