Lately I’ve been having a really sore lower back. I don’t know whether this is because of the unicycling or from lifting heavy objects.
I have always been pretty strong kid. A few weeks ago I was lifting some pretty heavy chunks of wood for Dad. Afterwards I felt fine. I have been fine since then until monday. On monday I was playing basketball for school and I noticed that my back was starting to hurt. I thought nothing of it.
Then yesterday I had to do some running for sport at school and I noticed that strange pain in my lower back again. I sat out and decided that it would just go away.
When I got home I decided to get some footage of a few little tricks that I’ve been working on and when I was picking up my seat from a seat push, I felt a sharp pain in my back. I went inside and put on some deep heat and didn’t move much for the rest of the night, because I had a faint pain there whenever I moved.
The only recent thing that I can think of that may have cause my back pains is the unicycle ride that I went on on sunday. I tried some pretty big drops and maybe I didn’t land properly.
The question I’m really trying to ask here is “Has anyone else had unexplained back pains which may have been caused by unicycling?”
I know my friend, Josh (onewheelnatural) has had some problems, but maybe it’s just the country air.
My back really hurt after Unicon, and my brother usually complains about lower back pains after a day of riding. So I guess you’re not the only one. It goes away in a few days so don’t worry too much about it.
I suffer from back pain, but like, I am unsure if it is caused by my unicycling or only aggrevated by it. One thing is for sure, my back really starts hurting when I do unispins, or any trick where my back is hunched over. Maybe stay away from these tricks for a while until it gets better.
Try raising your seat hight, back when I was only riding a MUni I had the seat incredibly low, and I did trials demo on it and my back was in a lot of pain the next day. when I got my trials and rode that around for a while, then I went to ride my Muni and I realised that when I was hopping I had to reach way down to get the handle causeing my back to be in pain
You have to be the most self-medicating 15 year old alive.
Yeah, unicycling hurts your back, as does heavy lifting. And many other things, and when your back hurts, then…oh well, your back hurts. I’ve never seen someone as young as you care so much about a little pain.
btw, I don’t mean to be rude, I just found how much you cared funny.
There has been another thread recently about lower back pain from unicycling. Patmoore (???) springs to mind as starting it. There might be some info in that that would be helpful.
Most back problems come from having weak back/stomach muscles.
Especially dangerous situation is when you have large disproportion in strength of your back vs. stomach muscles. Most people have stronger stomach muscles but terribly weak back ones. This way forces influencing your spine are unbalanced which causes problems and lots of pain.
Most obvious solution is exercising to strengthen both back and stomach muscles. If you know your stomach muscles are not bad, focus on the back and vice versa.
A simple exercise is lay on your stomach with hands straight in front then lift up left hand and right leg. Stay for 15 sec. Then change hand and leg. Repeat 10 times. Do this every day and after some time your back should be better.
Another good exercise is presented on the last page of the Uni magazine.
No, really. I sit at my computer with bad posture, and spend too much time on this site. My lower back bothers me sometimes, usually at night. Fortunately it has not been a problem for unicycling.
In the past I have bent over to pick something up off the floor, and stood up into major back pain. The causes of back ailments can be sneaky and build up over time, and not necessarily be related to the activity you were just doing. In other words, none of us is an expert on the subject, so beware of what/who you believe.
For unicyclists, the trouble could be strong back vs. weak abs. Riding a unicycle gives you very strong lower back muscles, but doesn’t do much for your abs unless you do certain types of riding. Generally if you’re doing a lot of hopping, like Trials or Street, your abs will get a pretty good workout as well.
In the 80s, there was a brief bout of news articles about an ailment called “Unicyclist’s Sciatica,” a form of back pain supposedly related to unicycling. Though the back pain was real enough, I don’t think there was every any actual study to link it to unicycling, just reports from a unicycling clown that he related his back problems to his unicycle. He rode with the seat too low. Many beginner-level riders have their seats too low, and ride all over the place in a back-intensive, bent-over position. The same problem could exist for Trials or Street riders, or anyone else who rides a lot with a low seat.
I’ve had back pain for years with and without unicycling.
I have found pilates and stretching has helped. If you go to a pilates studio and have a private lesson with someone who knows what they are doing, they can show you stretches and exercises which will help but not “cure” back pain.
I’ve found that stretching before unicycling helps, but unicycling does seem to trigger some of the pain, especially sif hops and hard-core trials type riding. Bringing your seat up a bit helps because it means you won’t be so hunched over when grabbing the seat.
I find that riding a unicycle is one of the few active things I can do when my back is hurting. In fact, there are times when riding a unicycle makes my back feel better.
You more than likely pulled a muscle, just stay loose, it’ll get better.
I also find it funny how much kids worry about new pains, I guess it’s because they haven’t had much expereince with pain, so they get worked up over what is often nothing much.
They say redheads have a lower pain tolerance, you don’t happen to have red hair?
I’ve heard several people say that unicycling helps their back pain. To an extent that’s true with me, but when I do certain tricks or quick turns where my back and hips are swiveling, it tends to make my back hurt worse.
