Magazine Article - Benefits of Cycling on Recovery from Injury or Illness

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joking105
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Joined: 10 Mar 2021, 11:36am

Magazine Article - Benefits of Cycling on Recovery from Injury or Illness

Post by joking105 »

Hello everyone,

I'm writing an article for a men's fitness magazine about the benefits of low-impact cycling on recovering from illness or injury.

I myself underwent open-heart surgery in 2017 and the first form of exercise I returned to was cycling short distances, after a couple of months recovery. I found it incredibly beneficial, mentally and physically.

I'd love to hear some of your stories or experiences with how cycling has help you in your recovery. Any tips of getting the most out of your recovery rides would be amazing too.

Any and all comments are appreciated and welcome!

Thanks!
saudidave
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Joined: 16 Jan 2009, 12:22am

Re: Magazine Article - Benefits of Cycling on Recovery from Injury or Illness

Post by saudidave »

I fell off a ladder in 2012 and landed on concrete paving after a 4.00m descent. On impact I landed in a semi sitting position and fractured vertebrae L1 & L3; L2 was crushed - broken biscuits. I'm extremely lucky to be bi-pedal.

I had 4 hours of surgery and finished up with a titanium cage fixed into my back with 4 screws in to my vertebrae. One of the discs between L2 and an adjacent vertebrae was removed and then the adjacent vertebrae was fused to it with a piece of bone from my hip to graft them together. The first time I got out of bed unaided it took me 45mins and the pain was beyond belief, despite my being on a morphine pump. I walked unaided out of hospital 6 days later please with my progress!

Then came the hard bit. Physio like a man possessed, two or three times more than they told me, driven by the fear of a physical impairment. The big problem was the not knowing how long it would take me to recover and to what extent. The surgeon said probably 75%, maybe more but no further commitment than that. When I asked before the operation if I'd ride a bike again he said probably but not for a year or so.

After two weeks I asked how long before I could ride again he said 6-12 months. At my four week post op review he said 3-6months because I was making a faster recovery than he had ever seen, which spurred me on even more. At the six week review I asked again and he looked pensive and I said well if bones heal in 6 weeks and I'm walking about OK why can't I ride a bike? After further thought he asked "mountain bike off road, or road bike?" I replied road and the answer was "leave it another week but be careful! I left wondering if I'd be OK and still not knowing the extent of what my recovery would be.

One week later I gingerly got on the bike and the only real concession was I took the cleats out of my shoes, for a quick dismount if required. Within minutes I concluded I felt O.K. and promptly changed direction from the Cheshire plain to the Pennine foothills and climbed up to Pott Shrigley. After that I realised my recovery would be pretty good and I was only 7 weeks in post op. Within another two or three weeks after that I was back to full fitness and cycling was my mental and physical saviour. At the 3 month review my surgeon congratulated me and asked me to put a % figure on my degree of physical recovery. I replied 90% plus. I'd say I made it back to 95% in the end.

Had I not been a cyclist I doubt if I'd ever have got that far. The X-rays will give you some idea how much of a wheelchair dodger I am!
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joking105
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Joined: 10 Mar 2021, 11:36am

Re: Magazine Article - Benefits of Cycling on Recovery from Injury or Illness

Post by joking105 »

saudidave wrote:I fell off a ladder in 2012 and landed on concrete paving after a 4.00m descent. On impact I landed in a semi sitting position and fractured vertebrae L1 & L3; L2 was crushed - broken biscuits. I'm extremely lucky to be bi-pedal.



