As I write this, it's been a week since my back went to hell. This is the first time there's been sciatic involvement in my back pain and it's a whole new level of hell that I'm exploring. Although not bedridden, I'm essentially a cripple unable to do even the simplest things pain free. Putting on shoes, getting in/out of the car, getting in/out of bed, etc., are all exercises in suffering.
I've got several appointments scheduled that I hope bring some diagnostic clarity and pain relief. My self diagnosis is either sciatica or piriformis syndrome, more likely the former, and I'm getting an MRI to hopefully make a more definitive diagnosis.
In the meantime, I'm not certain what to do from an exercise/rehab point of view so I'm basically trying different things and letting the pain guide me. To this point, none of them have provided any relief but they haven't made it worse either so in absence of a better plan I'm going to continue. Here's what I've been doing:
- Daily walk of 1.5-3 miles at a relatively slow pace. Not a "power walk" by any means.
- Hamstring/calf stretch. The hamstring stretch is done laying on the floor with my back straight and looping a towel over my foot then pulling on the towel to raise and stretch my leg. The calf stretch is the traditional one of leaning at an angle like you're pushing something.
- 2 x 25 reps "bicycles" where I lay on the floor with my back straight, lift my leg with my knee bent and touch the knee with the opposite elbow.
- Bridge. I'm taking it easy with this one as it occasionally causes pain the hamstring. No more than one minute, less if I get a twinge in the hamstring.
- Ice/heat several times daily.
- NSAID's (naproxin) just before bedtime.
Assuming that this does eventually resolve itself either due to treatment or the passage of time, I've started thinking about what the future holds vis-a-vis cycling and randonneuring.
As I said in my previous post, right now a long brevet this year seems unlikely. I'll continue to hold out hope that it's possible but am not counting on it. Right now my goal is to simply get back on the bike and ride at JRA pace. My plan initially is to ride the trainer since it has the advantage that if I'm on it and start to feel pain I can stop instantly without having to worry about getting home.
But what about after I'm able to ride pain free on the trainer for e.g., an hour or more? And a related question, do I continue to ride a conventional DF bike, the recumbent, alternate between both?
Although there are lots of people who ride recumbents exclusively due to back or neck pain (my wife being one of them), as I've said in the past, I'm basically a "DF guy". Having said that, if it's a choice between the agony I'm currently experiencing or never riding again then it's as close to a no brainer as anything gets and I've always been good at no brainer decisions.
The recumbent is not without trade-offs though. As I've noted previously, their performance profile is sufficiently different from a DF that if I use one for randonneuring it's likely that I'll do the majority of my brevets solo. On one hand, I go to every brevet mentally prepared to ride the whole thing solo and I've done very long brevets e.g., London-Edinburgh-London completely solo. This has been in no small part due to my determination to "ride my own ride" and not go faster/slower/stop longer/stop less than I want which is often part of riding with others. On the other hand, when I do encounter someone who is simpatico both in terms of their riding speed and time off the bike, I've really enjoyed having someone else to ride with. This is less likely to happen with the recumbent.
The second trade-off is more practical: a recumbent is a real bitch to pack, transport and reassemble. I'm a good mechanic so I don't find it intimidating but the need to disassemble it almost completely makes flying with a recumbent especially off-putting. Further, the smallest and lightest case I've been able to find that the Cruzbike will fit in weighs 30 pounds empty and the Cruzbike alone weighs about 24 pounds. Lugging that plus whatever attendant luggage I need through airports, taxis, etc., especially with a back that is "somewhat suspect" might mean that I just never do it.
I'm toying with the idea of riding the Cruzbike semi-exclusively for the remainder of the year and perhaps doing the Cracker Swamp on it. The Cracker Swamp is ideal for a couple of reasons: 1) I can drive to it and probably would anyway given coronavirus and air travel and 2) the terrain in Florida is pretty much right in the recumbents wheelhouse. I don't know whether that would mean I'd be on the recumbent permanently for brevets or would go back to a DF. Actually, at this point given that my longest ride on the recumbent has been 100K, I don't even know that I could do a longer brevet on it.
So, lots to think about. Right now, I'd just like to be able to tie my shoes.
Stay tuned!
