William Bertucci

• Ph. D. Full Professor
• Managing Director at University of Champagne-Ardenne (France)

The saddle fitting to the rider-horse pair plays a very important role with regards to wellbeing and performance in equestrian sports. However, the saddle fit remains highly subjective when saddles are sold in stables. The saddle has been shown to have an impact on rider stability and kinematics (Mackechnie-Guire et al. 2018, Clayton et al. 2018)....

Bicycle set-up dimensions and cycling kinematic data are important components of bicycle fitting and cyclist testing protocols. However, there are no guidelines on how bicycles should be measured and how kinematic data should be collected to increase the reliability of outcomes. This article proposes a consensus regarding bicycle set-up dimensions...

Cervical spine mobility assessment is crucial in rehabilitation to monitor patient progress. This study introduces the DidRen VR test, a virtual reality (VR) adaptation of the conventional DidRen laser test, aimed at evaluating cervical spine mobility. We conducted a cross-sectional study involving fifty healthy participants that underwent the DidR...

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of an innovative prophylactic knee orthosis on postural balance. This prophylactic knee orthosis is designed with a compression that is oriented in a chosen direction. The purpose of this compression is to improve stability in dynamic situations. Orthoses are used to provide functional im...

Background: Only few studies analyzed real training programs of sprinters while that should be a valuable step in the understanding of sprint training. The present study aimed at characterizing track cycling sprinter training by training load and intensity distribution. Methods: Twenty-nine weeks of prechampionship training data were retrospecti...

Objectives. Relying on the Thegosis theory, the purpose of this study is to analyze the effects of the clenching of teeth on the posture with a stabilometric platform. Method. Thirty-two subjects divided into two groups, Bruxism and Control using criteria from O. F. Molina and al., have passed two series of three stabilometric measures: unclenched...

Nowadays, the better assessment of low back pain (LBP) is an important challenge, as it is the leading musculoskeletal condition worldwide in terms of years of disability. The objective of this study was to evaluate the relevance of various machine learning (ML) algorithms and Sample Entropy (SampEn), which assesses the complexity of motion variabi...

Cyclists are exposed for a long period to continuous vibrations. When a muscle is exposed to vibration, its efficiency decreases, the onset of fatigue occurs sooner, and the comfort of the cyclist is reduced. This study characterised the vastus lateralis (VL) soft tissue vibrations for different input frequencies and different pedalling phases. Ten...

Low back pain (LBP) obviously reduces the quality of life but is also the world’s leading cause of years lived with disability. Alterations in motor response and changes in movement patterns are expected in LBP patients when compared to healthy people. Such changes in dynamics may be assessed by the nonlinear analysis of kinematical time series rec...

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of changes in cycling shoe-cleat position on pedalling biomechanics, physiological variables, and performance in road cycling. Twelve competitive road cyclists performed three pedalling trials with the cleat positioned at the first metatarsal head, 15-mm anterior and 15-mm posterior. Each trial in...

A large number of power meters have become commercially available during the last decades to provide power output (PO) measurement. Some of these power meters were evaluated for validity in the literature. This study aimed to perform a review of the available literature on the validity of cycling power meters. PubMed, SPORTDiscus, and Google Schola...

Musculoskeletal disorders and pain in the neck and shoulders are commonly reported in workers whose activities imply overhead tasks. Repetitive passive head support or traumatic movements of the neck can cause damage to the ligaments and tendons of this region, with mild to severe long-term consequences. Exoskeletons are one of the solutions to hel...

Mountain bikers often report impaired finger sensitivity caused by mechanical vibrations and misalignment between the wrist and the forearm when using traditional (cylindrical) handles. The aim of this study was to evaluate the acute effects of ergonomic clip-on handles that allowed the hand to rest on the medial carpal bone, on muscular activity,...

Background As the medio-lateral distance between the feet in cycling, the distance between the hands in hand cycling has received little attention in scientific literature. However, Krämer et al. (2009) recommend a crank width (i.e. distance from the centres of both handles) equivalent to 85% of the inter-acromion distance (IAD) for sprint performa...

Improper medio-lateral distance between the feet in cycling can increase the risk of injuries and decrease performance due to hip/knee/ankle misalignment in the frontal plane. The objective of this study was to measure the impact of pedal spacing changes during pedalling on the biomechanical, physiological, and subjective variables of people with d...

Background We aimed to determine the center of pressure (COP) trajectories and regional pressure differences in natural rearfoot strikers while running barefoot, running with a minimalist shoe, and running with a traditional shoe. Methods Twenty-two male natural rearfoot strikers ran at an imposed speed along an instrumented runway in three condit...

