Coccyx Pain

freeflow
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Re: Coccyx Pain

Post by freeflow »

As a man I use a large selle smp trk saddle. It has been absolutely fine for rides upto 320 km.
iandusud
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Re: Coccyx Pain

Post by iandusud »

marylogic wrote: 16 Aug 2021, 10:55pm The only time I have ever suffered much with coccyx pain on a bike is when I have done longer sessions on the turbo. I tend to sit more upright on the turbo and I also don’t get out the saddle much, which I suspect is a similar situation to being a stoker. I found trying to get out the saddle more and spending more time leaning forward helped. I don’t know if either of these strategies would be an option?

Mary
HI Mary,

Thank you for your comments. My wife takes every opportunity to take her weight off the saddle, and it certainly helps but it's not enough on longer rides. I've also tried setting up her ridding position so that she's leaning further forward, therefore rotating the pelvis forward, however this puts too much weight on her wrists. As it is she wears splints on her wrists when cycling otherwise they get too painful. Basically she can't support much of her bodyweight on her hands, which only exacerbates the coccyx isssue.

Ian
marylogic
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Re: Coccyx Pain

Post by marylogic »

Hmm, this sounds like a tricky situation to resolve.
Do you know if your wife feels comfortable in the saddle when leaning forward? I have found on uncomfortable saddles I have ended up putting a lot more weight through my wrists effectively bracing myself against an uncomfortable saddle. If this is the case the the Specialized women’s saddles with “mimic” can be helpful, although they are not so well padded at the back
iandusud
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Re: Coccyx Pain

Post by iandusud »

marylogic wrote: 17 Aug 2021, 11:40pm Hmm, this sounds like a tricky situation to resolve.
Do you know if your wife feels comfortable in the saddle when leaning forward? I have found on uncomfortable saddles I have ended up putting a lot more weight through my wrists effectively bracing myself against an uncomfortable saddle. If this is the case the the Specialized women’s saddles with “mimic” can be helpful, although they are not so well padded at the back
Hi Mary,

If she leans forward, as I have suggested, it put pressure on her pubic area which she finds very uncomfortable. However if we go for the SMP TRK saddle this may not be a problem due to its design.

Ian
marylogic
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Re: Coccyx Pain

Post by marylogic »

Sounds like the SMP saddle might be worth a try then. FWIW I find I get less sit bone pain with more padded saddles, but obviously it’s a very individual thing.
If the SMP doesn’t work out I’d definitely recommend having a look at the specialized saddles with mimic that I mentioned - although they don’t have a cut out the mimic material is very soft at the front and they also seem to be very popular with women on the other women’s cycle forums I read.

Good luck

Mary
iandusud
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Re: Coccyx Pain

Post by iandusud »

marylogic wrote: 18 Aug 2021, 3:45pm Sounds like the SMP saddle might be worth a try then. FWIW I find I get less sit bone pain with more padded saddles, but obviously it’s a very individual thing.
If the SMP doesn’t work out I’d definitely recommend having a look at the specialized saddles with mimic that I mentioned - although they don’t have a cut out the mimic material is very soft at the front and they also seem to be very popular with women on the other women’s cycle forums I read.

Good luck

Mary
Thank you Mary, I'll let you know how we get on.

Ian
iandusud
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Re: Coccyx Pain

Post by iandusud »

Update: The SMP TRK saddle arrived and has been tested. A very noticeable improvement with regard to coccyx pain to everyone's delight. However it would appear to be too wide as my wife is complaining of chafing on the inside of her thighs! So, it's going back but I think we're going to try the medium size which measures 160mm against the large one which we tried at 177mm.

More news when we have it...
marylogic
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Re: Coccyx Pain

Post by marylogic »

That sounds promising, fingers crossed for you both
iandusud
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Re: Coccyx Pain

Post by iandusud »

Update. No coccyx pain with the new saddle - just pain everywhere else! Whet for a decent ride yesterday (50 hilly miles) and within 30 minutes I could feel my wife squirming. In the end we stopping so frequently for "bottom stops" that I swapped our saddles over, giving her my B17 Imperial, which helped her no end. So we're going back to her B17S Imperial for now, but I am wondering about modifying it by increasing the cut away towards the rear.

