If you’re one of the many who received a new bike this Christmas and want to enjoy cycling without getting injured, this guide is for you. Whether you’re a beginner or getting back into cycling, understanding how to ride safely is crucial.

What Should You Know?

Cycling, especially if new to you, can lead to back pain or injuries if not done correctly. Here’s what you need to know to enjoy your ride without hurting yourself:

• Build Up Gradually
  • Why? Because your body isn’t used to the new activity, jumping into long rides can strain muscles not accustomed to this level of work.
  • How? Start with short distances and increase gradually. Mix in other forms of exercise to build overall fitness, flexibility, and endurance.
• Ride with Proper Form
  • Why? Incorrect posture can lead to back, neck, or arm injuries.
  • How? Maintain a neutral spine to avoid too much arching or rounding, which stresses your lower back. Ensure your shoulder blades are stable to minimize arm pressure. Keep your pelvis and hips stable during the repetitive pedaling motion to reduce lower back stress.
• Ensure Your Bike Fits You
  • Why? A bike that’s too big or small can cause improper body alignment leading to discomfort or injury.
  • How? Consider a professional bike fitting. Adjustments to the saddle, pedals, and handlebars can make a significant difference in how comfortably and efficiently you ride.

When to Act?

Start cycling with these safety tips. If pain hits, look at your form. Check your fitness level. Make sure your bike fits.

Where to Seek Help?

Locally: Look for a licensed physical therapist or a bike fitting specialist in your area who can provide personalized advice and adjustments.

Why This Matters?

Prevent Injury: The right approach can keep you cycling without pain or injury.

Enjoyment: Proper technique and bike fit enhance your cycling experience, making it more enjoyable and sustainable.

Cycling is a fantastic way to stay active, especially during these times, but remember, everyone’s body is different. Tailoring your approach to your personal needs will ensure you get the most out of your new bike while staying safe and healthy. If you’re unsure, seek professional guidance to customize your ride to your body’s requirements.

Feeling Pain or Stiffness While Cycling?

If you begin to suffer any pain or already feel stiff when riding your bike, don’t wait. Call 512-215-4227 now to get started with our physical therapy team at CORE Therapy & Pilates. We’re here to help you enjoy a smooth, pain-free cycling experience. Let’s tailor a solution just for you! Click here to contact us.

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All right, good morning guys… Hey, it’s Stephen Dunn with CORE Therapy and Pilates and in a moment I’ll be joined by my buddy, Dr Jared and what we’re gonna be going over today is something that’s been coming up in the clinic frequently in the last few weeks and what that is, is people with shoulder pain… and the shoulder pain that they are having is based on their shoulder elevating up towards their ear and typically what I’m referencing there is some, I’m working with some young athletes. I have a couple of pitchers and a couple of throwers, football throwers, baseball throwers and I also have several tennis players that I’m working with that are having the same issue and what’s going on is they’re having a situation where their arm goes, overhead to do the… The activity that they’re doing, the blade is really high up in the air like this and we really want that blade to be down like this. So we’re gonna go over that a little bit and kinda go over some ways of, some tips to keep out of that, here we go, Dr Jared is in the house, so we’re gonna use him for a model… now go ahead and I’m gonna have you turn around to face the back and I want you to take that uh it’s the right shoulders. Let me get on the right side and raise that right shoulder into abduction, out to the side and so as he does that, what happens is the the blade is sitting in a position like this. The shoulder blade… now relax it down for me Jared. Now this time do that same thing, but let the shoulder hike up towards your ear. Yes and now raise that arm up…. so see the difference there and how jammed this is? and now come on down and then do the same thing, but keep it down. Look at the difference there. So his blade will move a little bit. Do that once more it’s a little bit of motion there, there we go that’s a little better, but now do it wrong, see that difference? and What happens… take a break. We see that so commonly that the first motion of whenever let’s say your pitching or serving a tennis is to go here instead of here. So being able to keep my arm here… this is not what we want, this is what we want… so we wanna be able to go here, not there or serving with a tennis racket here, not there and so that’s just something we’re seeing frequently… you got anything to say about that Jared… I am with it because it’s all about efficiency, right? Especially we got the young athletes trying to make it to the next level, that little bit can make a huge difference. That’s right and what happens when this is happening and elevating, the rotator cuff tendon that sits in here.. there’s a little tiny rotator cuff tendon and let me grab something and we look at the shoulder blade here. We got a rotator cuff tendon coming in… oh man it’s not working for me like I wanted to… of course… It’s live television ladies and gentleman It never works like it wants. So we got this little Green band is gonna represent the rotator cuff and what happens whenever that shoulder elevates that rotator cuff is getting pinched and then you go to move your arm, It’s pinching more, so someone that would have tendinitis or bursitis or any of the itis situations going on there is an inflammation going on, but it’s typically gonna be coming from this raising up more than anything else, so in order to improve tendinitis, bursitis it’s not just working on the inflamed area it’s working on keeping that shoulder blade down, which comes from the lower trap’s, It comes from the lat’s and what ends up happening is in our day-to-day world, we spend our upper traps like this, our levator like this and we don’t have a situation where we can get into this position very well. So that’s our message for today. If you need some individual attention in getting your shoulder blade out of your ear… that’s what we’re here for, just come see us, comment below with any questions… share this out with any friends or family that might be, this information might be beneficial for, especially the youth athletes out there,…that’s right and that’s what we’re seeing a lot with this, young tennis players, young baseball players and young football players, basically throwing activities or overhead activities, whether serving volleyball, tennis, whatever… so that’s, what we got for you today. I hope this makes sense and uh we’ll see you on the flip side… bye guys… healthy shoulders y’all.

