Competitive athletes are to be envied: They have great bodies, slim, lean, muscular, toned down to the last fibre. At least that's the impression you get when you see athletes in action. But when professional cyclists bare their upper bodies, the spectator is sometimes overcome with pity rather than admiration: the shoulders hang forward, the chest looks slender, the back is hunched over, as if it is permanently stuck in the sitting position on the bike.
It's a pain in the back, as can be seen from all the racing cyclists who sit in the waiting room of orthopaedists with back pain - like Dr Frank Rößler from Nuremberg, himself an active triathlete. They always struggle with similar symptoms, reports the doctor: "The neck muscles are tense, the cervical and lumbar spine is painful, and patients are often unable to move their back freely or can only do so with pain. Fortunately, the symptoms are rarely more serious, with the pain radiating into the legs or arms. But headaches and sleep disorders can also trigger back problems."
IT PULLS AND TUGS
But why does the back so easily become a problem area when riding a road bike? There are two main causes: Back muscles and the spine. The back muscles must act as a counterpart to the strength of the legs and thus stabilise the torso. Without this stabilising work, opposing forces would cause the torso to twist, tilt and sway in all possible directions. However, even well-trained people often do not have enough strength in their back and abdomen to stand up to their legs for hours on end. The neck, shoulders and arms are also gradually affected.
The second problem: the shape of the spine on a road bike. Normally, it curves into a double S: the cervical and lumbar spine curves slightly forwards, while the thoracic vertebrae and coccyx curve backwards. This allows the spine to absorb shocks in a vertical direction like a spring element. If the cyclist leans low over the handlebars, the spine loses its double oscillation and only describes a large arc from the coccyx to the neck. As a result, every impact goes straight into the spine and vibrations are transmitted almost undamped to the shoulders and head. The neck muscles have to pull the head upwards during the ride and bend the cervical spine backwards, otherwise the cyclist would not be able to see the road ahead. Both put strain on the neck and shoulders.
