Cycling is one of the most popular and one of my favorite summer activities and I am happy to see more people out on bikes this year in the Alliance community.  In the past 5 weeks I have been expanding upon different ways that Postural Restoration™ can be used in the treatment of various injuries.  As you know by now, this concept has little to do with standing up straight, but it is about restoring the neuromotor balance between the very asymmetrical left and right sides of the body.  The last topic I am discussing is how injuries sustained from the repetitive act of cycling can be treated.  As with many other sporting activities, cycling is done in the sagittal plane.  This should not be thought of as a negative thing, but if no other activity is done in the frontal (side to side) or transverse plane (involving rotation) then this affects the body's ability to effectively function in a triplanar fashion resulting in injuries.

Many cyclists are under the mistaken notion that they have tight hamstrings. These muscles originate on the pelvis and insert in your lower leg bone.  Since cycling obviously involves prolonged sitting, one or both sides of the pelvis are generally tipped forward or anteriorly rotated.  This position of the pelvis can make the athlete believe they have tight hamstrings, when in reality the hamstrings have just been placed on stretch.  Often after just a few treatments, the ability to lie on your back and raise your leg to 90° is restored without ever having to "stretch" your hamstrings by restoring your pelvis to a neutral position.

Please stop in to see us if you have questions about any type of pain or symptom you may be having while or after you are doing any of your summer sporting activities.  More than likely Alliance Physical Therapy can help you stay injury free for the remainder of the summer!

Yours in health,

Val