Why Is Mobility Important For Mountain Bikers?
Discover just how important mobility is, and how it can help you on and off the bike…
Mobility is so important for mountain bikers, and pretty much every other sport there is; so why do we know so little about it? It can help with injury prevention, longevity, bike control and even comfort on longer rides. - What is Mobility -
Mobility is the ability to move our joints freely and easily through their full range of motion (commonly referred to as ROM) with control. Good mobility is particularly important for mountain bikers as it helps us to find our optimal riding position, maintain it, and move on the bike with proper alignment.Our body takes a hammering when we ride; constant repetitive movements in the lower body, the upper body holding a static position for hours at a time, and all of our joints acting as shock absorbers for the multitude of bumps, drops, jumps and whatever else mother nature might throw at us. If we’re not in the correct riding position then we are actually minimising our body’s efficiency when dealing with these obstacles, and repeated abuse in a slightly misaligned position can greatly increase the risk of injury whilst we ride.- Impacts on our Riding -
When we ride with poor mobility, we are putting those particularly immobile joints in a weakened position. Naturally our ROM is reduced and in order to compensate for this, our bodies will start looking to other body parts to pick up the slack left behind by our inefficient movements. After millions of years of evolution, our bodies are actually pretty good at adapting to their environments, so rather than stopping the weakened joint from moving in an incorrect way, other joints and muscles will be recruited to get stuck in and compensate for the inefficiency. Since our bodies are made up of a staggeringly impressive network of interconnected muscles, ligaments, tissues, tendons and bones (a.k.a the kinetic chain) this compensation can cause a chain reaction. The joints or muscles recruited to help cover an inefficient movement, are now not able to do their actual jobs properly either, so other muscles will step in once again to help, and so on and so forth. Poor mobility in one area can cause joint dysfunction in another area that may seem totally unrelated to the original problem- such is the complexity of our bodies. Here’s an example to help paint a clear picture of what our bodies do to cope with poor mobility.Poor thoracic (upper-back) mobility, often seen as a rounded (flexed) upper-back, causes the lumbar spine (or lower-back) to try and compensate by finding more length (extension), which can lead to lower-back pain and often injury. Our pelvis will then shift to support this extension, in turn, causing our hips to move out of their optimal position, which can lead to keen pain and the cycle continues. You get the idea; we can’t keep supporting new bits of our bodies with other bits as we will eventually run out! - How Mobility Helps -
Mobility work will help to reinforce correct movement patterns whilst on the bike, essentially cutting off the problem at the source- meaning no compensations and fewer inefficiencies, leaving us to enjoy riding in our optimal riding position injury and pain free! It’s important to bear in mind at this point that all of our bodies are different, and whilst there is a correct technique, our optimal riding positions will vary from person to person. Our bone structures are different, so are our preferences and tendencies, so not all of us will be able to ride in exactly the same way; what is important is being able to move pain free in your own optimal position, and these exercises will help you to get there. If you do want to improve your mobility and increase your longevity on the bike, then check out these beginner mobility moves to help you advance.
Or if you want more for your mobility, then check out our paid programmes.