BTW I didn't get on very well with the SMP TRK either. Far too much padding making me sore.
marylogic
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Re: Coccyx Pain

Post by marylogic »

Oh dear, that doesn't sound so good! Hope your modification works
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horizon
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Re: Coccyx Pain

Post by horizon »

iandusud wrote: 16 Aug 2021, 12:19pm
thirdcrank wrote: 16 Aug 2021, 12:04pm I appreciate there's an existing condition that is being aggravated by something; all I'm saying is that it's possible it may be the tandem rather than the seat.
Hi Thirdcrank,

Getting a tandem has been such wonderful transformation to our cycling I can't see us ever going back to solos for extended rides together. We did actually use our solos recently as we needed to travel by train to Sheffield and cycle at the other end. This merely served to highlight the disparity in our strength with my wife struggling up all the hills with me not breaking a sweat.

Ian
I can't add anything to do specifically with coccyx pain but my gut reaction on all these types of thread is, strong, male, regular cyclist pilot/less strong female stoker. I'm in your situation being a regular cyclist on the front of the tandem and Mrs H bravely taking up the rear. I know what saddle I want, what position I find comfortable, what to do when my saddle isn't right and what it's like to be the pilot. I've learnt the hard way but also the simply-doing-it-over-and-over-again way. I also note that it is you who is posting these queries, not your wife - it would be the same with me.

My remedy, such as it is, is perseverance. I don't think there is a single, immediate technical answer. Mrs iandusud has to thrash this one out. Great that you have the suspension seatpost and that you are trying different saddles. I would also recommend shorter rides, more frequent breaks, walking up hills, synchronised rising regularly from the saddles and (IMV most importantly) daily short rides for the time being.

Your wife (and mine) has to accept that to get comfortable takes effort, not the endurance of pain (NEVER that). That means more riding (on short rides) more changes to stem length, saddle height and bar height, more faff and more hardening up. In other words everything that we went through (and maybe she too) on our solo bikes. She might feel that the investment isn't worth it. That would be a huge shame.

One other thing that I personally would like to try is being the stoker (on a larger bike with stronger pilot). That would give us a great insight into what might be going wrong.

PS Just to add that I think 50 miles is far, far too long a ride in the present circumstances.
When the pestilence strikes from the East, go far and breathe the cold air deeply. Ignore the sage, stay not indoors. Ho Ri Zon 12th Century Chinese philosopher
iandusud
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Re: Coccyx Pain

Post by iandusud »

horizon wrote: 27 Sep 2021, 4:23pm
iandusud wrote: 16 Aug 2021, 12:19pm
thirdcrank wrote: 16 Aug 2021, 12:04pm I appreciate there's an existing condition that is being aggravated by something; all I'm saying is that it's possible it may be the tandem rather than the seat.
Hi Thirdcrank,

Getting a tandem has been such wonderful transformation to our cycling I can't see us ever going back to solos for extended rides together. We did actually use our solos recently as we needed to travel by train to Sheffield and cycle at the other end. This merely served to highlight the disparity in our strength with my wife struggling up all the hills with me not breaking a sweat.

Ian
I can't add anything to do specifically with coccyx pain but my gut reaction on all these types of thread is, strong, male, regular cyclist pilot/less strong female stoker. I'm in your situation being a regular cyclist on the front of the tandem and Mrs H bravely taking up the rear. I know what saddle I want, what position I find comfortable, what to do when my saddle isn't right and what it's like to be the pilot. I've learnt the hard way but also the simply-doing-it-over-and-over-again way. I also note that it is you who is posting these queries, not your wife - it would be the same with me.

My remedy, such as it is, is perseverance. I don't think there is a single, immediate technical answer. Mrs iandusud has to thrash this one out. Great that you have the suspension seatpost and that you are trying different saddles. I would also recommend shorter rides, more frequent breaks, walking up hills, synchronised rising regularly from the saddles and (IMV most importantly) daily short rides for the time being.

Your wife (and mine) has to accept that to get comfortable takes effort, not the endurance of pain (NEVER that). That means more riding (on short rides) more changes to stem length, saddle height and bar height, more faff and more hardening up. In other words everything that we went through (and maybe she too) on our solo bikes. She might feel that the investment isn't worth it. That would be a huge shame.

