Is cycling the best physiotherapy?

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robing
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Is cycling the best physiotherapy?

Post by robing »

It has helped with my back pain and particularly last year I had had a real flare up of knee pain following being knocked off my bike.
I was about to start a challenging 2 week bike tour in Italy and my knee was giving me so much grief that I was having difficulty walking.
I thought I might have to bail out of the bike trip. But I found with the cycling - approx 70 miles a day and very hilly my knee actually improved and by about the 3rd day the pain had gone and by the end of the trip my knee was cured! Anyone else experienced this phenomenon?
PDQ Mobile
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Re: Is cycling the best physiotherapy?

Post by PDQ Mobile »

Yes a long cycling trek across Europe helped a sore and "clicky" knee for me too.

There's nothing like a long distance tour for getting into really good all round shape. IMHO.
It hurts at first but after 3 or 4 days the body starts to really tone up.

Same applies to backpacking tours too.

And when the tour/trip is over and the panniers or the rucksac are laid to oneside then one really flies. :D
Last edited by PDQ Mobile on 7 Apr 2018, 9:31am, edited 1 time in total.
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horizon
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Re: Is cycling the best physiotherapy?

Post by horizon »

My personal view is that the body has immense (and mostly underused) healing abilities of its own. And the best way to stimulate the body's own healing (of all sorts of ailments) is through physical activity. Whether that is because it gets the blood circulating or the limbs moving or the various glands going I don't know but it seems to work and there seem to be more people saying it does. Cycling so happily combines minimal impact with maximum time spent moving, deep breathing with muscle usage and limb movement with heart stimulation that it's hard to see how it wouldn't help. It is the lack of it that has given society its social care crisis.
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Mike Sales
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Re: Is cycling the best physiotherapy?

Post by Mike Sales »

It is nearly fifty years since I more or less destroyed my hip joint. For a decade I used crutches. Then I discovered a bike helped me as I could ride with one good leg and the other contributing what it could, as I sat there. The motion of the joint stimulated more and more use. What Horizon says chimes with my experience. Blood flow etc encouraged and a benign spiral established.
I managed 1100 miles in 11 days, and 150 in one day. This was a real liberation, and did wonders for my morale and general health.
Ultimately the joint worsened and has now been replaced. I still ride and it still keeps me healthy but thirty or forty miles is my usual ration.
A continual source of amusement has been the incredulity of the able bodied but sedentary who think ten miles is a long way to cycle.
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Thornyone
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Re: Is cycling the best physiotherapy?

Post by Thornyone »

robing wrote:Is cycling the best physio?.....I had had a real flare up of knee pain following being knocked off my bike.
:lol:
Seriously though, I would agree that cycling is good and I have found it generally pretty useful for taming my long-standing lower back problems. I am now on the verge of giving up on swimming (done regularly for the past 40 years) because it seems to be seriously aggravating my lower back, and sometimes after a swim I can barely climb out of the pool, but the ride home usually works wonders. I have been having physio since the start of the year but it isn’t really helping. When I mentioned it to my GP recently she suggested that cyclists get bad backs and suggested cycling less!! :roll: (won’t be in a hurry to see her again).

Incidentally, I used to get awful shinsplints years ago, especially from fast walking and swimming. After taking up cycling again, it seemed to totally eradicate that issue.
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foxyrider
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Re: Is cycling the best physiotherapy?

Post by foxyrider »

My experience is a mixed bag - i've had issues like tendonitis where I couldn't ride but could walk and the opposite with other injuries where walking was out but I could ride. Riding can be beneficial but sometimes it should be avoided.

Especially when we are on a trip we often continue riding when perhaps we shouldn't, my DVT last year went unrecognised for weeks as I thought it was just a muscle twinge - ended up being close to fatal.

As to back pain - well I get back pain on the bike from time to time but I get far worse from off bike back strains which, yes, are eased by riding the bike - if I can get on it!
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robing
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Re: Is cycling the best physiotherapy?

Post by robing »

Happened again! I've been suffering from really bad back pain lately. I've cut down on running and increased my cycling and it's much better!
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Patrickpioneer
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Re: Is cycling the best physiotherapy?

Post by Patrickpioneer »

Is cycling the best physiotherapy? I say one of the best ways yes, but I also think what helps us heal is our mental attitude, because we love cycling, that makes us feel better in our minds and that positive feeling helps to cure many things, many things
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Mistik-ka
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Re: Is cycling the best physiotherapy?

Post by Mistik-ka »

Yes.

~ Mistik-ka, B.Sc.P.T. (ret) 8)
david7591
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Re: Is cycling the best physiotherapy?

Post by david7591 »

Cycling is gentle on muscular and soft tissue issues as it’s modest weight bearing compared to exercises that involve standing/moving on your feet.
Cyril Haearn
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Re: Is cycling the best physiotherapy?

Post by Cyril Haearn »

Positive thread alert, +1!

Swimming is said to be very good too
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SamWarrenCycling
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Re: Is cycling the best physiotherapy?

Post by SamWarrenCycling »

I found cycling was a really great way to ease back from a hamstring injury. Most of all because you control the intensity of the input. However, a few friends have noted that because with cycling you end up miles from home, you can get caught in the trap of trying some gentle rehab which causes a flare up - and then you've got an hour on the bike to get home, which makes it considerably worse!
atoz
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Re: Is cycling the best physiotherapy?

Post by atoz »

I managed to strain my back lifting a large bag of potatoes (I mean large!). After some manipulative physio, some gentle rides on the bike loosened up the lower back nicely. My physio said that it gently stretched out the back muscles- mind you, we're not talking cat 1 climbs here, I hasten to add- just a few miles round the block to start with. It was a muscle strain only, no other damage, please note.

In circumstances like these, be guided by your physio.

My right knee improved since abandoning toe clips and straps and going over to SPDs (the MTB/touring type, not the road type). It seems likely I was mistracking when using clips and straps. Again, worked for me, but I'd get some advice from those qualified and experienced to give it.
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