Children

Cycling has been a passionate sport and hobby of mine for decades. I am no longer a professional bike racer; I am now a mother and Gokhale Method® teacher. As a result, I have become more observant of what can “go wrong,” posturally speaking, when riding a bicycle. And I work to improve my posture as I pedal. For example, it takes vigilance to keep my shoulders back and my head aligned with my torso. I now know how cycling can enhance my form, and vice versa. I also enjoy modeling key posture principles to guide my daughters and partner so that they too can be comfortable and healthy on a bicycle.

Cycling is a part of family life

In this blog post I would like to share with you some of the cycling activities and posture tips that have benefitted us as a family. Prior to parenthood, my partner and I raced and trained together for many years, traveling to quite a few states and even abroad to indulge our passion. When our daughters were born, we decided that, at least in our busy city, Somerville, MA (the most densely populated city on the Eastern Seaboard, USA!), we would get about with them on bicycles instead of driving. 

Here I am supporting a customized cruiser with our daughter, Willa, aged two, in a car seat on the back. My partner, Skip, sits on a customized tandem with Coco, aged five. Car seats worked well as carriers and even allowed Willa to nap during our outings. Can you make out the second car seat on the front of my cruiser?   

Of necessity, we hauled our young daughters around on homemade bicycle “carrier-cruisers,” with car seats attached. Both bikes offered comfortable arrangements for young children—and great exercise for us parents! These days, there are so many choices of bicycles made for transporting children, it might feel overwhelming and hard to know where to start. Bike shops are now a terrific resource, happy to offer guidance and expertise, help with fittings and even track down special equipment if needed. With so many options out there, including information on the internet, you won’t have to customize your own bicycle unless you want to. 

Cycling makes a better world for our children

We know it’s better for our environment to cycle than to drive everywhere. Some people choose to live car-free, and that certainly saves money, as well as the planet! We are thankful for the bike lanes that are becoming a more prevalent part of the infrastructure in cities and suburbs alike. As bike lanes make cycling more accessible, you’ll find more people of all ages pedaling instead of driving, which in turn makes it safer for everyone. 

Charity rides or fundraisers are a great way to enjoy family time together while also supporting good causes. These benefit rides are usually closed to traffic, or directed by officials, which makes the ride casual and relaxed. Varied routes are offered, making the event open to a wider range of ability and fitness levels. 

Here we are doing a kids Pan-Mass Challenge, raising money for cancer research and treatment. Coco, aged five, is leading the pack on this 10K ride.

Notice the two photographers’ interest in Skip’s bicycle arrangement, with the little bike attached by bungees to the front so that Willa, aged two and a half, could ride a bit of the course too.

The Graves family has just completed the D2R2 (The Deerfield Dirt Road Randonée) fundraiser ride. They chose the moderate, yet challenging, 48.6-mile route, and will celebrate with a refreshing plunge in the river, and a BBQ for a refuel. Their son is just nine years old—the family that rides together, has fun together! 

Here is Lloyd Graves aged seven, getting ready to bike to school with his dad. Studies¹ have shown that children who walk or ride their bicycle to school are more engaged and ready to learn than those who have been driven to school. Their circulatory system is boosted, and also their executive functioning is activated and neural pathways have been firing, both being used to make decisions before even entering the classroom. 

Now that my daughters are 15 and 12, they’re ready to explore the world on their own to a degree. By cycling they now have the skills and self-confidence to ferry themselves around our city to meet up with friends or attend their extracurricular activities. 

We all need bikes that fit our bodies! 

You can consider bicycles as an extension of the human body, and both adults and children need bikes that fit them, for efficiency, safety, and enjoyment. Most often an ill-fitting bicycle is too small, which forces hunching and rounding of the shoulders and compression of the whole spine—neither of which are helpful for your posture or body mechanics. As kids grow so quickly it is especially important to watch out for this. With the right size, and sometimes even type of bicycle, it is possible to enjoy all the benefits of cycling from being very young until well into old age. 

