Inflexibility: is it just me or is it a cyclist thing?

[Deleted]

I am battling an IT band issue after twinging it in November. I should go to a physio but I'm on my own personal budget deficit reduction programme for the foreseeable future. I plan to stretch, keep rolling on my trigger point release balls and do various strengthening exercises: leg squats, clam shells, side leg raises.

Anyway, I found these very effective (i.e. painful) stretches on youtube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=x30rjVT-TLo but I can't bend my knee like the man in the video. I can barely get it to lean off vertical. I thought that maybe the man in the video could do it because he was obsessed with stretching, but my wife tried and she can get her knee lower than him. Is it a cycling thing? Do we have ridiculously inflexible hips and knees?

[Arthur Tye]

In terms of flexibility people are just different. Cyclists are not exactly notoriously flexible but I ride my bike an awful lot and can happily put my palms flat on the floor with straight legs.

IT bands are often very tight in cyclists but it is not so much the IT band itself that needs to be stretched, but the connecting muscles. You probably have very tight glutes which puts a lot of strain on your ITB - work on your glutes and you might find it makes a difference - rolling on a tennis balls works a treat.

If the budget should become available, a sports massage or even a bike fit might help you out here too.


Try these: www.knee-pain-explained.com/glute-stretches.html

[Deleted]

Thank you very much for that link. I think the glutes might be the problem. I have read that website inside out -it's really good- and I might do all the strengthening and stretching techniques.

[Deleted]

You might want to check this video out guys www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOLBRhrF4Kc&sns=tw

Technically you should not Self Myofascial Realease (SMR/Foam Roll) the ITB band, as it is connective tissue and not Fascia as such. The ITB is very mis understand understood by many Fitpros and Physios on a regular basis.

I agree with Arthur that you need to look at this as a global issue and infact I would also look at improving mobility in the ankle and thoracic spine as well as the hip complex(glutes).

Happy to go deeper with this issue if needed.

[Deleted]

Jan 28, 2015 17:02:59 GMT @adam said:

You might want to check this video out guys www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOLBRhrF4Kc&sns=tw

Technically you should not Self Myofascial Realease (SMR/Foam Roll) the ITB band, as it is connective tissue and not Fascia as such. The ITB is very mis understand understood by many Fitpros and Physios on a regular basis.

I agree with Arthur that you need to look at this as a global issue and infact I would also look at improving mobility in the ankle and thoracic spine as well as the hip complex(glutes).

Happy to go deeper with this issue if needed.

Agree with Adam. If you do have a clinically tight itb or pain above knee etc then you should massage the tfl muscle just above the bony prominence of the greater tuberosity and the tendon just above and lateral to the knee

[Deleted]

Curiosity dig. Further reading on why you might want to target the gluts (glutus med specifically) to ease tight ITBs.

breakingmuscle.com/mobility-recovery/your-it-band-is-not-the-enemy-but-maybe-your-foam-roller-is

[Deleted]

Thanks everyone. Adam, I will look up thoeracic spine and ankle mobility on youtube. Mark, that was very interesting. My TFL muscle is often sore when I lie on my side on a hard floor and the article said that muscle takes up the strain when the glute meds aren't firing properly.

[Deleted]

If you are getting lateral thigh pain i would expect that it is the vastus lateralis ie outer part of your quad. The tfl is not a muscle. It shouldn't have pain fibres as it is an expanse of connective tissue whose chief function is to augment and direct the contractile power of the underlying muscle. Essentially nature beat clothing in the invention of compression wear. Gentle massage of weary muscle is good. I find v cold water helps a bit too.

[Deleted]

I would also add that glut med insufficiency can be due to a myriad of causes. It is a muscle whose importance is only really getting recognised fairly recently. Essentially any back, hip or lower limb kinetic chain issue can deactivate it, which worsens gait. It really needs someone like a physio to objectively assess if lower limb pain or isolated limb weakness is an issue

[Deleted]

I have had issues for a couple of years with my right glute not firing. Last year I trained for a half marathon and the increased stress of training combined with instability, right glute not firing etc led to some pretty bad knee pain. Diagnosed as ITB syndrome. I found not running, and this video of exercises helped: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydcy3dPf__M I did go to see a physio, but what he prescribed was largely around what was in the video above. Along with the other video suggested, if you are serious, do these every day and pay attention to good form, you may find it gets better. However, I like to know what causes things.

