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Old 06-17-19, 07:03 AM
  #24  
Moe Zhoost
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Originally Posted by tonibat
Recumbents can help with back problems, but they can also can cause them.
The pressure you can impose on you back is much larger on a recumbent, for instance in sudden acceleration or at climbs. (The reason is simple: in a recumbent the tensions incurred by forced extension of your thigh is resisted by your back against the seat, and the low back bones are in the middle. By comparison, in an upright a forceful thrust with your leg cannot transmit to you lower back more tension than your body weight, since the whole body is lifted upwards in the limit).
So, even if posture and comfort much better when lying, the stress that you could impose on your lower back is larger in a recumbent.

My advice, always be careful of sudden, strong forces in a recumbent.
If you already suffer from back issues, get an electric drive to be able to ride smoothly, or quit riding altogeher (till it gets solved).
Originally Posted by Steamer
The OP has been riding his bent for a while now. Perhaps he can report on how his back is doing.

My 25 years of experience on bents doesn't support your theory.
Old thread, I know, but I wanted to point out that everybody's experience may be different. I've been living with bulging disks for at least a decade and I find that riding my recumbent trike for more than 3 hours causes a bit of back pain. Riding my upright bikes for that long is no problem. In fact, it seems to alleviate any back pain I may have started with. I don't know what background @tonibat has so I can comment on his post.
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