Why Myo-facts/DartfishWe have spent years using sEMG in a effort to bring more facts to the sport of cycling. Myo is a prefex meaning "relating to muscle" and we all know what a fact is, but so often can't find truth! That really holds true for the info on cycling, regarding the pedal stroke and what might be the best saddle height, handlebar placement, cleat placement, etc...
A major issue in cycling is you get the bike fitted and see what happens that season? If you count the years, we have had only 7 years of results, first when we took 5 National Championships in the USA in 2001. It took our team 2.5 years to develop our software for mtb and another 2 years for road bikes.
We used the very best tools, lasers, forceplates, EMG, tools that are time proven. We had the privilege to partnered up with Noraxon sEMG (axon-meaning nerve.) EMG is a way to view the muscle output like recording noise to see what % of a muscle bundle is working. We learned much about the pedal stroke.
"Electromyography is the study of muscle function through the inquiry of the electrical signal the muscle emanates."
The use of EMG has many advatages. Surface EMG recordings provide a safe, easy, and noninvasive method that allows objective quantification of the energy of the muscle. It is not necessary to penetrate the skin and record from single motor units in order to obtain useful and meaningful information regarding muscles. One can "see" synergies in energy patterns that cannot be seen with the naked eye! The technique allows the observer to see the muscle energy at rest and changing continuously over the course of movement. We also know that this takes jobs from those who use palpation and visual observation of posture only. When you are able to see when the tone of a muscle while pedaling, one can better determine when the muscle fire early or late in a recruitment pattern.
This high-tech allows us to show our dealers what the best method is for pedaling. Once they learn what the pedal stroke is, then they better understand how to use Dartfish to find better angles as the ankle moves around the bottom bracket.
In the Western world, objective findings are essential, but have not been practice by most fitters. Even at the Natonal level, things have been subjective?
We found that it is best to use the whole leg rather than just a few muscles. Our world championships are the results of this total body thinking.
Time is the true test to see if something is going to make a difference or not! What we have found has made a difference for the top racers in the world.
Tom Coleman founder of Wobble-naught LLC & Myo-facts LLC and Victor Bergonzoli founder C.E.O of Dartfish both understanding newer ways of teaching is needed to find more truth. This new teaching model, bringing software and its tool can show the rider what they need to do, rather than someone to telling them what to do! Less subjective, more objective. |