BACKGROUND Sprinting at the start of a BMX race is considered one of the most important determinants of performance. Therefore, different devices and technologies have been developed to improve this ability to sprint, such as non-circular CR (CR) systems. OBJECTIVE To compare new pedalling performance determinants for the first meters of the accel...

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of using asymmetric crank arms in cyclists affected by an inequality in lower limb length. Three male cyclists with a lower limb length difference of 28, 14, and 10 mm performed three experimental test sessions separated by 5 days, which were conducted using three different crank arm length conditio...

Proper cycling cleat adjustment could improve triathlon performance. Recommendations have included positioning the first metatarsal head above the pedal spindle or slightly forward, but mid-foot cleat positions could be more appropriate in triathlon at constant load due to their impact on the subsequent running performance. We evaluated the impact...

Bike-fitting methods based on the knee kinematics have been developed to determine the optimal saddle height. Among them, the Ferrer-Roca method advises a knee angle between 30 and 40° in the sagittal plane when the crank arm is aligned with the seat tube while pedalling. However, the foot orientation varies between individuals and can influence th...

Bike-fitting methods based on the knee kinematics have been developed to determine the optimal saddle height. Among them, the Ferrer-Roca method advises a knee angle between 30 and 40° in the sagittal plane when the crank arm is aligned with the seat tube while pedalling. However, the foot orientation varies between individuals and can influence th...

Proper cleat adjustment improves cycling performance and prevents knee injuries. Recommendations have included positioning the first metatarsal head above the pedal spindle or slightly forward, but mid-foot cleat positions could be more appropriate in triathlons at constant load for their impact on the subsequent running performance. We evaluated t...

Objective The purpose of our study was to investigate probable causes of injury occurrence among circus student-artists as well as develop the most appropriate injury prevention and performance optimization programs to preserve their health. We correlated the general warm-up quality, the injury rates, and levels of severity. Methods Thirty-one hea...

Introduction: Pedaling technique which can be defined as the way the cyclists pedal, has been mostly studied in lab conditions from pedal force kinetic, joints kinematic, and/or muscular activity patterns because it is considered as a main factor for gross efficiency (GE). Although this method is much controversial, its quality has extensively bee...

Purpose: Exposure to mechanical vibration during road cycling is a potential risk factor for injuries or musculoskeletal disorders such as the ulnar tunnel syndrome (Akuthota et al., 2005: The American Journal of Sports Medicine, 33, 1224-1230) that results in impaired handgrip force, reduced mobility and pain in both the hands and arms (Radwin et...

Purpose: Proper saddle height in cycling can improve health, comfort, and performance (Millour et al. 2019). Methods based on knee angle (KA) for saddle height adjustment are frequently employed (Ferrer-Roca et al. 2011). They are considered accurate because they consider individual differences in thigh, shank, and foot length (Bini and Hume 2016)....

Purpose: Coaches and cyclists often use direct drive home-trainers for measuring power output (PO) during testing and training. Several devices like the Tacx Fortius (Peiffer et al., 2011: International Journal of Sports Medicine, 32, 353-356) and the Velotron trainer (Abbiss et al., 2009: International Journal of Sports Medicine, 30, 107-112) have...

Methods based on inseam length (IL) for saddle height adjustment in cycling are frequently employed. However, these methods were designed for medium-sized people. The aim of this study was to evaluate knee angle during pedalling by 2D video analysis and perceived comfort using a subjective scale under three saddle height conditions: (1) self-select...

Although cycling has been associated with overuse/fatigue and acute injuries, there is lack of information regarding associated risk factors and prevention factors. The objective of the study was to determine the factors associated with injury, and perceptions of discomfort and pain in cyclists. A total of 739 cyclists completed an online questionn...

Purpose: Bike-fitting methods based on knee kinematics have been proposed to determine optimal saddle height. The Holmes method recommends that knee angle be between 25° and 35° when the pedal is at bottom dead centre in static. Other authors advocate knee angle of 30-40° during maximum knee extension while pedalling. Although knee angle would be...

The purpose of our study was to establish a circus student-artist anthropometric characterization allowing for their classification among the different activities or sports discipline and to know if they present specific morphological adaptations due to their practices. Methods: Thirty healthy adults (13 women and 17 men, 22.5±2 years, 170.1±6.4 cm...

Although bike fitting is recommended to help reduce injury risk, little empirical evidence exists to indicate an association between bike fitting and injury incidence. The aim of the study was to determine the effect of bike fitting on self-reported injury, comfort, and pain while cycling from a worldwide survey of cyclists. A total of 849 cyclists...

