Fitters, fixing "right side bias?"

Triathlon Forum
1

To the fitters out there, any tips on dealing right side bias?

As a background, I’ve been dealing with leg issues(above knee, more over femur head, medial side) for a while on the bike. The best way to describe it is that my knee cap isn’t sitting right; though I’m almost 90% positive it’s not tradition PTFS. Until recently, the best solution for on the bike was if I did a better job to roll my hips, then the pain was lessened. There have been other minor things that have helped like arch support in my shoes and working on my fit from the waste up.

Well, I was looking at an old video of myself(pre injury) on the trainer, and I’ve always had a peculiar stance on the bike. As two people have told me, I look like I’m biking off center(left foot is pointed inward and right foot is straight if not slightly pointed out). All of a sudden while watching the video, something I read on Steve Hogg’s site struck me, he calls it “right side bias” (http://www.stevehoggbikefitting.com/blog/2011/04/the-right-side-bias/). This is essentially where a person naturally brings their right hip forward and down.

(As a side note, for those of you who enjoy reading about bike fit Steve site seems to be a good resource. Some of his stuff is very worth reading while other stuff I’m skeptical about.)

So the last couple of times I’ve ridden I’ve just tried consciously riding with my right hip “back.” I actually have a feeling that when I was rolling my hips I was somewhat reducing my “angle” to the bike by sitting more planted in my seat.

Anyway, consciously riding with my right hip “back” has been very successful in ridding me of my pain for about the last 2 weeks. It has been less successful in being a fun way to ride a bike as I have years of muscle memory and saddle positioning I’m trying to overcome, though still markedly better than riding with pain.

The good news is, both of my legs look much more natural in their pedaling action and there is far less, if any pain in my right leg/knee area.

Again my question is, do any of the fitters on this board have experience with “right side bias” as Hogg calls it? If so, how have you recommended people to overcome it besides pushing back their hip every couple of minutes?

2

Begin with a saddle that appropriately supports your sit bones.
Often times we see people on saddles that are two narrow. This typically causes one sit bone to be supported and the other to be floating in space unsupported.
I can’t tell you which saddle will help you because it varies person to person.
Additionally, this is not where we would end, just where we would begin.

3

To the fitters out there, any tips on dealing right side bias?

As a background, I’ve been dealing with leg issues(above knee, more over femur head, medial side) for a while on the bike. The best way to describe it is that my knee cap isn’t sitting right; though I’m almost 90% positive it’s not tradition PTFS. Until recently, the best solution for on the bike was if I did a better job to roll my hips, then the pain was lessened. There have been other minor things that have helped like arch support in my shoes and working on my fit from the waste up.

Well, I was looking at an old video of myself(pre injury) on the trainer, and I’ve always had a peculiar stance on the bike. As two people have told me, I look like I’m biking off center(left foot is pointed inward and right foot is straight if not slightly pointed out). All of a sudden while watching the video, something I read on Steve Hogg’s site struck me, he calls it “right side bias” (http://www.stevehoggbikefitting.com/...the-right-side-bias/). This is essentially where a person naturally brings their right hip forward and down.

(As a side note, for those of you who enjoy reading about bike fit Steve site seems to be a good resource. Some of his stuff is very worth reading while other stuff I’m skeptical about.)

So the last couple of times I’ve ridden I’ve just tried consciously riding with my right hip “back.” I actually have a feeling that when I was rolling my hips I was somewhat reducing my “angle” to the bike by sitting more planted in my seat.

Anyway, consciously riding with my right hip “back” has been very successful in ridding me of my pain for about the last 2 weeks. It has been less successful in being a fun way to ride a bike as I have years of muscle memory and saddle positioning I’m trying to overcome, though still markedly better than riding with pain.

The good news is, both of my legs look much more natural in their pedaling action and there is far less, if any pain in my right leg/knee area.

Again my question is, do any of the fitters on this board have experience with “right side bias” as Hogg calls it? If so, how have you recommended people to overcome it besides pushing back their hip every couple of minutes?

I have fit many people and ridden w/ many more over the years. It seems almost everyone has some sort of a hip cant (one hip higher than the other) or twist. The way you describe your position would lead me to believe your left hip is forward, causing your left foot to point inward. This also means your right hip is back from neutral and helping cause your right foot to point slightly outward. You would think “fixing” this would be to adjust your left hip forward.

Regardless, there should most certainly be some biomechanical cause to this. Check your flexibility throughout your hips and legs. The remedy could be something as simple as a light stretching routine or more complex like a heel wedge/ or shoe shim. Also, make sure your handlebars are adjusted straight, you hold onto the same place on your bars (not relative to the brake hoods as those could be off, but rather on the bars themselves), and your saddle has not settled or is turned slightly.

Good luck!