Jett 130 and Zero and sit bone LUMP

[maillotpois]

Hmm. Interesting - thanks!

[Pedal Wench]

No solution for the lump, but a thought on your old saddle (although I loved my Jetts!) Saddles do wear out. The cushioning shifts and the shell gets brittle. So, you might want to go back to your original favorite.

[KnottedYet]

Well, I've "seen" (felt, actually) a lump at the insertion (aka sit bone) of the hamstring on a couple patients. Both were athletes, one was an endurance runner.

They were considered high hamstring strains, most likely due to an imbalance of effort between the medial and lateral hamstrings.

Both these patients were women (seems to be more a girl thing) and both were solved by treating the FEET and working on general leg stabilization exercises. Overpronation caused the hammies to fire up funny in an attempt to stabilize the leg/pelvis.

If you already wear orthotics, you might want to call your orthotist and see if your orthotics need to be adjusted.

Otherwise, ask your doc what she/he thinks. Maybe a medial wedge on the underside of your regular insoles would help. The doc would be able determine that.

[maillotpois]

Wow, Knot. Thanks!

I do pronate, and used to have orthotics when I ran (before I wised up). Maybe I should try to find them and put them in my cycling shoes....

Could that impinge the sciatic nerve as Dianayla suggested, leading to that "funny bone" business I felt?

[KnottedYet]

If the hammies are strained, they could be kicking off all kinds of compensatory tightness and other exciting goodies. (including referred pain)

A few piriformis stretches could be good, as could some gentle hamstring stretches.

Since a cyclist weightbears on the forefoot, and most orthotics are designed for hindfoot correction first, your running orthotics might not be adequate. But they certainly couldn't hurt to try in the bike shoes! If they don't seem to help with the pain (the lump will take a while) ask your orthotist to check you for a forefoot medial wedge for biking. (make sure to check BOTH feet to see if they need medial wedges!)

[SadieKate]

From Andy Pruitt: Pain and swelling directly on the sitbones are indicative of ischial bursitis (an inflamation of a bursal sac located in the gluteal region).

I'll keep reading . . . back in a bit.

More: And ischial bursitis can be caused by a hard saddle, a poor quality chamois, or riding too many miles too soon.

Back to reading . . . .

For ischial bursitis, apply ice, take NSAIDs, and rest off the ike. Cortisone may provide quick relief. Too keep it from recurring, wear 2 pairs of shorts for more padding. Youmay want to cut a roudn hole in the liner of the inner pair to reduce pressue on the area.

Choosing a new saddle with different shape and different amounts of padding may also solve the problem.

Back to reading . . . .

[maillotpois]

From Andy Pruitt: Pain and swelling directly on the sitbones are indicative of ischial bursitis (an inflamation of a bursal sac located in the gluteal region).

So you're saying my butt sac is inflamed??

More: And ischial bursitis can be caused by a ......riding too many miles too soon.

Hmm.


PS - See how I fixed your typo...??

[SadieKate]

Onto Arnie Baker -- pain in this area progress to either local bursitis or ulceration.

Prevention - do not suddenly and drastically increase your weekly mileage [edit by sk - yeah, right]

Use bandaids or moleskin to pad around the sore to take off pressure.
2nd pair of shorts.
Ooh-ooh! A padded saddle cover!
Different saddle - enough padding to support and wide enough to spread the support over as wide an areas as possible.

[KnottedYet]

Yup. Bursae protect the tendons/muscles from rubbing on boney bits. Your body can even toss a new bursa into an area that doesn't normally have one, if there's enough irritation there.

If you get a jolly case of bursitis, it means something is causing a soft tissue to rub harder against a bone than it normally would. Generally that's a muscle effort imbalance, but it could also be a structural problem. (did you break any bones lately? Have any back/pelvic problems?)

If your saddle fits you well, and wasn't causing you troubles last year, I would tend to believe the saddle isn't to blame this year.

Being off the bike for 6 months (weakening compensatory strategies) is more the culprit in my mind. Issues your body had found ways to handle come back without the little tricks your body developed to cope with them. So the previously "little" issues snowball a bit up and down the kinetic chain. (the idea that you are standing MORE now than previously really makes me think about your feet being the trigger rather than the saddle)

Ask your doc. If your doc doesn't know, ask if they can refer you to a sports med doc.

[maillotpois]

Okay - Thanks, Knot, I may PM you for more info.

One thing that may or may not be relevant: since I started riding again this year after my "break", I have been standing a LOT more on the bike. I'm not sure if it's compensating for having lost muscle strength while being off the bike or what, but I've gotten sort of accustomed to it and am out of the saddle a lot more, especially for climbing. So maybe that's aggravated or highlighted some sort of weakness/imbalance.