Thank you for sharing your story, Dave! It's incredible to hear. Could I use a quote or two for the article, and then post it here once it's published?
Mike Sales
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Joined: 7 Mar 2009, 3:31pm

Re: Magazine Article - Benefits of Cycling on Recovery from Injury or Illness

Post by Mike Sales »

About fifty years ago I damaged my hip. I don't want to go into the clinical complications. It is the role of Dr. Bike which is important.
I was on crutches for some years and had progressed to sticks. I was on a rehabilitation course and noticed an unused ladies three speed in the hall of the place where I was staying. It struck me that it might be faster and easier than two sticks.
It was.
Getting on that bike and riding four miles each way daily was transforming. The course was interesting but nothing came of it.
I gradually extended my range. The Bristol-Bath track was an early triumph.
I progressed to better bikes and more adventures.
I rode to Chamonix, at 160Km./day.
I joined a local CTC group, not a fast lot, but we ranged Eryri. |I don't think that they considered me as disabled, and neither did I!
My hip state varied, and the bike was always important in recoveries from relapse.
I even returned to walking and climbing in the hills, though not as before.
You can ride with one leg and any fraction of use in the other, as long as it will go round, and even if it won't there are ways to cope, though mine would always rotate. Cycling needs only a limited amount of movement. Any help the duff leg can give is encouraged.
For me, and others, getting on a bike is a release into flying from crawling. It was like a butterfly emerging from its cocoon! It enables a satisfying and very useful amount of exercise.
The pedalling movement strengthened the damaged joint and coaxed it into better function. Eventually I could walk without limping, at times. I remember walking with a friend who remarked, with surprise, that I was limping a little. He had never noticed before.
Cycling became a central part of my life. I was a cyclist, in every sense!
My hip has now deteriorated, and I am off my bike and on crutches for any distance, but the bike gave me forty years of health and pleasure, not to mention mobility, the importance of which is huge.
I have not despaired of a happy, two wheeled, ending.

If you want to use any of my story, please do not use my name.
It's the same the whole world over
It's the poor what gets the blame
It's the rich what gets the pleasure
Isn't it a blooming shame?
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foxyrider
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Re: Magazine Article - Benefits of Cycling on Recovery from Injury or Illness

Post by foxyrider »

I have two tales to tell - neither of which are particularly exciting but either one could have resulted in a worse recovery without the bike element.

The first 'incident' was in the late '80's. a stupid walking pace accident involving a sleeping policeman, mountain bike and a water bottle resulted in a smashed kneecap which required surgery to put back together. I was regularly racing at the time and whilst recovery to competition level took @ 6 months, my fitness/muscle mass from cycling meant that my recovery to the point of unaided walking and cycling was @ 6 weeks rather than the expected 10/12 the doctors had initially suggested.

Incident 2 was four years ago, a significant DVT above the previously damaged left knee (not connected just coincidence) stopped all exercise for two months and a further month before i was allowed to start riding again. My weight had gone up 2 stone and i was in a bit of a mess mentally and physically. It was clear from the outset that the damaged leg would never fully recover, the DVT had caused too much muscular damage, so whilst it was going around it was contributing very little to my journey. In fact at that point i couldn't propel myself with just that leg, there just was no strength, this was very obvious when walking, i took on a decided limp.

Moving on a couple of years and i was riding, if not faster, at least further than ever before, starting from just a couple of kilometres and needing to stop i progressed to up to 200km at a goodly lick. If i'm off the bike for any length of time though i suffer from swelling, cramps and discomfort directly attributed to the DVT damage. However, if i'm riding regularly i suffer neither the DT cramps or the swelling and from @ 10% leg strength its probably closer to 50% now - i can propel myself with the dodgy leg. I won't say the limp has gone but it only really becomes apparent when i'm fatigued now although it can get interesting climbing stiles or any situation where i need to push off on that leg.

In both instances, cycling has been key to my recovery success, not just physically but mentally, i'm not an exercise junky by any means but cycling allows me to exercise at a higher intensity/aerobic level than i am able to do otherwise and i can mentally relax out riding which i find difficult to do otherwise. Hopefully i won't suffer any more serious injuries/issues in the future, i'd like to think that i can take my generally good health forward into my later years, cycling for as long as possible.

