Dartfish Blog
Author

Rick Schultz

Browsing
In Bike

Peloton remote bike fit – determining causes of knee pain using Dartfish

No Comments
Dartfish bike fitting

Due to the current pandemic, people are locked up in their houses. Some have been getting onto their outside bicycles, but for the rest of us, we are spending a lot more time on our indoor trainers. This is both good and bad. GOOD in that we are getting a lot more exercise than we used to, BAD that many are getting injured cycling on ill-fitting bikes and trainers. One high-end and extremely popular indoor trainer is the PELOTON (figure 1). Recently, numerous PELOTON cyclists have contacted me asking for help. They have been cycling steadily for more than 4 months and just about now, their knees hurt, and their upper back and neck hurts. This is not exercise discomfort, this is actual pain. Addressing knee pain is critical since permanent knee damage can occur continuing to cycle on an ill-fit trainer. Due to this high demand, I have introduced…

Read More
In Bike

SADDLE FORE/AFT IN BIKE FITTING

No Comments
Dartfish bikefitting

I have done several articles on how helpful Dartfish is during the bike fitting process. One of the features I am using now is vertical lines under the Analyzer. This allows me to quickly check the clients knee over pedal axle (KOPA) measurement. I placed markers on the client’s shoes which show where their shoes/cleats are in relation to the pedal axle and crank arm. The vertical lines in Dartfish, which I can change color and thickness, makes it quick and easy to see whether I need to move the saddle forward or rearward. In the photo below, the purple markers indicate where the center of the knee is in relation to the pedal axle. BELOW – A new metric I am looking into and testing is for saddle fore/aft. I stopped the video at the frame where the client is at max extension and I placed several Dartfish markers…

Read More
In Bike

Correct Poor Crank-arm Fit to Relieve Chronic Knee (and Hip) Pain

No Comments
Dartfish bikefitting

I wanted to share with you the summary of a recent medical research paper entitled “Correct Poor Crank-arm Fit to Relieve Chronic Knee (and Hip) Pain.” The paper was authored by Rick Schultz of Bike Fitness Coaching (OCW member) and Amy Schultz, PT, DPT, CSCS. It is scheduled to be published this year. Background: Amy is a licensed Doctor of Physical Therapy and I am a master bike fitter and we specialize in medical bike fits. This paper was in direct response to the hundreds of clients that have come in for knee pain relief. Most wait until they get to the point of not being able to apply any pressure to the pedals without severe knee pain. It is extremely important to look at and solve their knee pain from two sides, i.e., physical therapy and bike fitting. For example, if a cyclist with chronic knee pain goes in…

Read More
In Bike

Max Extension vs Max Flexion work in conjunction with each other.

No Comments
Dartfish bikefitting

Bike Fitness Coaching is now a IBFI (International Bike Fitting Institute) level 3 fitter and our newest “INTERNATIONAL REMOTE-BIKE FITTING” client heard about us through this great organization. Jacques is 60 years old and a life-long cyclist from the Hautes- Alpes of France, cycling on legendary mountains such as col du Tourmalet, col du Galibier, alpe d’Huez and even the 20% grades of La Planche Des Belles Fillesalso. He has family in the US near our shop, so he thought to contact us before his holiday trip to the US. Now that he’s retired, he’s putting in more miles on the bicycle and, along with more miles, more knee pain. After several Skype sessions, he has sent me some video to analyze. I chose 2 frames, one at max flexion and one at max extension. He likes to wear tennis shoes on local rides but wears cleats and cycling shoes…

Read More
In Bike

Using Dartfish 9 ProSuite to help a client with knee pain

No Comments
Dartfish mobile app

Background

I specialize in Bike Fitting, specifically bike fitting to help clients reduce knee pain. Most of the time I can fix the problem by analyzing, recommending and installing shorter crank arms. But, sometimes there is a medical issue where I need to refer my client to a physical therapist, then, once the issue is corrected, they can return to the bike fit process. In fact, over the past 2 years, I have become the ‘go to’ bike fitter to help those that are experiencing pain.

Read More