If you're a cycling enthusiast, here are some situations in which it might be worth paying a visit to your local physio clinic.

1. You are going to start training intensely for an upcoming long-distance cycling race

If you will be participating in a long-distance cycling race in the near future and will need to train hard for this event, it may be a good idea to book an appointment with one of your local physiotherapists. The reason for this is as follows; the high-intensity training you will be doing in preparation for the race will take its toll on your tendons, muscles and ligaments. Training on your bike for hours every day, for example, may strain one of your Achilles' tendons and cause inflammation in this part of your heel. If you fail to spot and treat this before the tendon becomes severely inflamed, you may find yourself unable to train or participate in your upcoming race, as you will be in too much pain.

Overtraining could also lead to you pulling a muscle or tearing a ligament; these type of injuries could also affect your ability to cycle. However, if you have regular physio appointments throughout the training process, you can minimise your risk of developing an injury that could impede your ability to train and race. For instance, the massaging and stretching that are done during a typical physio session can help to remove knots in muscles that could otherwise make those muscles more susceptible to injury.

Additionally, if a physiotherapist notices the early warning signs of inflammation in a tendon (such as the aforementioned Achilles tendon), they can treat this inflammation with ice and heat therapy before it becomes severe and causes tendonitis.

2. You're struggling to recover from a cycling-related injury

You don't necessarily have to see a physiotherapist for every single injury you sustain whilst cycling. Mild muscle strains, for example, can often be resolved with just a few days of rest. However, if you have sustained an injury whilst cycling that is taking an unusually long time to heal, and which is affecting your ability to recommence your normal cycling routine, then it might be necessary to have the injured body part examined and treated by a physiotherapist.

The physiotherapist will be able to see if there are any underlying problems that are slowing down the recovery process, which need to be treated in order for the primary injury to heal. For example, if as a result of sitting on your bike seat for long periods of time, you are suffering from sciatica (a painful condition, wherein the sciatic nerve becomes compressed) and it is not going away, your physiotherapist may need to check for signs of scar tissue in the affected area, as this tissue may be touching and therefore worsening the compression of the nerve.

If this is the case, they may decide to use ultrasound therapy to break up this scar tissue, which should, in turn, help to relieve your sciatic pain.

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