Biomechanics
By Amanda Brunner

Training after an injury

As everyone knows, the adamant mountain biker will eventually encounter some sort of injury. You know the old expression “it’s not if but when”. Injuries can very in severity from a bruise to a twisted wrist/ankle all the way to requiring surgery for repair. When you feel well enough to return to the sport, simply jumping on your bike and starting again can result in re-injury so you’ll want to ensure that your strength and function are back before jumping the gun. The following are four simple steps to take after an injury so as to return to the sport you love in no time.

Train unilaterally: It is very important that you train each limb separately when you return to your post injury training. If you do bilateral exercises such as squats or bench presses, your stronger limb will take over for the weaker one and therefore the injured limb will continue to be weaker. If you don’t force the weaker limb to do as much work as the stronger one, it will never be balanced! Your body will compensate and as a result you will continue to operate imbalanced. Training your body properly will avoid risking the inability to return to the same performance and strength you had before the injury.

Follow the weak side rule: When starting your routine begin with the weaker side. Do as many reps as possible on that side and then follow with the same amount of reps on the stronger side. It may not seem difficult for the stronger side and you might be compelled to do more, but remember that doing so will ruin the ultimate goal of having both sides equally developed.

The 2:1 technique: This technique helps with tightening ligaments and tendons as well as strength gaining. The technique is done by lifting a weight with two limbs and then lowering it with one. Also you can do a squat going down on one limb and then coming back up on two. Always make sure that you are doing the same amount on both the weaker and stronger limb, and also starting with the weaker limb as said before.

Use bodyweight and free weight movement: This assists with not only balance but also in using the whole muscle group. Unlike using machines, which tend to only concentrate on one specific muscle, bodyweight and free weights are more universal. This allows you to return to full function faster, so you can go back to the things that you love; okay let’s just say it- riding.

If you use these four easy steps you should be back on your bike in no time. Hopefully you will be fortunate enough to not sustain an injury, but if it does happen, this will get you back out there the right way.