caitelliott.co.uk » injury

Crash

Cait — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 13:26:07 +0000

My life seems to be a bit of a disaster zone at the moment. I got hit by a car on the way home from work last week. A driver didn’t stop at a crossroads where I had right of way and I went straight into the side of him smashing his door and window and snapping my forks. Not a nice feeling the split second between realising what is about to happen and hitting the floor! People quickly surrounded me panicking like mad having seen me flying up in the air and soon after an ambulance and the police arrived. What a palava!

I was pretty sore with colourful swollen bruises all down one side but my helmet saved me from the worst and I thought I’d got off lightly. I went to the doctor 3 days later for a checkup and after loads of tests, checks and worried looking faces I found out I’ve fractured a vertebra in my back (having ridden for 2 hours the day before!). My lovely road bike is written off too but at least the driver’s insurance should cover that.

SO annoyed. I’m stuck in rainy Zurich missing a long planned Easter mtb trip to Frejus in the south of France and can’t mountain bike for 6 weeks. To look on the bright side my German vocabulary now covers everything to do with crashing, dealing with police, ambulances, doctors and insurance.

I’m sticking to mountain bikes after this, much safer!

Calf update

Cait — Sat, 10 Nov 2012 12:11:55 +0000

Calf injury status – not fully recovered but somewhat improved. I took my focus off fixing my calves for a while in the summer, the constant hope for improvement with minimal success and nobody being able to really tell me what the problem is became too much of a head wrecker. Playing in the Alps for a couple of months was much better for my mental state of mind and can be easily justified as great technical training but to be honest, despite the nice photos I would swap it all in an instant to be back racing again.

The mid-sole cleat set up has helped, it took a while for my muscles to adapt (the quads and hamstrings have to work a lot more than normal) but I can now ride for longer without my calves shutting down. Living in Compressport calf compression sleeves has helped to reduce recovery time a lot too. Now that the weather has turned towards winter and snow is already covering the higher trails my brain is dying to get into winter training mode but first I’m on an all out mission to get fully fit.

Compex electrotherapy

A month completely off bikes (killer!), twice a week massages/dry needling and I’m currently sitting here plugged into a Compex electro-therapy machine with my legs pulsating spontaneously. Yoga, gym strength work and swimming are keeping me sane and will hopefully be beneficial on the bike later in the year. Whatever happens, enough messing around I’m racing next year, back to xc is first choice but if the calves aren’t yet perfect then I’m working on plan B…

Mid-sole cleats

Cait — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 20:42:22 +0000

mid sole cleat

My latest potential solution to the mystery calf injury is a dramatic change in cleat position from under the ball of the foot into the middle. Those in favour of this idea claim that it gives a better power output than with normal shoes since the larger muscles in your upper leg are recruited more through the pedal stroke. Most important to me at the moment however is that this means the calves are required to work far less.I would normally write it off as a being a bit too quirky but desperate times mean I’ll try anything. After a bit of help from my local bike shop Velo Elsener to drill holes through carbon soles and some longer screws I got them set up easily enough.

I’ve tried two rides so far and noticed a big difference. For the first time in a year I got home with quads feeling more tired than my calves, normally my calves give in before anything else starts to hurt. The dull ache I have been experiencing in my calves after rides was greatly reduced and the next day my legs felt almost normal. I can’t say for sure about power output but my legs felt like they had more kick on short climbs – I’ll test this more on some hills where I know how long it normally takes me this week. It’s early days but maybe I could be onto something thanks to doctor google, time will tell!

There are some small issues to be sorted, the cleats need to be made more secure as they started twisting around after clipping in and out a lot on the mountain bike. On technical descents the foot position felt a bit strange as its harder to drop your heels down and get your weight back but I think I can adapt to that with some time. On the road bike there might be an issue with the feet hitting the front wheel when turning since they are closer together.

more info here:
stevehoggbikefitting
Joe Friel and method for setting up here

Calf update

Cait — Sun, 08 Jul 2012 18:50:29 +0000

Having tested almost everything that could be wrong with my calves a process of elimination left the doctors convinced that compartment syndrome was the problem. Muscles are surrounded by a sheet like thing called fascia and when the muscles grow too fast the fascia doesn’t stretch with them causing pressure to build up in the muscle compartment, reducing blood flow and ultimately preventing the muscle from working properly. All the symptoms made sense but to confirm it they had to test the pressure in my muscles. The test is pretty nasty so took a long time to convince them to do it and for the first time I really hoped they didn’t find something – the only cure is an operation, which I was told would be highly un-recommended due to the long term side effects so I’ve actually spent the last few months trying to accept that I might never be able to ride properly again.