Purpose: Prolonged mountain biking can involve pain complain in the wrists due to the ulnar nerve compression when using traditional grips (Capitani et al., 2002; Eckman et al., 1975). This phenomenon seems to be amplified by mechanical vibrations that are largely encountered during MTB practice despite the use of damping systems located in the for...

Sampling bias is an issue for research involving cyclists. The heterogeneity of cyclist populations, on the basis of skill level and riding purpose, can generate incorrect inferences about one specific segment of the population of interest. In addition, a more accurate categorization would be helpful when physiological parameters are not available....

Contexte Les semelles orthopédiques sont régulièrement prescrites pour soigner les blessures liées à la course à pied. Toutefois, leur mécanisme d’action reste mal connu. Objectif Cette étude avait pour but de vérifier l’impact d’une correction de l’arrière-pied sur des paramètres du modèle masse-ressort lors de la course. Méthode Sept participan...

Hintzy, F, Gregoire, N, Samozino, P, Chiementin, X, Bertucci, W, and Rossi, J. Effect of thigh-compression shorts on muscle activity and soft-tissue vibration during cycling. J Strength Cond Res 33(8): 2145-2152, 2019-This study examined the effects of different levels of thigh compression (0, 2, 6, and 15 mm Hg) in shorts on both vibration and mus...

Vibration in cycling has been proved to have undesirable effects over health, comfort and performance of the rider. In this study, 15 participants performed eight 6-min sub-maximal pedalling exercises at a constant power output (150W) and pedalling cadence (80 RPM) being exposed to vibration at different frequencies (20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70 Hz) or w...

This study investigated the effect of performing a preconditioning exercise with or without whole-body vibration (WBV) on a subsequent cycling sprint performance. Fourteen trained subjects performed two separate test sessions in randomized order. After a warm-up, the preconditioning exercise (body-loaded half squats) was applied: 30-seconds of half...

Le but de cette étude est d’évaluer l’impact des pressions thoraco-abdominales manuelles sur les débits expirés lors d’une expiration forcée.

Purpose: This study aimed to determine the validity, sensitivity, reproducibility and robustness of the Powertap (PWT), Stages (STG) and Garmin Vector (VCT) power meters in comparison with the SRM device. Methods: A national-level male competitive cyclist was required to complete three laboratory cycling tests that included a sub-maximal increme...

Background: Paris-Roubaix is a unique and singular race of UCI World Tour. Compared to other “classic races”, the difficulty of the route is increased by the mechanical vibrations encountered during many cobbles sectors. These ones represent ~20% of the total distance to be covered (~250 km). They are classified by the organizers according to their...

Whole body vibration (WBV) is used as a training method but its physical risk is not yet clear. Hence, the aim of this study is to assess the exposure to WBV by a measure of acceleration at the lower limb under dynamic and static postural conditions. The hypothesis of this paper is that this assessment is influenced by the frequency, position, and...

Objectifs : Determiner les effets d’une paire de semelle orthopedique sur le controle postural et sur l’architecture podale apres une activite de course a pied. Materiels et Methodes : Vingt sujets sportifs (10 hommes et 10 femmes) ont couru sur une piste d’athletisme pendant 30 minutes a 10 km/h en utilisant soit des semelles neutres soit des seme...

Introduction De nombreuses etudes ont montre l’efficacite de semelles orthopediques sur l’activite musculaire du membre inferieur [1] ; [2]. Cependant, tres peu se sont interessees aux muscles du pied et a differencier les 2 membres inferieurs. L’objectif de notre etude est de determiner les effets d’une semelle correctrice sur l’activite musculair...

Le but de cette expérimentation était d’étudier l’effet d’un cuissard compressif sur l’évolution de l’activation musculaire et du transfert vibratoire au cours d’un pédalage avec vibration induisant une fatigue neuromusculaire. Quinze sujets ont réalisé un exercice d’un pédalage (20 min, 85 rpm avec vibrations 33 Hz et 2 mm d’amplitude) avec un cui...

Background: Cycling training volume is very important for professional cyclists. According to Pinot and Grappe (2014), a top-10 cycling Grand Tour finisher rides ~30,000 km and 950 h during one complete season. In this condition several factors can induce muscular injuries or fatigue such as training load, number of competitions, quality of the rec...

The purpose of this preliminary study was to compare the surface EMG level activity of seven muscles (gluteus maximus, rectus femoris, vastus medialis, tibialis anterior, gastrocnemius medialis and soleus) while pedalling with circular and noncircular ring (O- Symetric). Five cyclists rode at 2 power output levels (150 - 200 W) and 3 different peda...

The aim of this research is to reveal the best bike configuration, wheels, and tyre pressure for competitive cycling on cobblestones. One former professional cyclist performed 16.75 laps on a cobbled road track (1.55 km). Three accelerometers were mounted on the stem, the seat post and the down tube. sEMG of the rectus femoris, vastus lateralis, ti...