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Rachel Holt on tricycle, Dummer, New Hampshire, about 1927. This is a charming portrait. From a cycling perspective, Rachel could do with a bigger bike, so that her thighs can drop down and she no longer has to tuck her pelvis and round her back. She will also be able to pedal a lot more efficiently! Jim Griffin

A bicycle that is too big may have a child too stretched out to reach the handlebars comfortably, and/or bouncing on the saddle in an effort to reach the pedals, which stresses the hips. It can also be a challenge to maneuver, adding unnecessary strain and making it unsafe. 

This tricycle is still a little too big for its rider to reach the pedals and the ground—though she’ll soon grow into it! kenheyman.com

The benefits of balance bikes

We can begin bike riding at an early age, and even new walkers or soon-to-be walkers, can consider using a “balance bike.” They have some advantages over a tricycle. Balance bikes are built without pedals, so the novice rider can focus on balance and steering. (Pedals can also be taken off some bikes, then put back on when the child is ready.) With balance bikes, all the propulsion is with the feet actively pushing the ground away and behind, so there is a natural tendency for the body to adopt a position of biomechanical advantage by sitting with a tipped forward pelvis. This is an example of posture aiding our movement; when the feet go behind our hips, they can better push the ground away from us. This action comes readily since little children aren't fighting a tight psoas, or struggling with stiff joints. This is an action we would like our feet to do in walking, which is to actively engage with pushing on the ground beneath us. It is amazing how fast tiny children can propel themselves using just their feet to paddle along! 

Our daughter Willa, aged 11 months, scooting along on her Strider® balance bike. Notice how she keeps her shoulders back and leans slightly forward. Balance bikes encourage children to propel themselves with natural foot strength.

Another benefit to learning to ride without pedals is that, by definition, a child can easily reach the ground, so a parent is not pushing or guiding from behind or towing the handlebars in an effort to help the child maintain balance. This often sees the parent adopt a very compromised position, hunching over and distorting the back. Best to help the child learn to ride solo; take them to a grassy area or quiet, dead-end street or parking lot where they can let fly!   

This beautiful illustration shows the mother maintaining a straight back as she bends forward to guide her child learning to ride. Most parents do not bend so well, causing cumulative damage to their spinal discs. Esté MacLeod

Modeling healthy posture for your children

One of the best ways a parent can encourage their children to maintain healthy posture on a bike is to model it themselves. For example, once you get used to sitting with the behind behind and the pelvis tipped forward rather than tucked under, it is not only comfortable, but, pretty soon, preferred. We teach a similar style of sitting in the Gokhale Method called stacksitting, for when you don’t have a backrest for support. You can learn how to stacksit here. 

Willa, aged four, sitting forward enough on her “banana” seat to comfortably reach the handlebars and maintain her shoulders back. See how she stacksits beautifully, with her back straight and behind behind.

On a bicycle you may also be sitting leaning forward, which, to do well, requires more inner corset activity and also the ability to hip-hinge, which are both explained in detail in Esther Gokhale’s book, 8 Steps to a Pain-Free Back. 

Here Skip and I are both sitting angled forward. Skip is the leader in navigation, I’m leading in posture! My head, shoulders, and behind are further back, where we would like them to be. We’re enjoying quality time working in tandem! 

Even holding the handlebars in a relaxed way actually begins with relaxed shoulders that stay open and back. Just because you are reaching forward for something, does not mean the shoulders need to round forward. A tip I offer my children is to do a shoulder roll when we come to a stoplight. This allows the shoulders to “reset” if they have come forward a bit, or even a lot! We teach shoulder rolls in the Gokhale Method as a gentle way to open up the chest and allow the shoulders to rest back where they belong. Teaching this early on is good practice for other daily activities; if one can maintain shoulders back in place while using the arms out front on a bicycle, then keeping them back in place in other contexts, like at a computer, will be easier and become habitual. You can learn how to shoulder roll here. 

