7 Surprising Sources of Cycling Pain

The root cause of what's hurting might not be what you expect

By selene yeager August 31, 2016

 

Illustration by Shutterstock

Sometimes it’s really clear why you’re hurting. Maybe you slid out on your hip and now your hip hurts. Maybe you rode 100 miles after never having gone more than 45 and now your knees, back, neck, and everything else hurts.  Other times, the source of pain is more mysterious. That’s because pain doesn’t actually come from where it hurts: It comes from your brain as a signal to get your attention and protect you. These signals might be protecting an injured body part, like a pulled muscle or inflamed joint. But not always, says Grove Higgins, DC, medical director of Human Performance and Rehabilitation Center of Colorado Springs. 

“Pain gets the message to you that something is wrong. But it doesn’t tell you what or even how major it is,” he says. “Depending on how full your ‘threat bucket’ is, a sliver can feel like a log. Or there can be a log that you barely notice.” 

Threat bucket? Yep. We all have one. It represents the cumulative stress (real or perceived) inside our brain. When it gets too full, the brain sounds the alarm in the form of pain. Here are some sources of pain that may surprise you.

Your Emojis

That's right, your emotions can significantly affect how you process pain. In one study of Swedish airline baggage handlers, the severity of back and shoulder pain they felt and how much it interfered with their job was directly associated with how they rated their job satisfaction.

It’s not just “in your head,” says Higgins. Stress not only creates muscle tension, which can lead to pain, but it also interferes with your brain’s ability to inhibit all the little pain signals it gets during the day. So when you’re stressed, your pain threshold may be lowered. Whether it’s yoga, deep breathing exercises, meditation, using a dayplanner, or making changes in your life situation, lowering your daily stress level can help reduce pain

Scar Tissue

Cumulative trauma through overuse and unresolved tension (like, say, hammering on the bike without adequate recovery) can lead to scar tissue, reduced range of motion and painful trigger points.

“It puts your body in constant fight or flight mode, so there’s always tension,” says Higgins. When there’s chronic tension, there’s often pain, because the brain is trying to get your attention.

In this case, planned recovery, cross-training, foam rolling, and certain massage techniques like active release therapy (ART) can help.

Your Imbalances

Are your quads doing all the pedaling while your glutes are just along for the ride? Are your chest muscles so shortened and your back so weak that you’re in a perpetual aerodynamic tuck, even when you’re walking down the street? It’s easy to develop muscular and postural imbalances in a sport like cycling, where you’re holding one position and calling on just a few primary movers for prolonged periods of time.

“When your thoracic [mid to upper] spine is locked up, it puts strain on your shoulders and even hip flexors,” says Higgins.

Full body stretching and strengthening exercises twice a week can go a long way in preventing pain due to body imbalance. 

Your Sense of Balance

Your body is constantly evaluating where you are in space and keeping you balanced and upright, both on your feet and on your wheels as you ride. This is called your vestibular system (inner ear) function. When it’s dysfunctional, your performance takes a hit, says Higgins.

“Your muscular tension increases and your cycling efficiency suffers, which means you’re working harder than you should, just to keep rolling down the road in a straight line,” he says. Muscling the bike around like this paves the way for pain. 

To test yours: Stand on one foot and move your head left and right at a slow pace. You should be able to do this for 30 seconds without losing balance or touching your other foot to the ground. 

To sharpen it: Perform this “Clock Face Balancing” drill. Stand on your left foot and tap the toes of your right foot at each clock position from 12 to 6 about 2 feet away from your body. Repeat standing on the right foot while tapping counterclockwise from 12 to 6 with your left food. Perform once with eyes open. Then try with eyes closed (and make that your goal).

Your Past

Old cycling injuries have a way of coming back to haunt us, even after they are seemingly fully healed.

For one, injuries often don’t heal “100-percent good as new,” so there can be residual damage which leads to imbalances. In that case, your pain threshold may be lower, because the nerves are more easily triggered and the brain—perhaps overly eager to protect this once-injured area—may be quicker to signal pain. 

To help “reassure” your body that those old injuries are indeed healed, Higgins recommends joint mobility drills—moving the joint or limb through its entire range of available, pain-free motion. “These can be as simple as ankle tilts and knee circles,” says Higgins. “But the power is profound to enhance brain-body connection and reinforce that the problem area is actually okay now,” he says. “If you encounter pain while moving through a range of motion, slow down the movement and reduce the range of motion until there is no pain. Eventually your pain-free range will increase.”