BIKE HIP
“Pain is still the friend that always tells me the truth.” – Chris Froome
Do you have a case of Bike Hip? Tis the season. Don’t flip that kickstand quite yet, Let’s down shift and check our body gears and mechanics. We’ve got hills we still wheely need to climb.
THE UPHILL BATTLE
“Shut up legs. Do what I tell you to do!” – Jens Voigt
Just keep pedaling, just keep pedaling. Resistance and endurance, flexion and extension. Round and round and round we go. One range of motion and one plane of mobility. Like a hamster wheel on steroids. For optimal hip health, we need to explore mobility in another range of motion. We need to cross train the repetitions of our particular sport to improve our performance, decrease injury and feel better overall doing the things that we love as long as possible.
EARN YOUR TURNS – DOWNHILL
“A bad day on the mountain bike always beats a good day in the office.” -Mike Brcic
Visualize riding your bike downhill. You are stabilized, holding a consistent position isometrically (engaged in one position). One foot is forward and one foot is back. While the hips are handling this asymmetrical position and the upper body weight load, they are predicting and managing steering and shock absorption. You are cruising downhill but seemingly less work can certainly be more.
YOUR BIKE BODY
“It is the unknown around the corner that turns my wheels.” – Martyn Ashton
We tend to stick with what works best for us and what is most comfortable. Our muscle memory acts instantaneously to what it has done before and what comes most naturally. After enough “cycles” of repetitive use under tension, issues start to arise. How can we counter balance and cross train therapeutically to keep doing what we love as well as possible, with as minimal pain as possible, as long as possible?
ANTERIOR OR POSTERIOR STANCE
“A bad day on the mountain bike always beats a good day in the office.” -Mike Brcic
ANTERIOR STANCE
IS THIS YOU?
• quad cramps
• pain feels high – front or side of pelvis
• pain feels deep in the hip
VISUALIZE THE ANTERIOR STANCE:
If this list sounds familiar, you probably have an ANTERIOR stance, meaning the pelvis is tipping forward and the tailbone is tipped up. Visualize dramatically sticking your butt out. What happens in this position is a shortening of all things front and lengthening of all things back. The quads and hip flexors shorten creating a deeper hip crease. The hamstrings and deep hip rotators lengthen widening the sit bones. Your femurs stay neutral or rotate inward.
To maintain the ANTERIOR stance, the main core stabilizer is stepping up. Your TA (transverse abdominis – main core stabilizing muscle) is maintaining balance as long as you are not throwing your ribcage forward (which luckily, is very hard to do in bike position). Most of the weight is on the FRONT foot and you are using your quad and deep flexors to manage the load.
Everything is working correctly, but you are over using the FRONT BODY. You need to recruit the glutes and get the booty on board!
POSTERIOR STANCE
IS THIS YOU?
• deep butt hurts
• pain down side of leg
• foot is going numb
• hamstring is super tight
• calf cramps
• low back feels stiff
VISUALIZE THE POSTERIOR STANCE:
In this stance, the pelvis is tucking under like a dog with its tail between its legs. Deep hip rotators are shortened and working hard. While the femur turns out, the glutes and deep hip rotators are stabilizing the pelvis. There is a little more load bearing in the back of the foot. Feet stay generally neutral because of the pedals but the knee may torque in order to externally rotate the femur and back load. Though it is a super strong position, repetitive use can be the root cause of disc herniation.
Imagine walking with your glutes constantly clenched. You still need to move your lower body to proceed forward and since the glutes are locked tight, the low back takes over to provide the mobility (back pain!). Tucking under too much in the pelvis will stiffen your hips and cause a tight piriformis which will apply pressure on your sciatic nerve radiating pain down the leg.
UNDERSTANDING YOUR STANCE PATTERN
Do you favor a posterior or an anterior position when you ride? Do you switch it up? Sometimes when you are riding fast or in a flow state it is hard to tell.
“A little understanding goes a long way.” – Hali Fiano
STAY TUNED FOR…
• RELEASE exercises
• MOBILITY exercises: Things to do to KEEP it feeling better.
• STABILITY/CORRECTIVE exercises: Things to do to MAINTAIN, AVOID PAIN and find balance.
Not your problem? What is? Join our studio or online classes and start feeling better today. Interested in diving even deeper into the world of Pilates Therapeutics? Apply for our upcoming Pilates Teacher Training beginning October, 2023. www.AwakeBodies.com
This is great. I’ve recently just gotten into biking, and I’m interested in how my body will react to it. In the past I’ve had tight hips and hamstrings from lot’s of running around a soccer field. I’ve also historically under-used my glutes. I will have to pay attention to what my natural biking stance is. I look forward to more of this content!!