Willa, aged 12, helmet on and excited for a morning bicycle ride on the Cape Cod Rail Trail. One of the benefits of riding a bicycle at any age is the joyousness that comes from moving your body and exploring the world around you. 

In fact, nearly all the postural principles that we teach in our in-person Foundations course, Pop-up course, or online Elements course, can help your cycling to become more efficient, healthier, and more comfortable. If you would like expert help with your cycling posture, or to find out more about how our courses could help you with any activity, get started with an online or in-person Initial Consultation with any Gokhale Method® teacher. Or sign up for one of our free online workshops below. 

Reference:

¹ “Why Your Kids Should Walk or Bike to School This Year.” Saferoutes Utah. Accessed on July 5, 2022. https://saferoutes.utah.gov/why-your-kids-should-walk-or-bike-to-school-this-year/

The arm and shoulder of this African carpenter align with the back of his torso.

One of the most striking features of good posture is the position of the shoulders. The posture of this African carpenter shows how, with the shoulders well back, the arms align more with the back of the body than the front. The side of the chest and ribcage are clearly visible. Positioning the shoulders well brings you many benefits. It aligns your shoulder joint correctly, avoiding impingement, bursitis, arthritis, tendinitis, and general wear and tear. It improves circulation to your arms, as well as your breathing pattern. Optimal shoulder positioning improves athletic performance: throwing, punching, and swinging a racket or bat are all mechanically advantaged when your shoulders remain “home.” And last but not least, it helps prevent hunching your upper back and protruding your head forward.

If your shoulders have drifted forward over the years, a shoulder roll can ease your shoulders home into a healthy position. This maneuver gently realigns the many structures of the shoulder joint and immediately relieves stress and increases comfort. Punctuating your days with occasional shoulder rolls will gradually lengthen any tight, shortened muscles in the front of your chest and shoulders, giving you a wider, more open chest. 

Michelangelo’s ‘David’ shows the shoulders well behind a wide, open chest. Original image courtesy Igor Ferreira on Unsplash.

Your shoulders will be increasingly happy to settle back, returning nearer to where they were when you were a young child.

Children have naturally well-aligned shoulders.

If you don’t already know how to do a Gokhale Method shoulder roll, or would like to refresh your shoulder roll technique, this short video will show you how to gently roll each shoulder forward, up, and back.

The shoulder roll is so gentle you can repeat it whenever you need. (If you already have some soreness in your shoulder, then wait until it has recovered, or try mini shoulder rolls —  you do not want to cause pain.) However, the aim is not to be continually rolling your shoulders!

Here are my tips for making your shoulder roll last longer:

Tip 1: Once you have taken your shoulder forward, up, and then back, remember to release your arm down right there — you don’t want to just scoop your shoulder full circle! Check that you have fully relaxed the muscles on the top of your shoulder and neck. Feel the weight sinking down to your elbow. Expect this to both look and feel different from your old position — that’s progress!

Ratchet the shoulder soft tissue back in a similar way to a gear mechanism.

Tip 2: When sitting with your hands on your lap, place your hands close to your body and not close to your knees as this will tend to pull your shoulders forward again. Let your elbows drop straight down and be heavy. You can also hook your thumbs on your belt, pant rim, or pockets.

Your shoulders will be pulled forward if your hands slide too close to your knees.

Tip 3: Sit or stand up close to any task you may be doing. That may be typing, chopping vegetables, or working at a bench. This will make it easier to keep your shoulders rested back. You may be surprised how this simple step can help you break old habits of slouching the shoulders forward to reach things. 

Create new posture habits around daily tasks.

Tip 4: Notice how you go to move your coffee cup, pen or computer mouse —  are you automatically reaching your shoulder forward? With your shoulder back and relaxed after a shoulder roll, try extending your arm by opening up the angle of your elbow. 

Tip 5: Before driving, adjust your position to accommodate and keep your shoulder roll. See my blog post, How to Modify Your Car Seat for a Pain-Free Ride.

