Mountain Bike is a demanding sport at skeletal muscle level. There are multiple variables that can influence common discomfort and pain, such as a bad position on the bicycle, error in the choice of size, a bad pedaling technique, excessive weight in the backpack, inappropriate feeding, etc …
In this article we will focus on the pains of the lower back and what exercises we can perform to improve all this symptomatology
The approach of each cyclist must be individual, in some the priority will be to change the way of feeding, in others manage and adapt better to the daily stress that causes multiple imbalances in your body and that involve contractures and spasms in many muscles related to the use and handling of the bicycle.
These and many other factors must be considered when making an evaluation of the cyclist, taking into account also the discipline that is practiced.
Today the use of biomechanical studies is growing, which although it is true they help a lot in the improvement of all this symptomatology, without a work of muscular reconditioning, they do not end up solving the pains that many bikers drag throughout the year.
When performing exercises, we must bear in mind that the body is an “all” and the muscles do not work in isolation, being all interconnected through a myofascial network; that is why when we do something as simple as a stretch may seem, we are interacting with other more distal structures.
After this introduction to the complex and fascinating world of body mechanics, I will try to explain 5 recommended exercises for back pain, which can help reduce or eradicate your discomfort and pain in the lower back.
This “simple” exercise, has been proven to have an important influence on the improvement of various important structures such as the foot-ankle, knee, hip and of course the lumbo-pelvic area.
We can perform this exercise in two ways:
The squat, on the one hand, serves to strengthen our legs, on the other hand it also improves all lumbo-sacral mechanics, that is our lumbar “hinge” that can sometimes give us that pain so annoying when riding a bike.
With this exercise we can work in a dissociated way a very important muscle such as the gluteus medius, a great stabilizer of the hip. We also improve our balance and also improve our pedaling efficiency.
It is one of the most complete exercises, even more if we use different variations. This exercise allows us to obtain several benefits both at the level of our entire lumbar belt, as other levels such as the shoulder girdle, cervical area, arms, and of course the entire lower limb including a joint sometimes undervalued, such as the foot .
Although with the previous exercise “the griddle” we worked to a large extent on the anterior muscular chain, in this other exercise we seek to balance this work, especially at the level of the lumbar area and hip extensors, very important when balancing all the stresses of our lower back.
As in the rest of the exercises, adaptations and modifications can be made, which considerably enrich the results sought with this work.
This exercise allows us to work out the balance of our crossed muscle chains, which we do in many moments on our bicycle and that greatly influences when it comes to avoiding falls and improving the handling of the bike.
For more advanced students we can recommend exercises that challenge their balance and therefore the work of the force, using elements such as a fitball, a Bosu, Rotational Discs, elastic bands, etc …
All the exercises cited above we can work them by performing, between 12 and 15 repetitions, a minimum of 3 series.
You can also perform the exercises keeping the position for a certain time. For example, when performing an exercise such as the “scissor squat”, you can maintain about 25 seconds with each leg, change and advance the one that was behind.
With these 5 recommended exercises for low back pain we comply with the basic attention to improve our lumbar area, if we want to achieve major improvements, it would be convenient to include some work at the level of column rotations, it is also important to work the breath, helping to unblock the diaphragm and thereby relieving our organs.
It is advisable to use some kind of self-treatment techniques, after our bike trips, such as the myofascial relaxation work of some muscles. Something we will discuss in future articles.
** It is advisable to go to your doctor or qualified professional to make an assessment of each case.
** These exercises do not replace the manual therapy that each one may require, but they do help to recover in a faster and better way after suffering an illness in this area.
** It is important not to perform these exercises until the acute phase of pain has passed or until the qualified professional gives us the approval to perform them.
** If when performing these exercises we feel pain in the area, it is recommended to consult a qualified professional.
Article made by Pol López, founder of: www.moveos.org
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