Emma Colson has a special interest in the treatment of cyclists and cycling injuries. She worked with the Australian Womens' Road Cycling team from 1997 - 2000 and was the official physiotherapist appointed to cycling at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. Emma has written many articles on injury prevention for Australia's number one cycling magazine - Bicycling Australia.

Emma understands cycling injuries not just as a physiotherapist but also from being a competitor at national and international level representing Australia at World Championships and Commonwealth Games.

Emma now divides her time between tour guiding for Topbike Tours in Europe and when in Australia has a special interest physiotherapy practice that involves comprehenisve assessments of cyclists and their biomechanical interaction with the bicycle for the prevention and treatment of overuse injuries and optimisation of rider comfort (Topbike Fit).

TOPBIKE FIT - WHAT IS IT?
Cyclists are different to other athletes. Their injuries are often a result of the complex biomechanical interaction between the cyclist and the rider.

Emma Colson has first hand knowledge and personal experience in cycling from a recreational level to the elite.

Emma receives many tertiary referrals from doctors, physiotherapists, massuers and chiropractors who are having difficulty with their cycling patients' injuries. She is happy to assess the patient and then liaise with the local practitioner who may continue the ongoing management of the patient.

A Topbike Fit involves a 2.5 - 3 hour appointment. The first hour consists of a physical assessment relating to rider strength, range of motion and injury issues. Emma will look at your current problems on the bike and provide her opinion as to directions for future management. Following this, the patient and bicycle are measured (bike set-up) and then a video is done to assess the patient's pedal technique, posture and positioning on the bike.

A video capture program is used to view each angle of the cyclist so that the footage can be slowed or stopped at particular frames to emphasise issues or take measurements that relate to bicycle set-up.

Any necessary changes to set-up will be done (or recommended if the changes cannot be done on the spot).

By assessing the cyclist and the bicycle in motion you can pin-point the source of the problem with cycling overuse injuries.

Every TOPBIKE FIT client gets a DVD of their assessment, which can be a handy reference for other treating practitioners, to emphasise the physical findings of assessment.

Emma operates this service in Fitzroy (Melbourne)
Phone: 03 9419 2040 or email here.

NB Topbike visits Europe for the European summer racing season, however, send Emma an email detailing the issue and she may be able to offer suggestions or referrals to suitable practitioners.

NOT IN MELBOURNE? - Email Emma, if you have a number of club members interested in getting a 'TOPBIKE FIT' done, maybe she can organise to visit you. OR Emma may know someone suitable close by to refer you to.