Expert advice: Muscle pain when riding a road bike - cause and treatment for muscle pain on the bike

TOUR reader Ingo W.: I have stabbing pain in my right front thigh that has been going on for six weeks. After training with the fascia roller (front of the thigh), the pain moves more to the groin and hip area, even to below the knee and outside the knee (pulling). When I bend my head forwards while sitting, I feel a pulling pain in the front of my thigh. At first I could only walk short distances, but after a course of injections (back) I was able to walk normally again. For a long time, I cycled 10,000 to 20,000 kilometres a year and therefore trained on one side. My fitness level is high. I never stretched, loosened or massaged.
My questions: If the posterior thigh muscle is shortened and the anterior muscle is heavily strained: Why do I only have pain in the front? What should the therapy look like? My doctors are currently treating me with painkillers such as catadolone or tramadol without success.

Dr Christian Merkl: Pain in the thigh can have various causes. For example, irritation of the nerve root at the level of the second and third or third and fourth lumbar vertebrae due to a herniated disc or a narrowing of the nerve exit (foraminal stenosis) can cause projection pain in the thigh. One indication of this could be that you feel pain when you bend your head forwards - stretching the skin of your back can increase this pain. Groin pain radiating to the inside of the knee joint is often the first sign of hip pain caused by osteoarthritis or inflammation. Dysfunctions of the sacroiliac joints lead to similar symptoms due to tension in the muscles surrounding the hip.

In principle, I am not a fan of stretching - it often achieves exactly the opposite of what is desired, namely that the muscles tighten in response to the stretching. Instead, the osteopathic approach is to encourage the fascia and muscles to remain movable against each other and prevent structures from sticking together. You can also promote this yourself with the help of a Black Role, through balancing sports such as swimming or a sauna session. All of this leads to a change in the tone of the muscles, which can be therapeutically effective. As a rule, muscle pain with tension usually has overriding causes. Tramadol and especially Flupirtine (Katadolon) should never be taken as self-medication, as there is a risk of significant side effects and there is no causal therapy.