Saddle pain is a very common ailment in all levels of bicycling, which can vary from mild chafing, to tingling/numbness, to sharp pain in some very sensitive areas! This is due to many factors, including our own unique anatomy, the myriad of different saddle shapes, sizes and materials, and the actual position of the saddle (height, tilt, and fore/aft).
With all these variables, combined with the repetitive motion of pedaling, its no wonder why people get frustrated with attempts at solving these issues; often the pain can be bad enough to make you feel like you never want to ride your bike again!
Although there’s a lot to evaluate with any fitting of your bike, here’s our TOP 3 specific concepts we look for when dealing with saddle-related symptoms:
The first key is to ensure that you are not sliding forwards/backwards on your saddle when pedaling. This might seem like a no-brainer, but when we pedal on an unstable surface, it increases friction, leading to chafing, and unequal pressures on the bum. Please note: This does not mean you measure your saddle with a bublele-level. This age-old bike shop fit lore really does not do a decent job since saddle materials flex, bend, and break down over time- all things a bubble level can’t measure! Here’s how to check if your saddle is level:
The majority of our weight on the saddle should be through our sitting bones, known as the ischial tuberosities of our pelvis. Since these sitting bones are the ones in contact with our saddle, the width of these bones is often key in determining saddle comfort. For example, if someone had a saddle that is narrower than their sitting bones, the resulting pressure gets put on the perineum, or the tissued in-between the sitting bones– yep, not comfortable! In generally, women tend to have wider pelvises than men, but there is a great variability, as we’ve seen very small riders with a wider-than-expected pelvis.
Thus, if you can get an fairly accurate width measurement of your sitting bones, you have a lot better knowledge of what saddle should work for you. We’ve been assessing this distance with a nifty tool referred to as the “Ass-O-Meter“, which is basically a memory-foam pad with a sliding measuring gauge (in millimeters) directly above it. Sit on the pad, knees higher than hips, lean forwards, and it leaves a depression to measure of your sitting bones width.
This data can then be useful when looking for a new saddle, or comparing it to your current one w a flexible measuring tape. Your sitting bones should land squarely on the widest part of the saddle, and most sitting bones width range from 70mm, up to 160mm. Generally, the more upright the bike rider’s position, the wider the saddle you’ll want.
So, you’ve done your homework, identified that your saddle is level, and your sitting bones match up well, but your still having problems.. What gives? Enter the almighty saddle height. This should be fairly easy to sort out, but the main point is to ensure that you have sufficient knee bend at the bottom of the pedal stroke – to the tune of about 35degrees of knee bend at the straightest- more than you’d imagine.
The all-too-common scenario we see is this: Your saddle is positioned correctly for the most part, but because it’s positioned too high, the knee straightens completely, causing a side lean. When that happens, more direct pressure and friction onto the saddle. With the repetitive nature of bicycling, it takes only a short distance to experience chafing, numbness, and pain.
Fix it: Lower your saddle in small, 5mm increments until you feel that you are not leaning or shifting your bodyweight while pedaling.
Correcting saddle issues are just a part of our comprehensive Bike Fitting service at Pedal PT. We can help make your bicycling much more than a pain in the. . .
– Kevin Schmidt, PT, MSPT, CMP, Cert. Bike PT, and Founder of Pedal PT in Portland, OR
