Cycling is excellent for your knees. It’s not just that it avoids the impact of running. Cycling helps distribute fluid to your joints.
It’s so much of a benefit that there are reasons to ride even if you’re not someone who particularly enjoys being on a bike.
If you do enjoy riding a bike, that’s a bonus.
People keep asking if, after knee surgery, I’m happy to be back on my bike.
But the truth is, I never got off my bike. The week before my first knee surgery, I rode my bike from Toronto to Montreal with the Friends for Life Bike Rally. That’s more than 600 km over 6 days. I couldn’t walk enough to get groceries by that point, but I certainly could ride my bike. I blogged about how weird that was here.
Now my new knees are a few years old and I’m still riding my bike. That makes knee surgeon and my physiotherapist happy.
My knees just feel better on days when I ride my bike. It’s enough of an issue that if I’m traveling for work I ride bikes in the hotel gym, not for exercise but to keep my knees feeling good. When I’m planning travel, I think, will I be able to ride a bike?
You might want to listen to this piece on NPR, Like to bike? Your knees will thank you and you may live longer, too.
From the NPR piece, “”Cycling is very low impact,” says musculoskeletal researcher Matt Harkey, an assistant professor at Michigan State University and a co-author of the study. Cycling also helps to build strength in the muscles around the knee which can help protect the joint. In addition, the rhythmic motion of pedaling on a bicycle can move synovial fluid, the viscous, egg white -like liquid in joints that helps reduce friction and absorb shock. “What it does is help to circulate the synovial fluid throughout the joint to help to kind of lubricate [the joint] and provide nutrient delivery to the cartilage,” Harkey says.”
Or watch this Instagram summary here,
