Great Malanad Challenges (GMC – 2018) is the annual cycling event in and around Malanad in Karnataka (western ghats), for 7 days covering approximately 600kms in the hilly terrain with more than 20 + riders (including 5 women riders)
SPECTRUM PHYSIO is the official Physio partner for the event and for this season Dr.Dhanajay (P.T) and Dr. Jaison (P.T) helped the riders from their injuries and also to prevent further injuries.
Riders are of different profession and different background and few riders have previous GMC experience & few riders are amateurs. Physically everyone were not that much fit for racing but they just enjoyed riding for fun and know about their own willpower.
RIDERS STRATED THE DAY WITH PROPER WARM-UP THAT INCLUDES:
- LEG SWING
- CAT AND COW
- CHEST & DELTOID QUICK STRETCHES
- Lower extremity includes - HAMSTRING & GLEUTEAL QUICK STRETCHES, BUTT KICK and HIGH KNEES etc,.
The players had a tough race all throughout 7 days having narrow ascends and sloppy descends usually called as MALNAD FLATS and were struggling to achieve the finish line so breakpoints were there keep them refreshed and motivating.
“ HERE COMES THE PHYSIO ”
PHYSIO HAS A MAJOR ROLE IN HELPING THE RIDERS TO CYCLE
The most common issues faced by all the riders are the cramps and hamstring, quads stiffness due to continuous pedalling and excessive usage of those muscles.
Physios helps in releasing the cramps and relaxing the stiff muscles by stretching that going to help them to push further to finish the race
Kinesio Taping also plays a major role during cycling the most common parts that get painful and restrict the muscle, which decreases the performance, are the shoulder muscles followed by lower back, quads, hamstrings and calf sometimes.
We PHYSIOS carries physiCool (alternate to ICE), which is advanced type of cryo unit that gives an immediate pain relief and cooling effect and numbness to the skin and helps them to regain confidence and helps in healing.
Riders are happy to see the breakup to get stretched from Physio and relax their tight muscles and energize them to pedal forward.
The Key elements where Physios should keep in mind when attending the Cycling Riders on-field is “Injuries in cycling are far different from where we observe in clinical setup”. Especially the anterior knee pain in riders is different than traditional knee pain. Generally while examining anterior knee pain in clinical setup will get information of involved patellar articular surfaces and movement pattern. But in riders it get information of total kinetic chain of lower limb, where we should consider all other soft tissues of lower limb which are very crucial for peak performance.
Also, we PHYSIOS take care of Extrinsic and Intrinsic factors of the riders pre & post riding. The Extrinsic factors like their footwear, Saddle height and most important factor is TERRAIN which they are using for this particular season.
Now, Intrinsic factors like the style of pedalling, Muscle endurance, C-V Endurance, Maintaining and modifying the body position to use Aero-Dynamics and the most importantly their confidence levels.
Giving much more confidence to them to overcome from their injuries and to gain their confidence back to ride. That’s where the wordings about their injury and performance which we use with riders make difference.
THAT’S HOW WE MAKE DIFFERENCE IN RIDER’S PERFORMANCE……….
