Don’t Let It Happen to You

I’m concerned about your pelvic tilt. I know. I know. That’s a weird way to open a conversation, but I have a number of reasons to suspect you’ve got a posterior pelvic tilt problem that may not have blossomed yet or might be the reason you’re not riding the way you used to.

As usual, of course, I’m really talking about myself.

I’ve been off the bike for a month. I explained that here. And in that time, I’ve been trying to untangle the various knots of my physical disfunction and find my way back to wholeness, wellness, and a modicum of regular pedaling.

On paper, I have been doing things the right way for a long time. Alongside my regular riding, I have also been running (impact for bone health), playing soccer (for multi-directional muscle strength, balance and stability), lifting weights, doing body weight exercise, working on mobility and stretching. I eat well and don’t carry a lot of extra weight.

And I’m a wreck.

There are a few reasons for this that are not captured by a simple list of my activities. First, I try too hard. An aging body has a limited number of big efforts in it per week, and I have been over the limit consistently for a long time, not to mention the regular crashing that comes from pushing limits on a mountain bike. Those injuries accrue interest faster than an abused credit card.

Second, and more importantly my mobility and stretching work has not kept up with all my other load-based work. My commitment to these aspects of my fitness have been cursory at best.

Finally, my everyday ergonomics, the way I stand, the way I sit, have been eroding my core stability, like a termite nest in an old farmhouse. All my beams have begun to sag and turn to powder. The exterior looks quaint, maybe even charming, but the inspector isn’t going to clear this place for habitation.

This brings me back to pelvic tilt.

Like so many of us in the Information Age, I spend too much time sitting. I sit and write. I sit through meetings (though blessedly few compared to most folks). I sit and read. And of course, because I’m a cyclist, I sit on a bike, too. If you sit incorrectly, that’s a lot of bad ergonomics finding its way into your body, with all sorts of knock-on effects that eventually turn you into a walking apostrophe, with a rounded back and hunched shoulders. A major component of this malady is posterior pelvic tilt (PPT).

I have experienced lower back pain, but also an array of lower leg injuries, the result of all the muscles and tendons in my posterior chain shortening into my bad posture. I have a frequently strained quadratus lumborum, and a lumbar spine that is entirely the wrong shape. I have been warned that disk troubles lurk in the darkness of my future.

The lumber spine is meant to hold an inverse curve, but because we sit in slouched positions, over time it straightens or even takes on a C-curve. On the bike, we often sit in this rounded position and compound the damage it causes by pushing against that C-curve to make power to the pedals. On the mountain bike, many technical maneuvers require a quick thrusting backwards, again, into that C-curve, to pop the front wheel up over an obstacle. Cyclists also tend to have tight hip flexors, which encourage the curve to ossify. This is all bad.

Ask any bike fitter. Their customers initial position is usually a nightmare for spinal health, and they lack the flexibility to get into a proper ergonomic position due to lack of flexibility. The slam-that-stem mania that crept into road bike set up a decade ago was really a crime against spinal health for most riders, a stupid idea rooted in aesthetics. Oh, we look good, even if we need surgery later to correct the damage.

Cool.

But ok, what are the answers? Let’s work from the bike backwards.

If you have back pain, or even just muscle fatigue after a long ride, consider getting a bike fit. Especially for older riders, a bike fit can make you more comfortable, healthier, AND prolong your riding life. If you don’t have the cash for a fit (or access to a good fitter near you), you can experiment with bar height and saddle position. Higher bars will allow even inflexible riders the ability to straighten out their backs more. A forward tilted saddle can also alleviate the symptoms of excessive posterior pelvic tilt.

Off the bike, there are myriad things you can do. Take a look at where you sit. Does it offer the lumbar support you need? If you’re working all day in a reverse curve and then following that up with couch time, where we tend also to lay in a C-curve, then you should make some changes.

I’ll be 53 at the end of the month, and I’ve come to believe that, if you’re over 50, and if you’re any sort of athlete, and even quite possibly if you’re not, you ought to have yoga in your routine. I’ve spent the last month foam rolling, laying on a therapy ball, stretching and even meditating (or trying). That I haven’t lost my mind is a minor miracle.

The chiropractor (two of them actually) has identified my lumbar spine as a problem. I have two pelvic tilts that need addressing, one side-to-side, one front-to-back. This state of affairs leads to a leg length discrepancy that isn’t great for repetitive use activities like pedaling a bike. In fact, it’s not good for any activities, and you know how much I love activity.

While some of the world is working on their Festive 500, I’ll be on a treatment table or splayed across a foam roller. This is not only a time for eating too much and resenting your family. It’s also a time for resolutions, and maybe this year you might consider paying more attention to maintaining the one body you’ve got, in whatever ways you think you can. Don’t let what’s happened to me, happen to you.

Read this piece for more useful information on how find your best position on the bike.