Return to Hobie.com
Hobie Forums
It is currently Thu Mar 28, 2024 4:44 am

All times are UTC - 8 hours [ DST ]




Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 12 posts ] 
Author Message
PostPosted: Sun May 27, 2012 5:31 pm 
Offline
Site Rank - Captain

Joined: Thu Jan 13, 2011 8:02 am
Posts: 51
My wife's sciatic nerve really bothers her when pedaling our hobie. We've tried changing seat positions but can't seem to get her comfortable. its really frustrating since she doesn't enjoy kayaking due to this pain. Just for some back ground she is in great shape, does half marathons, bikes 30-40 miles, duathlons etc.

Does anyone else have this issue? Does anyone have any suggestions on what we can change or adjust to limit the pain? Thanks so much.

_________________
Currently own: 2012 AI, 2 - 2012 Revo 13's, 2012 Revo 11,
Sold: 2-2011 Oasis, 2010 Outback, 08 Outback, 08 Adventure, 06 Kona


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Sun May 27, 2012 11:08 pm 
Offline
Hobie Approved Guru

Joined: Sat Nov 12, 2005 10:46 pm
Posts: 3017
Location: Escondido
This probably depends on the cause of her sciatica and what seat you're using. I get sciatic inflammation from a herniated disc, but suffer no difficulties pedaling. I use the old (2006 and older) seat-back with an i-comfort seat pad. This seat is flat -- no lumbar support to press into the lower back. It also has high, broad back support. Hobie had a surplus of these so it may be possible to have your dealer call Hobie for availability (they're not in the catalog, and not to be confused with the '07 to '09 seat). I also use custom heel straps so there is no strain on the hip flexor. A little anti-inflammatory (one aspirin works for me) before kayaking adds some insurance.

There are also some aftermarket seats and pads that some really like. I'm not familiar with any of them though. Good luck to your wife in getting this solved!! 8)


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Mon May 28, 2012 2:54 am 
Offline
Site Rank - Captain

Joined: Fri Jul 24, 2009 3:08 pm
Posts: 97
I get mild pins and needles in my feet after a long stretch especially if I'm on the power. It happens on the bike too. I just rest for a wee while and adjust foot position as much as possible.


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Mon May 28, 2012 7:19 am 
Offline
Site Rank - Admiral

Joined: Thu Apr 05, 2012 11:35 am
Posts: 247
Location: Ogden, Utah
The Pro Angler claims to have lumbar support, but the stock seat leaves me in pain after a couple hours. I bought a cheap mesh lumbar support meant for office chairs to solve that. It's just a heavy wire frame with mesh and elastic straps to hold it in place - works wonders.

My next mod will be to add risers to the seat. Having my butt lower than my feet seems to make things worse when I pedal. I'll raise the seat three to four inches for better leg alignment. Simple spacers should do the trick.

_________________
Cleverly disguised as a responsible adult
Pro Angler-14 owner


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Mon May 28, 2012 10:03 am 
Offline
Site Rank - Old Salt

Joined: Tue May 04, 2010 4:01 pm
Posts: 465
My wife had this problem, and we bought her the Mirage Inflatable Seat Pad, the I-Comfort pad item #72020028. After the simple installation, she hasn't had the problem.

I used to have sciatic pain. Decades ago my son had taken a mini PT course for jocks in hs. He told me to take my billfold out while driving. I did, and I have never had the problem unless I forget to shed my billfold. That lasts a few minutes before I stop, remove the billfold and stuff it in the console or side door pocket.

scfa wrote:
My wife's sciatic nerve really bothers her when pedaling our hobie. We've tried changing seat positions but can't seem to get her comfortable. its really frustrating since she doesn't enjoy kayaking due to this pain. Just for some back ground she is in great shape, does half marathons, bikes 30-40 miles, duathlons etc.

Does anyone else have this issue? Does anyone have any suggestions on what we can change or adjust to limit the pain? Thanks so much.

_________________
2009 Oasis
2012 Freedom Hawk Pathfinder


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue May 29, 2012 7:13 am 
Offline
Site Rank - Captain

Joined: Wed Aug 17, 2005 3:52 am
Posts: 28
Hi

I am going to give out some advice. Please take it with the intension it is given. That is to save some people (who choose to investigat themselves) some aches and pains and improve their ability to enjoy the activities they wish.

