Who’s been to see a sports physio (or other expert) for an assessment without being injured first? On taking up triathlon, on starting a new training plan, or in the off-season?
I’m wondering how many of the injuries that feature on this forum could have been avoided. Do triathletes underspend on prevention? Any views?
Snap (who wasted four or five months, himself, by not seeing a sports physio first)
I’ve posted several times that there should be a basic biomechanical examination for bike fitters to do on their clients before setting them up on bikes.
Any two people can have the exact same measurements but their biomechanics can be completely different and would require entirely different bike fit requirements. Case in point - I know a woman with a Harrington rod in her spine for scoliosis correction since age 12. This means she has no movement in her spine from the upper lumbar to upper thoracic spine. She went to a high end bike fitter and they didn’t undestand the nature of her condition. She just can not ride in a super aggressive position. Her spine is also about 2 inches shorter than normal because of the S bend. I completely reset her position in a way that she is comfortable. Despite her condition, she is a regular AG podium in the local sprint and Oly tris.
I would base it upon some of the things I do for routine screening with my chiropractic patients. You could check for hamstring, low back and neck flexibility. Also look for leg length differences, pelvic levels & rotation, etc.
Many bike fitters probably don’t have a background in human anatomy or biomechanics. I’m convinced such a course could be offered to professional bike fitters as a seperate course to touch on the basics of anatomy and biomechanics in a way relevant to bike fitters.
I’ve talked to Paul Levine on the phone about this and he seems quite clued into this approach already and mentioned that a “cook book” method of bike fitting has limitations unless a rider’s individual biomechanics is taken into account.
I’ve actually been working on an article about this in relation to bike fitting. Very slow, but I’ll get around to finishing it one of these days.
I think biomechanical assessment can also be applied to swimming and running also.
We do with all of our athletes a biomechanical analysis, a movement screen if you want to call it that. We look for biomechanical strengths and weaknesses as well as left and right side imbalances. We then design a program to even out the differences, decrease injury potential and this helps maximize their training and potential.
The problem with such screening is that it isnt cook book or cookie cutter. You really have to understand the human body, how it moves, its utility and its purpose. Many bike fitters, strength coaches, multi sport coaches and even some physicians don’t have the fundemental knoweldge of functional movement to analyze human/athlete movement and or create programs to balance out any imbalances that you can come across.
I wouldnt work with any of my athletes without first putting them through such screening, nor would my trainers either.
Snap…
Any athlete (and non athlete for that matter) I see, I warn them about muscle imbalances and body structure deviations (wether anatomical or compensation). I get the luxury of spending at a minimum of half an hour and usually upwards of 1.5-3 (!) hrs per athlete as I meticulously ‘nit pick’ the body. I am so not meticulous about anything…except the human body. When someone walks in the door I can note deviations right off the bat. I am even getting really good at figuring out the sport they play by simply working on the body…14 yrs for me to figure that one out.
I see runners, to rowers, to basketball, to ultimate frisbee and every sport in between (from amateur to Pros) - tennis players are my favorite. It blows my mind how unaware an athlete can be about their muscles having imbalances when they are plain to see to the eye (at least to my eye). Sometimes I will even break out the measuring tape to show them the differential.
Worked on a guy over the weekend that is getting into all out racing half marathons, and gearing up to a full. It was really cool to be able to look at his feet and tell him where he is abusing his feet and how it directly related to the hip and lower leg muscle imbalances -and not too far of a stretch for the way the upper limbs were hanging. Not that I would want him to change his gait, but perhaps get his feet re-analyzed for shoes…seeing as he confessed to never getting it done in the first place. Really cool to see the cross pattern disruption of muscle imbalances, read his body like a book heading down the road to injury. He thought I was a ‘psychic’ because I called him on areas of overuse.
Find someone that can work with the body, and you would be shocked at injuries you can keep at bay. Now mind you—overuse/overabuse well, those things just usually can’t be kept at bay.
Personally—I have an awesome ‘team’ of people that abuse/fix my body. I credit them for keeping me strong enough in 04 to rebound from a parasite the year before. I had 3 different Chiropractors that worked with me (2 at school, one at work, access to at least no fewer than 20 chiros, but chose the 3 that worked best with my system and was able to get EMS, traction and US as needed), a strength guru (whom I hated and loved at the same time), a PA who worked with the parasitic thing, and of course a fellow Sports Massage THerapist. Currently I am utilizing one of the Chiropractors, a relaxing massage therapist, and a Psychologist. The Psychologist is NOT helping, so shopping for another one…discussing my childhood (which although ‘unique’ was very normal) does nothing for the current mind fuck I am experiencing. Being a human lab rat for 2 weeks did me in last season. I think the mental end is something that is SO underated, and sadly no one warned me.