Is Cycling Bad for Tight Hip Flexors? – Dr.Berg

Low back pain from cycling is common and simple to relieve.

Timestamps:
0:00 How to help low back pain from cycling, and relieve tight hip flexors too
0:35 If you have your feet clipped to the pedals, that’s a lot better than if you don’t
2:18 This is what I recommend to alleviate low back pain

Someone who is a cyclist asked me how to help with low back pain from cycling. They had very tight hip flexors too.

One of the challenges, when you ride a bike, is doing a repetitive motion (pedaling) over and over again. You work certain muscles way more than others. For example, you work your hip flexors, which are the muscle that bends the top part of your body over your lower body. You also work your knee extensors.

If you have your foot clipped into the pedal, that’s better because you can pull one leg up while you push down with the other. Otherwise, you use a lot more knee extension as you push down over and over.

You’ll build up specific muscles in your quadriceps; specifically, the rectus femoris. It attaches to your hip and is both a hip flexor and a knee flexor, and becomes overly developed when you cycle. Any time you have one muscle that’s overdeveloped compared to its counterpart, you’re liable to have an imbalance.

You also have a problem with an overdeveloped iliopsoas muscle, which is a muscle in combination with your psoas muscle that attaches from the inside of the lower back to your femur. The iliopsoas attaches from the inside of your pelvis to your femur.

If you overdevelop the rectus femoris and the iliopsoas, they tend to keep you in a flexed state. You lose the symmetry between the muscles in the front of the body and the back. This is what causes your low back pain.

Here’s what I recommend you do to relieve the low back pain from cycling. Of course, stretch, but you need to do more. When I test a cyclist for flexibility, they don’t usually appear to be very stiff. The real issue is the overdevelopment of the muscles I mentioned, leading to an imbalance. In other words, a weakness in the opposing muscle.

The opposing muscles I want you to strengthen are primarily your hamstrings and your glutes. I put some links below this, to videos that will show you how to strengthen these opposing muscles. I also included some links to videos for effective stretching. Your hamstrings will help your knee flexors, and your glutes will help with hip flexors.

I also highly recommend you do yoga because it involves all of your muscles to develop flexibility and strength. My recommendation actually goes for any sport that’s unilateral and uses repetitive motion, such as golf.

Now you know what to do for low back pain from cycling!

Dr. Eric Berg DC Bio:
Dr. Berg, age 55, is a chiropractor who specializes in Healthy Ketosis & Intermittent Fasting. He is the author of the best-selling book The Healthy Keto Plan and is the Director of Dr. Berg Nutritionals. He no longer practices but focuses on health education through social media.

Disclaimer: Dr. Eric Berg received his Doctor of Chiropractic degree from Palmer College of Chiropractic in 1988. His use of “doctor” or “Dr.” in relation to himself solely refers to that degree. Dr. Berg is a licensed chiropractor in Virginia, California, and Louisiana, but he no longer practices chiropractic in any state and does not see patients so he can focus on educating people as a full-time activity, yet he maintains an active license. This video is for general informational purposes only. It should not be used to self-diagnose and it is not a substitute for a medical exam, cure, treatment, diagnosis, and prescription or recommendation. It does not create a doctor-patient relationship between Dr. Berg and you. You should not make any change in your health regimen or diet before first consulting a physician and obtaining a medical exam, diagnosis, and recommendation. Always seek the advice of a physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. The Health & Wellness, Dr. Berg Nutritionals, and Dr. Eric Berg, D.C. are not liable or responsible for any advice, course of treatment, diagnosis or any other information, services, or product you obtain through this video or site.

Thanks for watching!

If you have low back pain from cycling, you’ll want to watch this video.

[sashaluq]

For my lower back pain, my personal trainer (whom is also Dr. Mercola's PT) recommended “hip lifts” or “lying hip raises.” This successfully engages the gluts, hamstrings, and lower back muscles. All of these muscles work together to support your lower back. Try a few every morning when you get up! Best wishes everyone!

