Pilates on my bike got rid of my wrist pain!

Picture 1 (before)

One of the things I love about my Pilates practice is being able to take what I’ve learned about efficient movement and anatomy and apply it to my everyday life.  Today I’m talking about how I was able to make a minor tweak in my bike riding position that allowed me to move from my center more, create more balance throughout my body and stop something from hurting!!

Something I noticed when I went for a longer bike ride was that my hand and fingers would fall asleep and my wrist would be achy and sometimes painful.  What I realized was that I was compressing my wrist joint and probably compressing a nerve that was causing this pain.(see picture 1 to the right) So I did a little experiment on my bike ride today!

Picture 2 (after applying Pilates!)

I focused on putting more weight into the balls of my fingers, lengthening my wrist joint and using the muscles in my hand, wrist and arm to create this position. (see picture 2 below) Immediately I could feel a difference throughout my whole body!  Creating this “working” hand and wrist position immediately cued my body into a better whole body alignment.  I was no longer sinking into my wrist or my shoulders and I could feel this fire my core muscles creating more whole body work.

Maintaining this position definitely took some effort on my part at least at first and when I was tired climbing hills!!  But I found the more I reminded my self to find this position the better I felt and the more power I had to get up those hills!  Not only did my wrist and hand not hurt but I had a sense of moving from my center and the biking seemed easier.

Are you a cyclist or runner who has been able to use their mind-body movement practice to fine tune your movement?  I would love to hear your story!!  Share it in the comments below or share on social media!!