Meaning & use
saddle pain
Last updated
Meanings
noununcountable
Soreness or discomfort in the buttocks or groin caused by sitting on a bicycle or horse saddle for a long time.
Grammar: Used as a mass noun: you say 'saddle pain', not 'a saddle pain' or 'saddle pains'.
Patterns
- saddle pain from something
- suffer from saddle pain
- get saddle pain
After three hours on the bike she had serious saddle pain and had to stop.
A well-padded seat can help prevent saddle pain on long rides.
He blamed his saddle pain on the new narrow saddle he had bought.
noununcountablemedical
A painful condition of the buttocks or groin that develops in people who ride bicycles or horses regularly.
Grammar: Often used with verbs like 'develop' or 'treat' when talking about it as a medical problem.
Patterns
- develop saddle pain
- treat saddle pain
- saddle pain in someone
Cyclists who train every day sometimes develop saddle pain that needs treatment.
The doctor asked how long the saddle pain had been bothering him.
Rest and a change of saddle usually clear up mild saddle pain.
Common combinations
- saddle pain from cycling
- Saddle pain from cycling is common among riders who train for hours.
- suffer from saddle pain
- Many long-distance riders suffer from saddle pain at some point.
- ease saddle pain
- Standing on the pedals now and then can ease saddle pain.
- chronic saddle pain
- She saw a physiotherapist about her chronic saddle pain.
- a cause of saddle pain
- A badly angled saddle is a common cause of saddle pain.
Synonyms and how they differ
- saddle soreness
- Nearly the same meaning, but 'soreness' sounds milder and less medical than 'pain'.
- saddle discomfort
- A gentler, more formal way to describe the same problem when it is not severe.
Word family
- saddle noun
- The seat on a bicycle or horse that causes the problem.
- saddle sore noun
- A sore spot on the skin caused by riding; more specific than saddle pain.
Commonly confused: saddle pain or saddle sore?
saddle pain vs saddle sore
'Saddle sore' usually means a sore or wound on the skin, while 'saddle pain' is the general feeling of aching or discomfort.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'saddle pain' correctly?
Choose one answer.
'Saddle pain' is an uncountable noun for discomfort in the buttocks or groin from riding, so sentence 2 fits. Sentence 1 is wrong because the pain is not in the knee, sentence 3 treats it as a physical object, and sentence 4 is not grammatical.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “saddle pain”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.