For the test they stuck giant needles 3cm into both calf muscles and injected some fluid to measure the pressure. Then I had to do some flat out intervals on a stationary bike in 35°C heat until my calves got tight and sore (painful in itself when you haven’t trained for 9 months!). And finally to take the pain further then stuck the needles in again to find out the change in pressure, this time jabbing them around a few times to be sure they had the right spot. Thank god the pressure wasn’t enough for it to be compartment syndrome but I was left hobbling around for a few days with super bruised calf muscles!

bandaged up after the pressure test

Next step – a visit to Holywell Healthcare in Sheffield while I was over in the UK. They took a far more active and bike specific approach, looking at the bio-mechanics of my pedaling technique on a Wattbike and body positioning whilst standing. The conclusion is that foot positioning could be causing the problem. Too much movement in the joints and sloping arch means that the calves will be working more that they should be to stabilize the feet both on the bike and for general movement. I now have some insoles on the way that are specially molded to my feet and physio exercises to help improve the positioning. Riding bikes is allowable but I have to keep rides short and sharp (curtailing my adventures a bit but the prospect of a cure makes me disciplined). It’s a relief to feel I can do something positive about the situation so fingers crossed after a bit of time I will notice an effect. If it wasn’t happening to me it would be fascinating stuff!

Tough times in Switzerland

Cait — Mon, 14 May 2012 11:00:09 +0000

This is not an easy blog post to write, I’ve been putting it off for a long time. Despite the pretty photos and attempting to put on a brave face, my time in Switzerland hasn’t been going according to plan. On and off last season I experienced some problems with tight calf muscles and hoped that an off season break would put a stop to things. After a month off and some physio they still weren’t perfect so I reluctantly put off starting winter training until the legs were 100%, assured that it was nothing serious and I’d be ok in a few weeks. It’s now May and I’m still not training. I don’t know what’s causing the problem, I’ve no idea what I can do to fix it and I’ve no idea how long it’s going to take. I’ve rapidly gone from loving being a world cup racer full of ambitions and dreams to being a Sunday cyclist the same as everyone else and I hate it.

I’ve seen masseurs, physios and several specialist doctors. Each person I’ve seen has initially said the problem is fairly minor, the muscles are a bit tight but in good condition, a few weeks and I’ll be fixed. They gave me possible solutions, nothing definite but something to try, and all requiring ‘just’ a few weeks to see if it was beneficial. Suddenly months have disappeared, I’ve wasted a lot of time and money and I’m no further forwards. I’ve tried complete rest, gentle exercise, lots of stretching, ice, heat, anti-inflamatories, eccentric calf strength exercises, a bike set up test, supportive insoles, magnesium supplements, vitamin D supplements, iron supplements, K-tape, killer deep tissue massages, acupuncture, dry needling, swimming, core strength work, foam rollering, an ultrasound scan, MRI scans of my back and legs… the list goes on. I can confirm that every other part of my body works perfectly but I still have no definite answer as to why my calves hurt and suddenly loose all power after a certain amount of time.

I wish I had a broken bone, at least then there is a definite time span until it’s fixed. I’m used to working towards goals, you can do anything with a target and something to aim for. As a cyclist you learn to suffer, to challenge yourself mentally. This has been far harder to deal with than any painful training or racing. On the bike suffering brings progress and improvement, I’m just going backwards with no end in sight. Riding in the Alps is all very well but I came here for racing, the world cup season is in full swing and I want to be there. I can’t help but feel by locating myself in one of the best places possible for racing I’ve put myself in the torture chamber and thrown away the key. For anyone lacking in motivation for the next hard training session I can give you a million reasons why you should appreciate being fit and able to race.

A process of elimination means I’m hopeful that I’ll have a proper diagnosis very soon, there are very few things left that it can be at this stage. Maybe then I’ll be able to do something about it.