What Are You Still Working Around?

We had a cyclist come into the clinic with low-back pain.

It wasn’t stopping them from riding.

At least, not completely.

But after about 30 minutes on the bike, their back would start to hurt. So rides got shorter. Intensity came down. Group rides became harder to commit to. Gravel races started disappearing from the calendar.

They could still ride.

They just couldn’t ride the way they wanted to.

And I think that’s an important distinction.

When we assessed them, we didn’t just look at the painful area.

We found a hip that was missing rotation and changing how they moved on the bike. We also found an old cleat shim that had been added as a short-term solution but was now contributing to the bigger problem.

The back was where they felt it.

But the back wasn’t the whole story.

Once we addressed the bigger picture, something more important than simply reducing pain happened:

They started trusting their body again.

Longer rides came back. Group rides came back. Gravel racing came back.

That’s the outcome I care about.

Because pain doesn’t have to be a 9/10 before it’s worth doing something about.

If you’re running less, avoiding certain workouts, cutting rides short or constantly modifying your training, your body is already telling you something.

The question isn’t just:

“How bad does it hurt?”

It’s:

“What is this stopping me from doing?”

If something immediately came to mind, maybe it’s time to stop working around it.

Our free Discovery Visit is designed to help you understand what’s contributing to the problem and get clear on the best next steps toward your goal.