I have hypermobility in my hips so can twist up like a pretzel. It did not stop me having ITB problems (or shin splints for that matter). In fact, my bendy joints may have caused it in part - I am genetically less stable than most due to some hypermobility which means my running is properly awful.
I am still only running uphill but it's not a massive loss to the world.

If it helps, I very rarely had knee pain on the bike - maybe when track training, but not riding my geared bike, so I didn't have to give up cycling as well. Good luck!

[Deleted]

I don't want to confuse matters yet I have a more progressive take on "working" the glute med. As mentioned above and shown in the video typical or traditional 'glute' activation or strengthening for glute med is done by resisted ABDUCTION, i.e. frontal plane tube walking, (mini resistance bands around the ankles or knees/ monster walks etc, so essentially working concentric against a resistance.

The argument and my take, which I have had great success with my clients is that in 'function' (i.e. walking /running, not lying on your side) the glutes, including glute med will Decelerate hip ADDUCTION so potentially a frontal plane 'weakness' could be made worse by training concentric abduction as opposed to training the glute to eccentrically decelerate the opposition motion (ADDUCTION). - something like an ice-skater is how I would personally strength the glutes/glute med.

[Deleted]

Thats very interesting Adam, I likes the sound of that. And I think it makes a lot of sense. The problem with cycling is that it is making a unidirectional limb only operate in one plane so it would stand to reason that you will onjly restore balance by rehabbing the leg in all directions. I personally notice that if i cycle too much i get groin pain, which i assumed was adductor tendinopathy and treated with eccentric adduction exercises but I can see how it could be more of a general hip muscle imbalance which would almost certainly include glut med issues. this is partly why i try to do regular short runs so that i can try to prevent imbalance of the pelvic stabilisers

[Deleted]

I am new to cycling Malcom, yet this is something that is very obvious/prominent in the cycling community, as you say we are generally working in one plane, although any time you stand, you will work in the frontal. The issue IMO is that conditioning work be it for cycling/rugby/football etc is generally uni planar, except we live in a multi planar world and thus this is how are body is designed to work. I believe we have to be strong in all planes and train our muscles/fascia/connective tissue as one system for better results

I also don't buy into "my glutes don't fire" which is such a common phrase, yet if this were true you would struggle to walk and in fact maybe its the sequencing that is incorrect i.e. the turning off and turning on of the hip complex.

In short I would suggest improving generally mobility and stabilty (not flexibility) of the ankle, hip and Thoracic spine, whilst training the body globally through multi plane movements for joint health, wellbeing and sporting performance.

[Deleted]

Totally agree with what you said here Adam and Malcolm 'mobility and stability' and multi plane movements. Moving in a linear way, cycling, walking causes imbalances in the muscles, tightness etc. which can rotate/pull on the pelvis causing endless back, groin, knee problems. I personally hate the glutes don't fire phrase.. No it's a muscle which you haven't used so it's weak and gets overpowered by the other muscles. Ice skater lunges, Jane Fondas and super man kick backs are simple exercises and have worked a treat to sort out lots of problems in the clients I have. The upshot of doing these is that they hold your knees in a much more stable position and allow your legs to move in line with the cranks thus upping the watts! :0)

Oh and squats (60% of 1rm x 10/4)help prevent shin splints, We did a study on it in the Army in the PT Corps as Shin splints are a massive cause of recruits being discharged during training.

[Deleted]

Hmm, this conversation has got me thinking! a) great to get the geek on with fellow cyclists b) would it be worth putting on some kind of conditioning based workshop (maybe at cadence) challenging traditional ways of thinking for common cycling/running/training injuries/issues and offering some simple progressive solutions?

It would be great to hear your thoughts on this everyone.

cheers