Have some pain that you would like Stephen Dunn or Dr Jared Aguilar to look at?

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The post Why Do I Have Shoulder Pain With Serving In Tennis? With Throwing A Baseball? appeared first on CORE Therapy & Pilates.

Hey… it’s Allyson at CORE and I just wanted to show you three dynamic stretches that you can do to help your running… two are gonna be for the legs, a hip flexor and a hamstring stretch and then one that’s gonna be for the upper chest. You could do these in the middle of a running workout or if you swim or bike and you happen to stop, you can take a break and do this. You can do them afterwards as well, but I just wanted to show you a few just to give you an idea…

The first one I’m gonna do is a hip flexor stretch. You can do this on the ground kneeling but if you have something you can put a back leg up on like a chair, thats what I am going to show. Place your right foot on the stool behind you and you’re trying to stretch your hip flexor. Now lunge up and down, ten times, one leg and switch and do it on the other leg… try not to twist the pelvis, try not to let your your back arch too much and let your knee bend a little bit. If you keep the back leg straight then your back is gonna take a little strain from that… just up and down and you’ll feel the stretch in the front of your hip and upper leg.

The second one is a hamstring stretch. Again you can you can do this on the ground or by propping a foot up on a chair or bench. For this dynamic stretch, you just want to lean forward on that leg and then stretch back into it and lean forward. We’re stretching this hamstring but we’re using the muscle and bending it and moving it while we stretch it. This is better than just a static stretch where you hold the stretch… That’s not so good… With this one you want to try to lengthen your spine, try not to be working your back out but your hamstring instead. You let that leg bend and keep your back relatively neutral.

The last one for the chest and you hold the ends of a towel or a jacket you raise your arms and stretch up and come back down. You want to feel a stretch through the top part of your chest by your clavicle…

Those are three dynamic stretches you can do to help loosen up during a workout especially if your a runner…

Thanks

CLICK HERE to check out the first blog in our Runners Series »

Reach out to us by phone at 512-215-4227 or by text at 512-902-8794…

Start the process of hiring our Physical Therapist by filling out this form to apply for a Free Discovery Session:

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The post Attention Runners! 3 Dynamic Stretches [Running Series: 4] appeared first on CORE Therapy & Pilates.

My Running story began in elementary school when I was a little hyper and my dad told me to go run around the block. If I came home still too hyper I would go do another lap. My dad and I would do some races together as I was growing up and I found running continued to calm my mind down.

So I’ve always loved running and have run injury free until my late 20’s and a few marathons.  That is when the injuries started… I had IT Band syndrome and plantar fasciitis which I blamed on my super cushion, low stability shoes. I got a custom orthotic but had to wear it all the time and would still have pain. 😞 Then I read Born to Run which did cause me to ask the question,

“Why do we have a higher incidence of  injuries since we started wearing ‘high tech’ shoes?”

I did an experiment with myself and started a few short intervals of barefoot running on soft grass or turf. Gradually the intervals were lengthened and I bought cheap aqua shoes at Academy to go with this minimalist running craze without spending $100 to do it.

Amazingly, my plantar fasciitis went away!

I could point my toes for 30 seconds without cramping (something I could not do for over 7 seconds). I bought some running sandals and started running in those all the time. No IT Band issues or plantar fasciitis!

Getting stronger feet has cured the plantar fasciitis and IT Band syndrome for me. It took a year of gradually increasing the strength by running longer distances without support, going barefoot at home, and scrubbing/ rubbing my feet, to now running in sandals (unless it is too cold). I do not recommend everyone starts running barefoot! Start to do a few barefoot strides after a workout twice per week or go barefoot more at home and see how much foot strength you can gain… 👣

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The post How I Cured My Plantar Fasciitis & IT Band Issues… [Running Series: 2] appeared first on CORE Therapy & Pilates.