Increased core (brain or body) temperature that accompanies exercise has been posited to play an influential role in affective responses to exercise. However, findings in support of this hypothesis have been equivocal, and most of the performed studies have been done in relation to anxiety. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect...

During cycling exercise, at least 75% of energy expended is wasted as heat or used to maintain homeostasis regard to the consistent value of Gross Efficiency (GE), Net Efficiency (NE) and Delta Efficiency (DE) reported in the literature (18 - 26%). Therefore, it would be assumed that potential link exists between cycling efficiency and thermoregula...

The aim of this study was to analyse the effect of forces applied to pedals and cranks on the strain imposed to an instrumented bicycle motocross (BMX) frame. Using results from a finite element analysis to determine the localisation of highest stress, eight strain gauges were located on the down tube, the seat tube and the right chain stay. Before...

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of whole body vibration in oxygen uptake during intense squatting exercise with an added weight and whole body vibration compared with the same exercise without vibration. Nine male sub- jects performed three trials of dynamic squatting with an additional load of 50% of their body weight durin...

Vibrations experienced by the human body are a well-known and widely studied risk factor in the industrial world. These are transmitted to the whole body or parts of it (like the hand-arm system) and are measured and limited according to international standards and European directives. However, despite the ubiquity of vibrations, their effects are...

A crossover experiment was performed to determine whether age and sex, or their interaction, affect the impact of acute aerobic exercise on Vigor-Activity (VA). We also tested whether changes in VA mediated exercise effects on performance on various cognitive tasks. Sixty-eight physically inactive volunteers participated in exercise and TV-watching...

Purpose: Increased core (brain or body) temperature that accompanies exercise has been posited to play an influential role in affective responses to exercise. However, findings in support of this have been equivocal, and most of the performed studies have been done in relation to anxiety. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects...

The aim of this study is to present a new instrumented mountain bike trial and the possible applications for analyse and improve the trial sport performance. This bike has been equipped with a strain gage on the chain stay and of an electronic device to store the data (200 Hz) in the goal to analyse the biomechanics of the pedalling during the impu...

Comfort in cycling is related to the level of vibration of the bicycle: more vibration results in less comfort and also it can generate health problems for the rider. The vibration level found in the joints of the lower limb while cycling is directly related to the characteristics of vibration exposure and influenced by the movement in this extremi...

The goal of this article is to define some basics of ergometry, indicating especially the expectations that you can have when measurements are doin the context of scientific research. A description of the characteristics of an ergometeris do by specifying what are the impacts on the measurement of biomechanical variables. Measurement error and its...

The vibrations undergone by men are a well-known and widely studied risk factor in the industrial world. They are transmitted to the whole body or the upper limbs and they are measured, and limited, according to international standards. Disorders resulting from exposure to vibration are varied in nature: osteoarticular, muscular, vascular, and neur...

Abstract The present study was performed as an evaluation of the relationships between changes in facial temperature and self-reported pleasure-displeasure during an acute aerobic exercise bout. Ninety-two students performed a 10-minute long session of cycle ergometry at 80-85% of age-predicted maximal heart rate. Using infrared thermography and a...

Purpose. Several factors may influence cycling performance and effort intensity during cycling competitions. The present study aimed to investigate the conditions that may influence the initial acceleration during the first 5 meters of a cycling competition, particularly riding position, starting angle of the crank and hand position on handlebars....

Background: This research aimed at exploring the effects of a short-term Buqi intervention on postural control and self-rated health in a French sample of middle-aged participants. Methods: Twenty volunteering adults aged 31-65 were randomized into a 3 weeks long Buqi training group, or a wait-list group. Parameters regarding postural control and h...

his article follows a recently published work (Bertucci et al. 2012) on the effects of age on observed asymmetry during the mechanical process of pedaling for masters cyclists who concern the majority of practitioners. The present work focuses first the link it may exist between muscle mechanical imbalance and skin temperature imbalance. It is show...

This paper introduces the inverse-inverse dynamics method for prediction of human movement and applies it to prediction of cycling motions. Inverse-inverse dynamics optimizes a performance criterion by variation of a parameterized movement. First, a musculoskeletal model of cycling is built in the AnyBody Modeling System (AMS). The movement is then...

Les mesures réalisées en biomécanique nécessitent une instrumentation multiple et variée. Dans le but d’augmenter la qualité et la finesse des mesurages réalisés, cet ouvrage propose une analyse critique de différentes instrumentations et méthodologies employées dans le champ de la biomécanique. L’un des objectifs est de proposer une base de réflex...