I’m currently struggling with hip pain (not the actual hip more like deep in my upper glutes).

I’ve read that this can be due to saddle height being too high. I’m not new to cycling but I tend to set my saddle height by feel. But after reading that hip pain can be due to a saddle being too high I went out to measure my bikes up and compare their saddle height against the 2 main ways of measuring saddle height which are the 109% of in seam with the pedal at 6 O’clock method and the Greg Lemonde 88.3% of inseam measured to the centre of the bottom bracket method.

My saddles are measuring a fair bit higher than what either of these figures are telling me they should be. They feel fine though.

I’m measuring my in seam with bare feet as I read that you should but surely I should be doing this with shoes on?

Measure the bend angle between hip, knee and typical ankle position at bottom dead centre.

25-35 degree bend works for most.

My knees seem to prefer ~30 degree.

If you want a more accurate measurement, there’s a recent £8 Amazon goniometer thread.

So many factors to take into account, from the sounds of it this may be more an imbalance than saddle issue, it may be exasperated by the saddle height, but unless you have it at a height where you’re swaying during the pedal stroke then it seems weird to get hip/glute pain. If it is an imbalance it’s more a sports physio you may want to see, many things can lead to this, one leg shorter than the other, an old or underlying injury that has caused it and so on, if you are getting regular pain i would recommend booking an appointment with a sports physio and getting an assessment, it’ll take an hour, cost 40-50 quid but could save you a lot more in the long run.

I’ve adjusted all four of my bikes to the same saddle height based on the 109% height rule (with the full sus I’ve added the sag amount too). I’ve also bought a goniometer as recommended. I’ll keep stretching and taking it easy and see how I get on.

I have a hypothesis that a slightly legs splayed riding style can exacerbate piriformis problems (piriformis lives under the glutes, but then so does other painful stuff). My biomechanics isn’t up to predicting whether saddle height would affect that, other than the lower the saddle the less likely.

I don’t think I ride with my knees sticking out but as I swap between my different bikes almost every ride I might on one of them.

I’ve suffered with lower back pain in the past and have seen physio’s, massage therapists and a chiropractor and after a bit of treatment am good for a good few months.

I have a desk job, drive to and from work and get my exercise mostly from cycling so know that isn’t a good recipe for a good strong balanced posture. When I could go to the gym I think that doing weighted dead lifts and squats definitely helped with my lower back pain as well as swimming once a week.

I also fell off my bike last year onto my right side which is where I have most of my hip pain now. Chiropractor sorted me out over a few visits but my ankle, hip and back haven’t been 100% since but I just put it down to me being in my 40’s and taking longer to heal.

I do make a habit of falling off my bike but generally they are only small bumps.

I want to get back on the bike so I can train for a bigger rode I’m planning on doing later in the year but will try to let my hip heal for now.

I have a desk job, drive to and from work

What’s your stretching routine like???

https://m.pinkbike.com/news/loosen-up-tight-hips-with-3-types-of-poses-monthly-yoga-with-abi-2017.html

I have had hip issues for years… I ride with heels in toes out and as someone mentioned above this isn’t good for the piriformis. When I had a bike fit a few years back (which helped) they made 2 changes… lower the saddle and shift it back on the rails. This was based on a video and power analysis, which showed I was struggling to lift the pedal past 12 o’clock.

It was less uncomfortable and immediately quicker on the road bike

It does mean I am now worried about modern MTB geo, as everything shifts to steep seat angles, as the fit suggested the rearward shift was at least as important as the drop in height

I do stretch after I’ve been out on the bike but have been known to neglect this occasionally.

But what stretches? I did figure 4 for ages but without much joy. Now lieing flat on my back I pull each knee in turn towards the opposite shoulder. This has really helped

+1 for more stretching (not just after a ride), and finding the right stretches for you

I really struggled with tight glutes etc. for years. I started doing some of the Abi (Pinkbike) routines on a regular basis and that really sorted me out – pigeon pose and wide-knee child’s pose seemed to be most beneficial to me on an ongoing basis.

I did all those as well, physio, gym, etc and then found out i have a hip impingement that is the same thing as Andy Murray, and a hip socket without any cartilage, only arthritis.

It causes absolute nightmares for riding, so as always, good to see a physio to get a proper assessment, unfortunately for me it was way too late and a full hip replacement is the only fix for this!

D’oh, wrote out a bigger post then lost it.

Basically, I followed the exercises in this video.

Don’t worry about all the ‘flower empowered’ stuff, yes it’s aimed at women with pelvic hypertension, but it worked really well for me after lower back surgery and she’s a great presenter, I could listen to her accent all day and appreciated the little smutty joke she manages to sneak in 😀

Do some piriformis stretches eg pidgeon pose & search for “The Whartons” on YouTube who have others
The piriformis is a much neglected muscle and if it’s tight can cause flute pain then sciatica.
Also try stand up to pedal more better for power and strengthens the hip supporting muscles. You get used to it honest.
Think “pedal with heels” it activates the glutes.
I’d get done good flat pedals and shoes aswell.

Cheers for the input, I’ll try some of the stretches recommended. I do some already but there is always room to learn new ones.

From memory, the video in the knee angle thread talked about “heel grazing the pedal at its lowest” as better than the % tests?

Certainly can’t hurt.

Also “feels fine” can’t really be a good guage – it’s what you are used to.

+1 for stretching. The other version is to stand on one leg, other ankle across knee and crouch forwards (bend knee) into the stretch. Oof!

Is it definitely the bike? Mine is caused by sitting at a desk too long, and is massively helped by a circuits session with stretching afterwards a couple of times a week.

Any changes in your work environment? WFH?

Lots of change over the last 3 months:
– Ramped up my cycling during lockdown
– Lost a stone in weight
– Have been furloughed, working from home and now back to working in an office with an hour’s drive each way.
– Have a new bike
– Have had a few falls on the bike recently, nothing major but enough to cause bruising.
– Got a migraine a couple of weeks ago (suffer from them but only have about a couple a year) and they can often lead to me feeling pretty rough for a week or so.

I’ll take it easy for a couple of weeks and try to stretch every day and see how I get on. Just thought it strange that my bikes saddle heights could be so different to what the general consensus is.

Measure saddle height from BB to lowest point on the saddle, not along the seat tube. These are often not the and thing. Your hip will be at the lowest point on the saddle.

Too high is bad, too far back is bad, too low not really an issue. Lemond method puts most people in a reasonable place irrespective of crank length. Sounds like your saddle is too high.