Saddle suggestions for broken pelvis

Question

I am a female getting into serious cycling, and will be riding in a 200 kms charity race (over 2 days) in June 2017, as well as beginning to compete.

In 2013, I broke my pelvis in 3 places. I broke both ischial tuberosity bones, though I broke them at the "top" of each round ring, not the bottom. I also broke the sacrum bone right next to the right side of my spine (2mm) away.

I have healed perfectly fine, and have no pain, except when I am cycling long distances. I start to get sore at 50 km, and it gets worse as the distance increases. It is the ischial tuberosities that get sore, not the sacrum bone.

I will not allow this to get in the way of cycling. There is a way to overcome this, and I will find it.

I need to find a saddle that will take some of the pressure off my ishial tuberosity bones, and I am looking for suggestions.

I live in Toronto, Canada, if that helps.

Please send me suggestions or ideas, so that I can kick some butt on my races, without my bones kicking my butt.

Answer 1

You may try looking into a noseless saddle. Some of the designs I have seen actually have cutouts or the sit bones in particular. Many people are dismissive of them (myself somewhat included), but they may hopefully be an alternative for you. Here is a completely random blog entry on the interwebz comparing several. There appears to be a large range of manufacturing quality as well as actual design effort, so I would resarch rather carefully before purchasing.

I would also strongly look into an alternative fit of some sort. Perhaps a more aggressive position that placed more weight on your hands (or other slightly non-traditional fitting) would be of benefit. Professional fittings should always be looked at as a place to start. Especially with past injuries or other less stereotypical anatomy, minor or major adjustments should be expected. In the end it may not be one thing, but a combination of things (including perhaps time) that help things along for you.

Answer 2

If you want a saddle that takes pressure off your sit bones (ischial tuberosities), this design is probably appropriate:

There may be others brands that use a similar design, but I think ISM is the best known.

The idea is that most of your weight is supported on the frontal prongs, rather than the flat area at the back. They have a gap in the middle to avoid putting pressure on your perineum. For this reason they're especially popular among time triallists and triathletes because they allow you to rotate your pelvis forward more comfortably.

They feel quite different to conventional saddles, mostly because of the extra width at the front, and will probably take some getting used to.

The image came from this review.