So there you are, two tales for the price of one! :D
Convention? what's that then?
Airnimal Chameleon touring, Orbit Pro hack, Orbit Photon audax, Focus Mares AX tour, Peugeot Carbon sportive, Owen Blower vintage race - all running Tulio's finest!
joking105
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Joined: 10 Mar 2021, 11:36am

Re: Magazine Article - Benefits of Cycling on Recovery from Injury or Illness

Post by joking105 »

Thank you so much for your replies, everyone! They are all very insightful and interesting. I will post the finished article here, making sure not to use names, unless you specify otherwise. Thank you again, Josh.
cyclop
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Joined: 3 Oct 2013, 7:49am
Location: Dumfriesshire

Re: Magazine Article - Benefits of Cycling on Recovery from Injury or Illness

Post by cyclop »

foxyrider wrote:I have two tales to tell - neither of which are particularly exciting but either one could have resulted in a worse recovery without the bike element.

The first 'incident' was in the late '80's. a stupid walking pace accident involving a sleeping policeman, mountain bike and a water bottle resulted in a smashed kneecap which required surgery to put back together. I was regularly racing at the time and whilst recovery to competition level took @ 6 months, my fitness/muscle mass from cycling meant that my recovery to the point of unaided walking and cycling was @ 6 weeks rather than the expected 10/12 the doctors had initially suggested.

Incident 2 was four years ago, a significant DVT above the previously damaged left knee (not connected just coincidence) stopped all exercise for two months and a further month before i was allowed to start riding again. My weight had gone up 2 stone and i was in a bit of a mess mentally and physically. It was clear from the outset that the damaged leg would never fully recover, the DVT had caused too much muscular damage, so whilst it was going around it was contributing very little to my journey. In fact at that point i couldn't propel myself with just that leg, there just was no strength, this was very obvious when walking, i took on a decided limp.

Moving on a couple of years and i was riding, if not faster, at least further than ever before, starting from just a couple of kilometres and needing to stop i progressed to up to 200km at a goodly lick. If i'm off the bike for any length of time though i suffer from swelling, cramps and discomfort directly attributed to the DVT damage. However, if i'm riding regularly i suffer neither the DT cramps or the swelling and from @ 10% leg strength its probably closer to 50% now - i can propel myself with the dodgy leg. I won't say the limp has gone but it only really becomes apparent when i'm fatigued now although it can get interesting climbing stiles or any situation where i need to push off on that leg.

In both instances, cycling has been key to my recovery success, not just physically but mentally, i'm not an exercise junky by any means but cycling allows me to exercise at a higher intensity/aerobic level than i am able to do otherwise and i can mentally relax out riding which i find difficult to do otherwise. Hopefully i won't suffer any more serious injuries/issues in the future, i'd like to think that i can take my generally good health forward into my later years, cycling for as long as possible.

So there you are, two tales for the price of one! :D

Your story illustrates perfectly the benefits of cycling for rehab,both physical and mental and mirrors my own experience insofar as I,also,had a dvt and also ,quite separately,muscle(vastus medialis)wastage from femoral nerve damage following a bulging disc.The common thread running through both these tales is doggedness and determination to get back lost fitness, more difficult for someone who has not been there and starting from scratch.This and the previous posts show the huge benefits of,in general,maintaining a good level of fitness and,specifically,the role of cycling in this goal,particularly related to rehab .
djnotts
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Re: Magazine Article - Benefits of Cycling on Recovery from Injury or Illness

Post by djnotts »

Not so much recovery as delay.... formally diagnosed with moderate/extreme COPD some 8 years ago I was told that normal, irreversible, progression would reduce me to external oxygen supply within 2-3 years.
I was already cycling c. 3500 miles p.a.so upped my targets. 5000 p.a. up until last year - no big holidays so 6500 miles. Missed maybe 15 days (holidays and hospital, not lung related).
Missed only 1 day so far this year. It's the regularity that does the trick.
I and my specialist nurse are convinced that regular cycling has allowed me to keep the disease at bay. And if weather TOO awful I try to go for a 3-4 mile walk, but that's boring!
cyclop
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Re: Magazine Article - Benefits of Cycling on Recovery from Injury or Illness

Post by cyclop »