Hey, it’s Allyson from CORE… This is the first blog in a series on running… I LOVE RUNNING! I am an avid runner.

I hear so many people that used to love to run and have had injury after injury and they quit running or doing the things that they think are causing their problems.  Don’t Quit Running! Running may not be causing the problem, it may just bring the problem to life because it’s the hardest thing you are asking your body to do… Doing these activities better can be part of the cure.

Lets Fix It!!!

I am a physical therapist at CORE. I have had ITB issues, plantarfasciitis, SI issues, hamstring strains, low back pain and more. I was able to fix them all and will teach you more about that in a different blog coming soon…

Running can be addictive and when you experience an injury that might keep you from running… you panic! I understand what its like to love running and not want to quit

Prevention is worth a pound of cure! There is a lot of things you can do, but you need to DO THEM!

As our bodies get older and change but that means it takes some work to do the things you love and keep you happy.  I want you to be able to run healthy for a long time. So when you get a nagging pain or something feels not right, that is when you come to see a physical therapist. You won’t have to have as many visits and you avoid 6 weeks of bike trainer sessions in your garage because your nagging calf pain turned into a tear.

Don’t Quit, but listen to your body and do what it needs!

That’s it… See you guys later.

Call 512-215-4227 to learn more

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As many of you know, I am a college football fan and have been ever since attending LSU for Physical Therapy school in the mid 90’s. We were not that great back then, but the games were always the best thing on your book for the fall. Lets just say I almost failed my PT boards because of my desire to go tailgate for a LSU game later that day, but thats another story.

So as huge of a college fan as I am, I do not care for the NFL and stopped watching 4-5 years ago. Trust me, because of Facebook, I know exactly how my hometown New Orleans Saints have performed during each and every game, every detail! So the Super Bowl is not that interesting to me and it is only on if my oldest son turns it on. He did come make me watch the last few minutes of the 4th and the OT of the recent Super Bowl and it was quite amazing. Then a few days later I saw a blog about how many players in the Super Bowl played 2 sports while in high school and I was amazed, in a great way… More about that in a bit…

The theme I see a lot now is to have a young athlete specialize in one sport based on what everyone thinks is his or her best sport and all resources and time go into that sport, ALL IN!!!

So here is an example for you: So little Johnny is the next Drew Brees according to everyone, including the coaches, parents and community. So he is going to start (or continue) playing football year round at 8 or 9 years old and start training with private coaches and fitness professionals. I have seen it! Then by the time lil Johnny is in high school, he is injured constantly! First it’s the knees, then the back, then the arm and hand and so on and so on! Yeah he has huge quads and can squat a house, but did that help him from tearing his meniscus in his knee? Unfortunately not and may have even caused it.

So back to the Super Bowl:

According to TrackingFootball.com, 88.7 percent of the players from the New England Patriots and Atlanta Falcons played multiple sports in high school. That includes 52.8 percent who also were basketball players, 47.2 percent who also competed in track and field and 18.9 percent who also played baseball.

Broken down by team, 92.5 percent of the New England Patriots roster played multiple sports, led by 58.5 percent basketball players and 43.4 percent track athletes. Among the Atlanta Falcons, 84.9 percent played multiple sports, led by 50.9 percent track athletes and 47.2 percent basketball players.

I was really impressed with these numbers and would encourage all parents to encourage their kids to play multiple sports in high school.

Now back to the injuries:

Dr James Andrews had this to say about the spike in injuries to adolescent athletes:

“Specialization leads to playing the sport year-round. That means not only an increase in risk factors for traumatic injuries but a sky-high increase in overuse injuries. Almost half of sports injuries in adolescents stem from overuse.”

Who is Dr Andrews? Dr. Andrews, who has practiced medicine for nearly 40 years, is most famous for his ability to put professional athletes back together. These athletes — notably, a who’s who of quarterbacks — have signed contracts for a combined total well north of $1 billion after his surgeries. In 2010, Andrews was the only doctor to be named among the top 40 most powerful people in the NFL by Sports Illustrated.

Read the article on Dr Andrews here =>

Do you have a young athlete that is always complaining about aches and pains?

Are your kids asking to play just one sport?

Do you need a medical professional to talk to your spouse or family friend encouraging sports specialization?

Give us a Call at 512-215-4227 for learn more.

Does your child athlete need an Assessment of any nagging aches and pains? Click HERE to apply for a FREE Discovery Session and you and your child can be seen by our expert Physical Therapist and ask any questions that you want.

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The post What the Super Bowl Teaches About Kids Specializing in ONE SPORT? appeared first on CORE Therapy & Pilates.