I was watching Neal Barnard's kickstart your health Dvd. Of note was that back pain can be caused by artery blockage in your spine. He showed a diagram. I cried a little, because I know lots of people with lower back pain. Also of note is that if you have leg pain it can also be caused by blockages.
"Peripheral artery disease (PAD) is a problem with blood flow in the arteries, usually the legs. Poor circulation and blockage of blood in the leg arteries produces an aching, tired, and sometimes burning pain in the legs." nytimes.com/health retrieved Sept 20th, 2015.
Dr. Greger gives an excellent explanation as follows. "High cholesterol can lead to atherosclerosis in the vertebral arteries that nourish our spine and result in disc degeneration and lower back pain, a leading cause of disability." Cholesterol and Lower Back Pain Volume 8 · April 20th 2012 ·
Eur J Vasc Endovasc Surg. 2009 Jun;37(6):661-70. doi: 10.1016/j.ejvs.2009.02.006. Epub 2009 Mar 27. Atherosclerosis and disc degeneration/low-back pain--a systematic review. Kauppila LI1.
On a personal note, my legs take a long time to heal after workouts and hurt for weeks. Could it be possible that I have Peripheral artery disease (PAD)? Note, I was eating the SAD for 25 years or so then then paleo diet when I first noticed.
http://www.nytimes.com/health/guides/symptoms/blockage-of-leg-arteries/overview.html
http://nutritionfacts.org/video/cholesterol-and-lower-back-pain/
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What I know for me is about a year after stopping meat consumption and dairy what I'll call sciatica that plagued me for 10+ years has been 100% non existent and that's going on 5 years now. I would have 2 or 3 weeks a year where I could barely sit down for more than 5 minutes at a time. Other than getting older nothing else in my routine has changed so I am convinced that the vegan lifestyle is what solved my problem.
btw I was also eating SAD for the first 39 years of my life and for me the lifestyle is undoing a lot of "under the cover" damage I had done to myself....
I may get some hate for my next comment but I also started using compression on my legs after hard or long rides and I don't care what anyone says I can feel the difference nearly immediately and my recovery times have shortened....So you might look into compression or get a roller at minimum.....