I am a full time guide dog trainer (I do lots of hard on the back work) for eight years, and a Feldenkrais practitioner for 10 ( I study how we move and learn to improve as we age). I'm not going to go into the method, as this is not an attempt to convert folks to how I take care of myself (and you can google it if you wish).

My point is that as we age, we need to investigate ourselves (what we do well and not so well) and prepare for the activities we wish to do.

If you are not doing something while not kayaking, to help ease the inflamation and how you use yourself, that creates an environment for change, then a different seat may only pospone more pain.

If this intrests anyone, I can go on.

If not, then I apologize and I won't bore you.

I can tell you that I don't think I could do my job without doing lessons (in my case the Feldenkrais method ). Several times a week. I have had difficulty with my back since I was a child and my search has brought me here.

Good luck.

_________________
LeBron


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue May 29, 2012 8:04 am 
Offline
Site Rank - Old Salt

Joined: Thu Feb 11, 2010 12:07 pm
Posts: 1041
Location: Ontario, Canada
I'm sort of with LeBron on this. Although the original poster's wife is very fit, there can be an imbalance in your body that contributes to sciatic nerve pain. I was formally a high level track athlete and have always kept myself in very good shape (if not competition shape) I recently injured my back while moving and stupidly lifting things improperly from a truck. My sports doctor (who is an olympic doctor for many of the hand to hand combat olympic sports) has always emphasized balance in the body. Sometimes runners can be very fit for their specific sport, but can have imbalance in their overall bodies which can lead to things like nerve pain etc.

Core body fitness is extremely important, and I can't diagnose the original poster's wife, but it could be that there is some relative weakness in the lower back, or surrounding areas which could contribute to the pain. Again, I'm not a doctor, but I know that a lot of these ailments can be corrected by balancing out weaknesses in the body. When I say weaknesses, I'm talking relative weakness. One can be very strong in some muscles and average in others, it's the average muscles that can contribute to the pain. You don't have to be "weak" in any one particular area.

I know that sounds confusing, and I'm not sure it helps. Point being, try the i-comfort seat, but also consider a physiotherapist who is qualified, or another doctor who understands muscle movement, and body structure. You may find that the problem is easy to fix by changing a fitness routine to accommodate.

_________________
Image


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Wed May 30, 2012 4:19 am 
Offline
Site Rank - Deck Hand

Joined: Mon Jul 04, 2011 5:56 am
Posts: 17
Location: Jax FL
SCFA, Your wife is not alone. If I pedal either of my Mirage boats for more than an hour, I also get severe sciatic pain regardless of seat/pedal position. I found that using an inflatable seat helps significantly but it does not eliminate the issue. I now limit myself to ~90 so that I do not have a problem.

Interestingly, I do not have the issue at all when paddling. I can go all day in either my Revo 13 or my Hurricane Santee 13.5 with no problem. It seems to me that when I am pedalling, my thighs are raised from the seat and all of my weight is concentrated on a small portion of my bottom. When I paddle, my thighs are resting on the seat so my weight is more distributed

I suspect that this problem may be more acute in runner types who have limited "junk in their trunk." I am 5'7", weigh 160# and run 100-150 miles per month depending upon my work schedule.

_________________
Mark N
Outfitter
Revo 13


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Wed May 30, 2012 8:32 am 
Offline
Site Rank - Old Salt

Joined: Tue May 04, 2010 4:01 pm
Posts: 465
My 40 something sons are in incredible shape.

One rides his bikes over 10k miles a year and is a cellar master/asst wine maker in a 3 story winery. He is a lean/mean machine. Yet, if he has his billfold in his pants and sits for a while, he gets the sciatic nerve pain.

Our older son is the opposite re build. He is a little over 6' and is solid muscle.
He runs 3 times a week and walks 6-10 miles a week with his 50# pack he uses to back pack in to bow hunt. His billfold is out of his pant pocket while driving, riding or just in his office. Like his bro, a short sitting spell with the bill fold brings on the sciatic nerve pain.

My wife is 72 and weighs less than she did when we got married. She is not an athletic, but she is a doer. She tends her garden, and we walk several times each week, up and down our hill. She had the sciatic pain while yaking in our Oasis until we got her the Hobie seat cushion.

