We left the slopes back in the past and we give way for the mountain bike season during the warmer months in Queenstown.
But… One of the most common injuries/pain related with cycling is neck pain.
This is because it is an activity that requires you to stay for long periods of time in an unnatural position. Cycling stresses your back in a flexed position, this coupled with needing to look where we are going means we compensate leaving the neck in an hyperextended position.
This hyperextended position creates a change on the weight distribution through our muscles and spine. The deep neck extensors are tensed for a long time, blood flow to the area is decreased, becoming fatigued, getting stiffer. This leads to trigger points, muscles spams and potentially a bit of pain.
So, how can we fix neck pain caused by cycling?
Correct fit of your bike.
Professional treatment to ensure muscle and joint flexibility
Regular stretching to maintain a healthy muscle length.
Let’s focus on Regular Stretching…
Regular stretching on cyclist will have immediate effects:
Accelerate recovery: Reducing muscle soreness and stiffness by increasing blood flow, delivering more nutrients to your muscles and removing lactic acid and metabolites.
Increased Oxygen Flow: Decreasing post-ride soreness with the added bonus of promoting cell growth and organ function.
Relaxation: can give both you and your muscles time to relax. With stress or exhaustion, the muscles will begin to tighten. Stretching can encourage a release of endorphins and leave you feeling encouraged.
It will also have cumulative effects:
Prevent Tissue Degradation: Over time and with age, the body starts dehydrating and stiffening. On a cellular level, muscle fibres start developing cross-links with parallel fibers making them stick together. Stretching slows this process by stimulating the production of tissue lubricants and pulling the interwoven cellular cross links back into an ordered state.
Flexibility
Injury Prevention: Stretching keeps the connections strong, treating and preventing injury, improving functionality and longevity.
Better Posture & Aerodynamics: Stretching the right muscles can help correct poor posture both on and off the bike. By lengthening tight muscles that pull areas of the body away from their natural position you can maintain proper posture without the desire to round the back or slouch.
After all of this, you might wonder, what exercises/stretches are good for me?
Here we give you a couple of them that might help!
——————————————————————--Neck Rotation————————————————————————
———————Upper trapezius Stretch ——————————————-Scapula Elevator Stretch————————-
————————————————————20-25 secs each side———————————————————————-
—————————Lateral rotation ————————————-—————-Scalene Stretch———————————-
—————-———3 times per side——————————————-——20-25 secs each side———————————
Feeling a bit cycle sore and want some professional attention? Book a massage therapy today!