[thomasromeni]

Hi, Dr. Berg . I would have needed this video two decades ago. That would have saved me some of the difficulties I've had in both hips. Until a year and a half ago, I was a passionate cyclist who, if not outdoors, was at home on the spinning bike, almost every day by road bike or mountain bike. I also did strength training, but a few years ago I thought I could omit all the leg training, because I'm riding without so much bike. A fatal mistake, because the entire back of the leg plus gluteal muscle remained outside. Fortunately, I'm a lot of hiked and at least compensated for something like that. Who knows what else would have happened? Greetings from germany .

[panchopuskas]

I'm 73 and I've tried just about every sport and exercise regime know to conclusion?....Try brisk walking, especially gear or special equipment necessary....just a bit of discipline....

[Sampardhanani]

Hey . I thought I will miss my teacher since he is busy in the summit . But you had it all planned sir .thanks .

[bwilliams]

Alternate between hiking and cycling for balance.
Thankyou DrBerg, More cycling videos please!

[lf]

I recommend to my clients anterior hip stretches for this particular issue. You have to "open up" the contracted muscles. It also feels really good to them (when they lie down on their backs) to place a supportive pillow or rolled up towel under the lumbars. Again, this opens up the anterior pelvis. Hope that helps someone. 🙂

[AppallingScholar]

I have been cycling for past 6 years and this explains everything.

[CarbageMan]

When I first started cycling, my quads were _really_ sore. I found that increasing the RPM (so, between 95 and 100 is perfect) seemed to take a lot of the load off the quads. I'm not sure why, but I did find out later that cycling at a low RPM is sub-optimal. When I started I was in the 70's, so that makes sense.

[tbfhwli]

How about Pilates?
Yoga weirds me out, with ties that are contrary to my beliefs.

[paulojrg]

Ioga is great for everything like you pointed out and to this particular cycling issue brisk walking is a great complement.

[andrewwinkler]

Hi Dr. Berg, have you considered doing a video on chronically enlarged lymph nodes, like I suggested in a previous comment? Seems to be an untouched topic online.

[yangpiao]

The concept of balancing opposing muscles a critical aspect often overlooked by practitioners. I only found out about it through Neurokinetic Therapy. Glad to hear it mentioned elsewhere!

[wangflop]

I'm aware of my anterior pelvic tilt and I was wondering if cycling was one of the causes. Then I see this video and it confirmed what I thought. I guess it is time to start deadlifting.

[dyahviona]

A video about joint health please. To help boost recovery process of joint injury, or simply to strengthen joints for those who train hard. I know some fitness expert simply say taking more collagen to support joints, but maybe you know something more

[zang]

There have been reliable studies that showed almost no one with clip-in pedals actually pulls up on the pedal. What most do is push down less on the upstroke. That feels like pulling up because of the reference point of platform pedals.

[cesarg]

Hi, what about indoor rowing? I had a lumbar micro discectomy a couple of months ago and I’m hesitating about going back to use my concept2.

[Snipersounds]

Thank you Dr Berg! This video was just what I needed!

[sargondp]

Not sure what find of cycling he/she is doing but the butt is highly developed by climbing hills. Squats and other exercises help add strength too but nothing like roads with +5 degree slope that last for 10 miles or more (pieces shorter climbs together works too). I lived in CO so this was easy then and my butt muscles were stronger than my quads. Climbing also uses several muscles in the upper body, most of them in fact when you stand up (excepting the easily worked chest and biceps). The problem with pro cyclists is the weight imbalance is intentional as extra grams in the arms will slow you down over the course of several hours. Being on the bike for hours every day cause long term health issues as well .... Oh and briefly a couple of foods that many will not know the importance of for a cyclist: citrus (esp before ride), calcium (esp after)--huge difference in health and performance.

[PhilipMcAdam]

Thank you for this as I do a lot of cycling as have stopped driving. I cycle about 20 miles or more a day. I was wondering if I was over doing certain muscles. Will watch the other videos on this. Thank you Dr Berg

[jorgebarroso]

😎Stand up paddleboard for core, and bike for cardio.👍🏼