I,m sorry to hear about your copd,something my wife suffers from and I know how limiting it can be.She has no way of exercising due to other health issues and well done to yourself for keeping it at bay.An old friend,who I used to cycle with, has contracted copd.She has no known causes except for the fact that she spent the first 15yrs of her life in the East end of London when "peasoupers"were a common occurence and pollution levels were very high.Interestingly,my wife was brought up and lived in South Shields for 30years,when heavy industry was on the doorstep,mind you,she was also a smoker.I,m assuming you,ve always been active,have you any known causes ?
djnotts
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Re: Magazine Article - Benefits of Cycling on Recovery from Injury or Illness

Post by djnotts »

cyclop wrote:I,m sorry to hear about your copd,something my wife suffers from .........have you any known causes ?


I started smoking age 9 and went on to become a "heavy smoker" until the copd diagnosis, so yes "a known cause". While not always a cyclist I was in general terms "active".

I spent my first 6 years in Trafford Park, then one of the largest industrial estates in Europe, heavily polluted and down wind from the chemical plants along the MSC to Liverpool. As my GP put it "you were on 10 (cigarettes) a day from the moment you were born". We moved to Stockport when I was 6 and I well remember the yellow smogs - on bad days only the buses ran, sometimes with the conductor walking a few feet in front as a guide!

COPD is one of the most undiagnosed health issues in the developed world. Given pollution levels in e.g. parts of major connurbations in UK, mainly now from vehicles, the worst is yet to come. The NHS knows this - there is a leading research unit at Nottingham University Hospitals where asthma etc work is funded by the drug companies (because there may be profits down the line) but copd by the state (no cure, no profits!).

There are parts of London where "permitted" annual pollution levels exceeded in first few weeks. Children there are the sufferers of the future, plus of course are all those who were growing up in the 1970s onwards as vehicle pollution soared.

A nasty irreversible disease. I am sorry for your wife and friend. I at least can, in part, blame only myself. To have it caused simply by the environment must be very difficult to accept.
ClappedOut
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Re: Magazine Article - Benefits of Cycling on Recovery from Injury or Illness

Post by ClappedOut »

In a nut shell years ago I put off health issues that were getting worse by the week as I found the GP to be unpleasant at best and useless at worst in the diagnosis of arthritis I never had and locum doctors at 6 month intervals ticking boxes.

Housebound, admitted to hospital and changed GP's and hospitals to which I was told that I never had arthritis.

Sleeping weeks on a bathroom floor not an experience I wish to REPEAT & lost a year and the most frustrating part beautiful weather and stuck in side & years recovering.

Drugs are not my thing & don't like prescription or non prescription medicines, but my being able to move equates to a carrier bag of them.

I slowly managed to walk the dog having to stop part way and exhausted round the block and built this up over time.

Having hip, knee and ankle problems I have modified footwear so 10,000 steps on flat a day my limit and burning feet and hips etc

Allegedly I have Fibromyagia, it's a diagnosis I hate as tends to be seen as mental health or non existant by the public.

Cycling allows me to exercise to tune of 5-6 or more miles on an old touring /audux bike with my son and it can be as affordable or expensive as you want or need it to be.

Thinking of progressing to a gravel bike or trying to save for a recumbent trike.

A good quality e bike would be nice, long term battery and motor repair costs would worry me

My motto is it doesn't matter what others think, incremental change and achievable goals.
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mjr
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Re: Magazine Article - Benefits of Cycling on Recovery from Injury or Illness

Post by mjr »

djnotts wrote:I and my specialist nurse are convinced that regular cycling has allowed me to keep the disease at bay. And if weather TOO awful I try to go for a 3-4 mile walk, but that's boring!

Yes, reading the opening post, I thought that there may be as many or more who are cycling partly to slow illnesses from which we may never recover unless there is some treatment breakthrough. If I stop cycling, it shows up in my blood in as little as two weeks.
MJR, mostly pedalling 3-speed roadsters. KL+West Norfolk BUG incl social easy rides http://www.klwnbug.co.uk
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