These five tips will help your arm, shoulder, and upper back muscles to work harmoniously and pain-free. I look forward to sharing further tips in Part 2 of this blog, and exploring when it is absolutely ok to pull your shoulders back!

Stanford now lists the Gokhale Method Foundations course as an option for which Stanford staff can use their STAP (Staff Training Assistance Program) funds. I am thrilled that the educational institution closest to home (I live on campus) is the first to make my offering more available to their staff.

My avenues for bringing posture into Stanford are manifold, both through my family members and through hundreds of students and staff who have taken my courses. Healthy posture has been demonstrated to have a positive impact on those in close proximity, and I'm hopeful this effect will permeate the community over the years.  

My husband is a professor in the Math Department and is beaming out much better posture than he used to:

 
Brian White, Professor of Math at Stanford, was one of the early Gokhale Method guinea pigs (being my husband!). See him here bending with a straight back, and with his legs well-aligned and feet pointing outwards. 

My daughters Maya and Monisha did their undergraduate degrees in the school of engineering; Maya also did a Master’s degree in epidemiology. They participated in sports, where they influenced and taught some of their teammates:

Maya White (left, jumping), has a natural degree of pelvic anteversion which facilitates glute action and a powerful spring.

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Monisha White, who captained the Stanford Women's Ultimate frisbee team and lead them to win Nationals in 2016, coached some of her teammates in healthy posture. Here she shows healthy external leg rotation, posterior shoulder placement, and a J-Spine.

My son Nathan coaches the Stanford Men’s Ultimate Frisbee team. Learning hip-hinging has helped some of the team get rid of longstanding hamstring problems: 

Nathan White (second from right, standing tall) sets a good posture example as a coach of the Stanford Men's Ultimate Frisbee team.

I have taught hundreds of faculty, students, and staff how to have their behinds behind, and their torsos upright and relaxed: 

Olivia Page, one of many Stanford students who learned to hip-hinge, stacksit, and stretch-lie.

Now with Stanford STAP funds, enrollees will not have to pay out of pocket for their posture education.

The two courses offered on the weekend of April 28-30 both consist of the usual 6 x 1.5 hour lessons using 8 Steps to a Pain-Free Back as the text and the DVD, Back Pain: The Primal Posture Solution, as a reference (both are included in the price of the Stanford course). The courses still have some openings and are open to the public, though STAP funding is available only to Stanford staff.

It has long been a dream of mine to influence a mid-sized community to have lower rates of back pain and reap the benefits of healthy posture. There is a synergistic effect that happens when members of a community learn the familiar, but forgotten, language of primal posture. Human beings are known to mimic each other. We expect that having examples of healthy posture to mimic will raise the general wellbeing of the community, and that this effect will spiral in a positive direction. Also, Stanford is a self-reflective community that conducts research, formulates theories, and births products - a lot could happen in this rich milieu.

The Stanford Rodin collection is the second largest in the world and is chock full of examples of excellent posture.

We hope other educational institutions will be inspired to replicate Stanford’s offering for their staff, now that we have teachers all over the world who are able to satisfy such demands. Educational institutions often induce other types of institutions to follow their lead. We are hoping that banks, law firms, tech firms, and other entities will see the value in keeping their members healthy and pain-free, like Stanford has.

One recent Stanford study, Is crowdsourcing patient-reported outcomes the future of evidence-based medicine? A case study of back pain, examines the findings of the website healthoutcome.org, on which Postural Modifications (and the Gokhale Method in particular) are the top-rated intervention for lower back pain by a very large margin. The study finds that crowdsourcing results are similar to conservative research results, but involve much larger numbers of subjects at lower cost. Postural Modification as an intervention for lower back pain has not been studied by conventional means. As the prestigious newsletter The BackLetter put it in September 2015, “there is certainly a glittering opportunity for some enterprising young researchers to explore this area with sound scientific methods.”

For more information or ideas on how to bring the Gokhale Method to your institution, please contact us at [email protected].