Welcome to the Back in Action Whistler, Physio info page on Cycling injuries and bike fit. Our Physiotherapists have the expertise to correctly analyze your biomechanics and apply it to your biking.

Cycling: bike issues

The Bike:

The positioning on the bike is critical to comfort, power and optimal efficiency. Many myths exist as to what is the ideal position. Quite simply, the best position is the one that sounds best. When a person is positioned correctly on the bike, the pedalling action will sound very efficient - smooth spinning rather than stroking.

The frame : for women this can be a big issue. Smaller frames tend to have much steeper downtube angles making adjustments more critical. In our experience, bigger people tend to be on frames too big for them. Generally speaking, a frame that is too large results in the cyclist over-reaching and/or floating sideways over the bike. A frame which is too small generally results in anterior knee pain. However, smaller frames can have their seat height adjusted to improve fit.

Are they in the correct position?

Ideally, the cyclist should be able to place their hands comfortably on all 3 positions of the handle bars. Once they are in those positions, they should be able to easily lift their hands slightly off the handle bars. This is calle the "centre of balance approach". If they cannot do this, then either they have reduced core strength or their seat is in the incorrect position or both. Remember when moving the seat forward, it rises on the rail and vice versa on the way back. The longer the torso the further back the seat should go. Importantly, lung capacity can be reduced if the back is over-arched. Since 20 muscles are involved with breathing and 18 of these are postural muscles (Steve Hogg), these postural muscles need to be activated as minimally as possible without compromising stability. Additionally, if the cyclist is a toe dipper they tend to pull the body forward and hence the seat should be further back. Conversely, the heel dropper should have the seat further forward. Regardless, the seat positioning should make the arm load insignificant, thereby allowing those muscles to be used for comfortable and effective breathing. Hereby, energy and blood flow are not wasted by going to muscles which are working 'over-time'.

Common areas where bike adjustments are looked at:

    * the saddle - the less padding the better, wider and flatter seats for females, wear on the seat should be from the sitting bones. Seats which are too high result in posterior knee pain, seats which are too low result in anterior knee pain and sometimes groin pain, seats which are too far back and/or too high can result in lateral knee pain and even cause deep peroneal nerve injury. Ideally, the seat is just behind 'bottom centre'.

    * the pedal - a free floating pedals (free play cleat) tend to take away the need for critical adjustments. Generally the foot should be as far forward as the cleats allow. This latter aspect will depend on shoe size. By reducing the distance from the pedal to the ankle, it is thought that the need to stabilize the foot is reduced thereby allowing the muscles to concentrate their force for developing power.