IS A NAGGING INJURY HOLDING YOU BACK?
We all know the wonderful feeling of cycling, but unfortunately itā€™s not always sun on the face and wind in the hair. Pedaling is a low-impact motion, making cycling one of the best ways to stay fit without putting stress on your joints. However, itā€™s also a highly repetitive action through a limited range of motion, which has consequences over time. Injury is a part of almost every sport, and cycling is no exception, but that doesnā€™t mean you need to hang up your jersey and sell your bike. Hereā€™s what you need to know about hidden cycling injury and what you can do to fix them.
Low Back Pain
The Issue: Weak core and poor posture.
One of the most common injuries or pain points for cyclists is pain or stiffness in the lower back. When you think about the body on the bike, it’s not a natural position for the body with the hunched over, forward position. Even with a proper bike fit, hours in the saddle will cause tension in the low back, and this issue is made worse by our lifestyle off the bike.
Look down right now. Are you sitting on a chair with your legs bent at the hips? Unfortunately, most of us are spending more and more time in this position, which causes tight hip flexors. This in turn causes the pelvis to rotate forward on the saddle, and combined with tight hamstrings, and weak glutes and core, all that tension collects in the low back.
The Symptoms: Weak and shortened hamstrings are caused by the combination of the upper section becoming loose and weak while the lower section behind the knee becomes tight and never fully extends. This can show up as either knee or hip pain.
The Fix: The problem is a little more complex than just lengthening the muscles back to their natural state. It is a combination of stretching and strengthening that can reverse the effects of adaptive shortening, as it takes both range of motion and strength to bring muscle balance.
Knee Pain
The Issue: Muscular imbalance
This one may not be so hidden, as knee pain is one of the most common injuries among athletes. In fact, a 2010 study of professional cyclists found that knee pain was the cause for over half of the time spent off the bike. As one of the most complex joints in the body, and in combination with muscle imbalance as discussed, it makes sense that it’s often one of the first places we experience pain.
To understand knee pain it is helpful to have a basic idea of what lies beneath the skin. In simplistic terms, think of the knee joint as a hinge where the quadriceps muscles pull the knee straight and the hamstring muscles bend the knee. The quadriceps run from the front of the femur (thigh bone) to the patella (knee cap). The patella acts as a pulley to increase the force generated by quadriceps which creates a greater torque on the tibia (shin bone).
To make matters more complicated, the ITB runs down the outside of the thigh and blends into the outside of the knee. ITB stands for iliotibial band and is a well known potential source of trouble for cyclists, runners and active people in general. The ITB is also attached to your glutes (buttock muscles) and hip flexors. Often when looking for the source of knee pain we have to pay close attention to hip flexibility and control.
The Fix: Some types of knee pain require rest, but most are caused by muscular imbalance. Again, it takes a combination of stretching and mobility exercises to loosen tight muscles and build up the proper supporting muscles.
Pelvic Tilt & Lower Crossed Syndrome
The Issue: Muscular imbalance
Lower Crossed Syndrome (LCS) is a neuromuscular condition in which there are both tight and weak muscles. Specifically, it refers to weak abdominal and gluteal muscles combined with tight iliopsoas and erector spinae muscles (see diagram). This is the most common underlying cause of anterior pelvic tilt, which is common among even professional cyclists.
The seat of power on a bicycle is the pelvis. When the pelvis is properly aligned the rest of the body can pedal efficiently. When the pelvis is misaligned and unstable, it is a recipe for not only lower back problems but hamstring problems too. An unstable pelvis leads to rocking. With each rock, the pelvis engages lower back muscles and hamstrings in ways that should not be involved in pedaling, overworking and straining the muscles unnecessarily.
The Symptoms: LCS can become obvious in posture, as it leads to forward head posture, flat glutes, and a protruding abdomen as the pelvis tilts anteriorly (forward). The inhibited muscles, abdominals and gluteals, are never fully engaged in cycling, while the facilitated muscles, rectus femoris (quadraceps), iliopsoas and thoraco-lumbar extensors are always engaged and often overworked. Constantly engaging those lower back muscles without proper support from a stable core often results in lower back pain for cyclists.
The Fix: The first step is to loosen the tight cross, which will quickly alleviate pain and discomfort caused by LCS. This is done this through targeting stretching, mobility movements, and foam rolling. The second step is targeted and deep stabilization exercises that will help build up the glutes and abdomen.
The Mistake Most Cyclists Make Stretching: Not Having a Plan
Most of us were taught that stretching for a couple minutes before exercise would help loosen the muscles and prevent injury, but this is not the case. Holding a static stretch for 10 seconds will do nothing to lengthen the muscle, and barely scratches the surface of what needs to happen in the structure of the muscle.
The only way to achieve muscle balance is to practice a variety of stretches over a prolonged period of time (at least 2 weeks), hold each for the appropriate amount of time, and complete in combination with some strength training.
It can be tough to accomplish all that on you own. Even with the best of intentions and a plan laid out by a physiotherapist, it’s easy to never do it at all, or stop as soon as the pain is gone. Stretching should be thought of as basic body maintenance, especially for cyclists. That’s where we come in.
Dynamic Cyclist is laid out in a day-by-day format, with each day having its own 15-20 minute video routine. These videos are designed to be easy to follow, and it’s easy to track your progress as you move through the program. Our unique sequential method targets the muscles prone to adaptive shortening and lower crossed syndrome in cyclists.
