If you’re a professional cyclist like the individuals in the Tour de France, you are probably fine when it comes to preventing injuries and pedalling with maximum performance. However, if you are a beginner, it’s a different story.

The chances are you’re not a professional cyclist and aren’t participating in the Tour de France. Moreover, you might not know the best ways to prevent yourself from sustaining injuries when you’re training for an event or exercising on a regular basis. Preventing injuries is a key component if you are to have a smooth ride and make sure you are working to the best of your abilities.

To lend a helping hand, here are a few tips to preventing common cycling injuries, including great treatments like Sports and Spinal Physio.

Have the Proper Equipment

When you are training for a competition or are cycling your normal exercise route, it is very important you make sure you’ve got all the proper equipment so you don’t sustain a friction injury or damage muscles because they’re stretching too far.

Having the best equipment is not necessary, but whether or not it fits is another story. Having something like a poorly fitted helmet can leave you partially blind to the road ahead and a poor-quality saddle can lead to friction burn on your bum – something that none of us want.

Make Sure to Get Sports and Spinal Physio Treatment

One of the best and guaranteed ways you can prevent an injury is by seeing a sports and spinal physiotherapist. Physio treatment is something that professionals in the Tour de France use all the time to make sure they’re cycling at their best without the risk of injury.

Sports and spinal physio involves the adjustment and realignment of your bones and muscles, making sure nothing slips or ruptures during an intense session. It is crucial that you see a physiotherapist on a regular basis to ensure you’re maintaining peak performance.

Learn an Effective Technique

Something that the Tour de France cyclists make sure of is technique. A solid technique can make sure you’re reducing the impact on your muscles and body without reducing the quality of your cycling. One of the classic techniques that the professional use is smooth peddling. This may seem like a basic and silly thing to say but the number of individuals that have a poor peddle technique is staggering.

Peddling smoothly can make sure you are not putting the leg muscles under stress, increasing strain and putting them at risk of injury. Try different one-legged drills to help this. Push down, scrap back, pull up and kick over – that’s how it should be done.

Build Your Upper Body

Upper body strength is still very important even if the primary muscle engagement is focused on the legs. If you have a quick look at a Tour de France competitor, their upper body and core strength is excellent because they know its importance. Don’t just focus on your legs during training sessions. Get down the gym and work on the upper body, improving its flexibility also. Although your core is not engaged in cycling, it is prone to injury because of the shrinking effect cycling has on the core, so make sure it is fit.

 

With the tips above you should be well on your way to cycling just like the Tour de France professional you see on TV. Heck, you may be training for it yourself, in which case, we wish you all the best! If you ever need cycling injury prevention assistance, call 9144-1510 now to schedule an appointment with one of our physiotherapists.