One other thing that I personally would like to try is being the stoker (on a larger bike with stronger pilot). That would give us a great insight into what might be going wrong.

PS Just to add that I think 50 miles is far, far too long a ride in the present circumstances.
Hi and thanks for your thoughts from someone who understands from 1st hand experience.

Re shorter rides, as we no longer possess a car our tandem is our daily transport so it gets ridden regularly on shorter as well as longer rides as we attend mid week meetings etc.

We go out most weekends and do anything between 30 and 50 miles. As you suggest we take frequent breaks ("bottom stops") and take advantage of downhill stretches to take the weight off the saddle. You are right in saying that perseverance plays an important role in getting comfortable on a bike but I also think that strength plays an important role inasmuch as the harder you push on the pedals the more weight you are supporting with your legs. This I think is probably a significant factor as although my wife is a very regular cyclist she is no where near as strong as I am (this becomes evident whenever we need to ride our solos, in my case often a loaded cargo bike). This means that getting everything such as choice of saddle, riding position right is probably all the more more critical. It also doesn't help that she suffers from painful wrists due to arthritis and therefore we've had to adjust her position to reduce the weight on her hands, inevitably putting more weight on the saddle. (For her wrists she wears wrist supports which help a lot).

Having said all this she absolutely loves our tandem riding and we had the most wonderful camping tour of the North Pennines, Lakes and Dales this summer.

I think I said earlier that her coccyx pain is related to damage to the coccyx in childbirth so there is a physiological element to it to be considered with saddle choice. Anyway we're back to the B17S Imperial for now and I'm going to try "speeding up the break in" (see my other post) to see if that helps.

Cheers, Ian
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Re: Coccyx Pain

Post by Vorpal »

hmmm...

Unfortunately tandem stokers take the worst of the bumps. I was going to recommend a Thudbuster, or sprung seat pin, but I searched on that term, and saw that you already have the Suntour edition viewtopic.php?f=5&t=139309

Position might affect this. I imagine, as this is an ongoing problem, you have tried many things.

I know that it is contrary to what many experienced cyclists recommend, but have you tried padded saddles? gel covers? Stuff like that? The reason I ask is that if the issue the bumps & shocks, additional cushioning may help. Personally, I don't get on with Brooks saddles. They are simply the wrong shape for me.

I have not experienced coccyx pain. However, I had some difficulty with sciatica after my second pregnancy, and I found that, contrary to what people told me, a more aggressive position on the bike was more comfortable for me. I had been told to move the saddle back, and raise my handlebars, but it actually made things worse, so I did the opposite. I put my saddle forward a bit & lowered the bars & it helped.

I know you said she doesn't ride her solo bike much, but I suspect that it will be easier to work out a solution on the solo bike. In addition, to TC's point, if it doesn't happen on the solo bike, but does on the tandem, you may need to think about another approach (semi-recumbent tandem? tandem trike?).

Another thing to consider, might be swapping places if your tandem has sufficient adjustment? Even if it was only temporary, it might tell you if it's the bumps & shocks at the back of the tandem?
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531colin
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Re: Coccyx Pain

Post by 531colin »

Yeah, it bumps like hell on the back of a tandem.
Not only the stoker can't see the bumps, but they don't get the handlebars jarring as a clue to lift the weight off the saddle; because its the front handlebars which bump, the back handlebars are so far away from the front wheel they hardly rise at all.
Poor stoker just gets a kick up the backside, because they are sitting on top of the back wheel......and the pilot hardly feels the back wheel bump, its so far away.
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horizon
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Re: Coccyx Pain

Post by horizon »

I can't think of a disadvantage of this bike compared to a standard tandem except the price:

https://hasebikes.com/95-1-Tandem-PINO-ALLROUND.html

It's sad that a bike that can replace a car costs alsmost as much as one, about £6000 IIRC. And it would solve the OP's issue.
When the pestilence strikes from the East, go far and breathe the cold air deeply. Ignore the sage, stay not indoors. Ho Ri Zon 12th Century Chinese philosopher
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