| Is Your Bike Hurting You? |
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| by Diet Detective Editorial Staff | |
| Thursday, 29 June 2006 | |
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Listening to your aches along the way and making the necessary
adjustments to eliminate them can keep you from ever having to put your
cycling on hold. A long bike ride should make you sore...but only in the right places. Let us show you which unnecessary aches may be bringing your biking routine to a screeching halt. Putting foot to pedal and spinning your wheels for a while is a good way to break a sweat and burn some calories. It's also a good way to end up feeling like certain parts of your body got run through the gears. How comfortable your ride is has a lot to do with how you're seated as you go. Listening to your aches along the way and making the necessary adjustments to eliminate them can keep you from ever having to put your cycling on hold. Whether you're lucky enough to take your cycling routine outdoors or spin madly on a stationary bike indoors, here's what to do the next time you feel pain in your... Lower back: Check your handlebars. You may need to raise them a bit higher (if they won't go any higher, you may have to add a taller stem to lift them higher). You may also need to adjust how you're arching your back. You want to keep a constant curve as you ride to place your back in a natural alignment. Try angling your seat slightly forward so that your pelvis rotates forward to promote this curve in your spine. Hands: Grab a different place on the handlebars as often as you can, keeping your hands and wrists in line with your forearms. Keeping your wrists bent continuously for long periods of time can compress the nerves within the hands, causing them to ache or lose sensation altogether. Neck: Pedaling with your elbows bent, as opposed to extending your arms straight out in front of you, can keep you from placing unnecessary strain on your neck muscles. Raising your handlebars can help too, because having them too low causes you to have to look up to see ahead. Knee: The more you have to bend your knees as you pedal, the more stress cycling can place on this joint. To compensate, raise the seat up or shift it back to help keep your legs from bending excessively as you ride. The front of your knee should be above the center of the pedal when the pedal is halfway up. Butt: Your seat should be positioned at a level angle, preferably about an inch higher than your handlebars. The saddle should also be large enough to accommodate your pelvic bone to help redistribute your weight. Experiment with a wider or softer seat to see what's right for your body type. Inner thigh: Using a seat with a nose that's too long may cause your legs to chafe. Instead, opt to use a saddle with a narrower nose. A pair of tight neoprene cycling shorts can also help against the rub. Bookmark:            Trackback(0)
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