Misconceptions of riding posture
1. Stiff shoulders and over-extended elbows
When riding, shoulders should be relaxed, elbows naturally slightly bent, wrists relaxed. If all the upper limb joints are locked straight, the vibration of riding will be directly transmitted to the joints, producing excessive impact on the joints and thus injury; overly tight muscles are also more likely to be fatigued and sore, affecting riding safety.
2. Waist forward tilt
In riding sports, the waist should be kept naturally straight, excessive forward leaning posture will cause excessive pressure on the lumbar spine. After long hours of riding, it is easy to produce symptoms of lower back pain, which may also further cause injuries such as herniated discs.
The correct posture is the blue one for the spine chart, and the wrong one is the red one.
3. Excessive backward leaning of the neck
Just keep your eyes in front of the front wheel of the bicycle and pay attention to the surrounding conditions with your after-light, and don’t raise your head too much. Maintaining the neck back for a long time will not only cause shoulder and neck pain, but will also affect the posture of the hands and waist.
4. Use the middle foot, heel or toe pedal
The correct pedaling position is to use the forefoot pedaling, that is, the root of the toes, the widest position of the foot. The correct way to pedal to fully apply to the leg muscles, if the pedal position near the heel, it will not be applied to the calf muscles, the thighs and buttocks muscles cause excessive burden; if the toe pedal, it will be excessive use of calf muscles, easy to cause calf muscle fatigue or even cause injury.
5. Ankle instability
In cycling, the ankle angle does not change much, mainly with leg movements to drive the pedal movement, too much ankle movement means excessive use of calf muscles to complete pedaling, long time down, in addition to easier fatigue, may also cause muscle damage or Achilles tendonitis.