Good Bike Fit Helps Prevent Injuries, Maximizes Power, and Is Key to Staying Comfortable While Riding

Bikes that don’t fit properly can make riding a bike a whole lot less comfortable and ultimately less fun. More seriously, improper fit can lead to myriad physical issues such as knee injuries, muscle strain, neck, back, foot, hand and wrist pain. Not to mention issues relating to folks’ lower extremities including saddle sores and even impotence in men.

Fit is important, and there are a handful of things you can do at home (given that you have an alan wrench set) to try to get the best fit out of your bike. However, if you’re still experiencing pain after trying to adjust for everything on your own (as I was recently with my left knee), it can be well worth a trip to see the professionals.

UPMC’s Cycling Performance

Luckily for us here in Pittsburgh, UPMC Sports Medicine has a Cycling Performance center, where experts in bicycle fitting and performance can help you fine tune things. For $75 ($65 for Bike Pittsburgh members), the professional athletic trainers on staff (Matt Tinkey and Phil Hensler) will do the following:

1. Musculoskeletal screening
2. Cycling-related injury assessment
3. And Evaluation of appropriate joint angles and pedaling forces including:

• varus and valgus (natural foot alignment)
• cleat position in order to minimize knee strain and foot pain, and maximize power
• saddle tilt
• saddle position (fore and aft)
• saddle height
• riding form (posture, pedal stroke, knee position)

For racers and people interested in maximizing their speed and endurance on a bike, they offer additional services at an added cost that tests for maximal oxygen uptake, peak power, lactate threshold, body composition, nutrition analysis and consultation, injury prevention and rehab services, and baseline testing for concussion assessment and management.

Assessments and Adjustments

Given that I’m mostly into riding my bike to work and the grocery store with only the occasional muscle-burner thrown in for fun, I opted for the basic fit assessment. They started out by taking a brief history and made sure they had an understanding of my knee pain.

They measured my legs to see if my legs were the same length (they were), and checked my standing posture to make sure I didn’t have any curvatures or looked off center in any way (fine there too). They also measured my varus and valgus. Fancy words meaning the angle at which my feet naturally hang when picked up off the floor (yup, fine there too). For folks with more extreme angles in their varus and valgus they will place a wedge in your shoe to keep your pressure even over the pedal.

From there they made sure my cleats were in the right position (they weren’t – not even close!). They used a laser level and some cool measuring techniques based on my toe joints to line pinpoint the proper place to locate the cleat (Photo below). This made a huge difference for me. I immediately felt like I was getting more power out of my pedal stroke. On top of that (and more importantly for me) I felt more comfortable.

After that adjustment, they got me on my bike which was hooked up to a trainer. From there they checked on my knee angle (see photo). I learned that 27-32 degrees at the 6 o-clock position is optimal. When I first got on the bike, my saddle was just a bit too high (they found that I was “ankling” and thus putting more stress on my calf muscles than is optimal), so they lowered my seat post. They also checked the fore/aft positioning of my saddle. It turned out it was a full inch too far back. Adjusting my saddle forward by that amount was critical. Immediately, pedaling became much more comfortable. They also checked the “float” which is how much your foot is able to move while clipped into the pedal.

To finish up, Matt and Phil lined up my knee position while pedaling with my toes to check if anything was out of whack with my pedal stroke. Again, they used a laser level. Everything checked out! (see photo below)

Keep in mind, I knew, roughly, the various tricks of proper bike fit prior to going to this appointment, but was still fairly far off in the fore/aft positioning of my saddle and where my cleats were situated. Prior to this appointment I calculated my miles over the past decade at more than 30,000 (haven’t had a computer for much of the time) with only slight discomfort, which has started recently. Hopefully, thanks to what I learned at this fitting, I’ll be able to pedal many more miles without any problems.

If you’re experiencing any discomfort riding and are interested in getting a comprehensive bike fit, give Matt a call at the Cycling Performance Center. If you’re not already a member of Bike Pittsburgh, consider joining and use your membership card to save $10 off of a $75 fitting.

Contact:
Matthew Tinkey, ATC
Certified Athletic Trainer
UPMC Sports Medicine
3200 S. Water St
Pittsburgh PA 15203
412.432.3770
tinkeyml@upmc.edu