Maybe sitting for an hour or more in yak or anywhere causes problems for many of us.

The four of us don't do well if we sit more than an hour while driving, riding or just watching tv or on the internet. Our bodies need to get up and move at least 5-10 minutes each hour. Our bike riding son on his weekend 100 mile rides each day, needs to stand up and pedal several times each hour inspite of pedaling at a brisk rate.

On longer road trips, my knees stiffen up and my wife's hip causes her problems. So about ever 50 minutes or so of driving/riding, we stop and walk for about 10 minutes if we can. My wife jokes that it would take us 30 days to go cross country.

There is a lot of truth in the old saying, "A body in motion, tends to stay in motion!"



scfa wrote:
My wife's sciatic nerve really bothers her when pedaling our hobie. We've tried changing seat positions but can't seem to get her comfortable. its really frustrating since she doesn't enjoy kayaking due to this pain. Just for some back ground she is in great shape, does half marathons, bikes 30-40 miles, duathlons etc.

Does anyone else have this issue? Does anyone have any suggestions on what we can change or adjust to limit the pain? Thanks so much.

_________________
2009 Oasis
2012 Freedom Hawk Pathfinder


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Mon May 23, 2016 8:50 pm 
Offline
Site Rank - Deck Hand

Joined: Mon May 23, 2016 8:41 pm
Posts: 1
I mostly solved the problem by eliminating lumbar support and by making the seat flat and the seat back somewhat upright. This sucks though as it isn't as comfortable from a luxury seating perspective but at least back pain went away by the help of Las Vagus Back Doctor.They are prove God to me.


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Thu May 26, 2016 1:46 pm 
Offline
Site Rank - Old Salt

Joined: Sun Aug 12, 2007 5:17 pm
Posts: 679
Location: Auckland NZ
I also suffer from lower back pain/sciatica.

I have an older seat on my AI and the newer ones on my Oasis - the newer ones definitely give me back pain to the extent that I don't use them any more - I switch the seats around so that I am always in one of the older ones. If I do this then I am just fine and I can quite literally pedal all day without issue... stick me in the new seat and 20 minutes is all it takes!

So my suggestion is that the solution may be, as others have suggested, to try to work out what is causing the pain and then circumvent the cause.


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Fri May 27, 2016 3:10 am 
Offline
Site Rank - Old Salt

Joined: Sun Apr 20, 2008 6:18 am
Posts: 3058
Location: Sarasota,Key West FL
We have an older 2012 TI and the padding on the seat bottoms is kind of thin and after an hour or so in the seat my butt falls asleep (pins and needles) and it gets very uncomfortable for me. I don't have ciatica or anything, just no padding back there (the padding is elsewhere (lol)). However my back in the middle is very bad from a broken back injury many years ago and I really like the way the old standard hobie seats wrap around my middle back and support me when the boat rocks so I don't want to replace these seats (the only seats I have found that actually help support my bad back (ie... Like bucket seats).
I have heard the Hobie I-comfort inflatable seat pads work really well for us skinny butt people. In my case I cut up a rubber covered latex pool mat/float that's around 1.5 inches thick, I cut it into the shape of the seat bottom then stuffed the pad and the seat bottom into a cloth mesh laundry bag that cinches shut (actually ours is a lobster catch bag that we got at the scuba store).
The padding helps keep me dry because I'm sitting above any water that may gather in the seat area from splashes, and has enough padding so I'm now comfortable up to 8-10 hrs on the water peddling away like crazy.
I'm reluctent to move up to the newer boats with the newer seat because the flat seat back doesn't offer any lateral back support where I would need it. I do have a brace for my back but it's very uncomfortable to have to wear out on the water all day.
If your wife has an older style seat with the really thin padding, this may be related to her pain, as in my case after 30 minutes I was feeling pins and needles sitting in my seat before adding the padding.
If you have a newer style seat (2015 or newer) ignore all the above, (I have no experience with the new seats)
Hope this helps
FE


Top
 Profile  
 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 12 posts ] 

All times are UTC - 8 hours [ DST ]


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum

Jump to:  
© Hobie Cat Company. All rights reserved.
Powered by phpBB® Forum Software © phpBB Group