Call the rheumatology center (495)-125-20-94 Tell us a time convenient for you to consult a rheumatologist
The dispatcher will sign you up for a consultation.
You will be informed of the name of the rheumatologist who will consult you, the exact time of the consultation, and will also be told how to get to the rheumatology center
To make an appointment with a rheumatologist, you only need one call!
Rheumatology, joint diseases
Rheumatologist - main ››Arthritis - how to deal with it
Arthritis - you can fight it
We're talking about the type of arthritis that typically affects older people: osteoarthritis. As a person ages (or due to injury), joints can wear out or break down. This leads to pain. stiffness and sometimes swelling - especially in the spine, hips, knees and joints
fingers. There is no cure for this, but there is a lot that can be done to alleviate this condition.
How does an active lifestyle help with arthritis?
Many people believe that if you have arthritis, you need to move as little as possible. Physical activity and regular exercise
What kind of physical activity helps with arthritis?
Orthopedists and rheumatologists believe that any activity that gets you moving helps with arthritis. The best time to do this is when you feel most mobile, when the pain is less severe and the medications you are taking are working well. It could be
activities such as
Ask your doctor or local community health center if the following (low-cost) classes are offered in your area:
If you don’t have a gym in your area, or are too lazy to go to one, one way to provide yourself with daily physical activity starts with buying a bicycle.
Firstly, if he does not fit into the elevator, then lowering him from the 16th floor and raising him to the 16th floor is already enough.
Well, if you still manage to ride it regularly, that’s great!
How to calculate physical activity
How much do you actually move? Find out. how to calculate your physical activity and understand whether you need to move more.
Cycling is a great way to get rid of fat deposits on your thighs. This is not very intense (if you ride slowly), but constant work, more intense than walking.
Therefore, the body burns fat with pleasure and builds muscle tissue. Another thing is that for noticeable changes in the muscles of the thighs you need to ride regularly (or better yet, daily) - and for a long time, at least 40 minutes a day.
By the way, we have published on our portal the most complete table of calorie consumption for various types of activities: from washing dishes to skiing.
Everyone, actually. A good, healthy and not too difficult way to exercise every day for almost six months, as long as the weather permits.
However, there are several categories of people for whom a bicycle is especially useful.
Firstly, cycling is one of the best ways to prevent varicose veins . Leg movements prevent blood from stagnating.
Secondly, cycling is very useful for those who have problems with blood supply to the brain . Have you heard the term “vegetative-vascular dystonia”? So, a great way to make sure it doesn’t exist is by bicycle.
Thirdly, cycling perfectly improves blood supply to the pelvis . Men, are we afraid of prostate adenoma? Well, then we reduce the risk.
If your knees hurt after or while cycling, this is NOT NORMAL! Something needs to be done about this urgently. It is best to consult a doctor for advice. And not to a traumatologist, but to a sports doctor who can really assess your situation and give recommendations on what to do. But he won’t advise you to rest and not ride a bike. In this article we will look at the physiology of knee pain. What to do and what not to do to avoid injuring your knee joints. This problem is an occupational disease of all cyclists and football players. And don’t think that if you are an amateur, you are insured against its appearance in the future. It is better to take preventive measures than to treat later. Moreover, joints are very difficult to treat, and you can ruin them for life by developing arthritis.
Without going into details, the knee joint is a flexible articulation of 2 bones. The articular surfaces of bones are covered with cartilage. The synovial fluid located between them ensures sliding and prevents bone friction. If there is not enough fluid or it is too thick, the bones can touch and rub, wearing away the cartilage, which can eventually lead to arthritis.
Why doesn't this happen when walking? The fact is that when riding a bicycle, the knee joints experience an unnatural, from a physiological point of view, load. Yes, and hip joints too. Unfortunately, cartilage and ligaments cannot be pumped up like muscles. Ligaments can be strengthened, but this will take much more time than muscle growth. Therefore, after buying a bicycle, you cannot immediately go on long bike trips or ride marathons. This requires good preparation, which we will talk about later.
There is such a thing as cadence . This is the speed at which the cyclist pedals. Ideally, you should make about 100 revolutions per minute, but not less than 80. You can try to calculate how much you can rotate per minute. Of course, you need to do the calculations not on a busy road. Or get yourself a cycling computer with a cadence sensor that will count for you.
The article is written based on our experience and discussions in various conferences.
As many of you probably know, the vast majority of pedaling when riding a bicycle is done with your feet. Those who were especially inquisitive could even notice that the legs were intensely bent and unbent at the knees. But not everyone is aware of potential problems, namely pain and arthritis/arthrosis, which can easily overtake an inexperienced biker and stay with him for life . depriving not only a bicycle, but also a normal life.
It is about the maximum preservation and extension of combat readiness of these very important places of the biker that we would like to talk today, so that it would not be excruciatingly painful for the parts of the body of oneself, one’s loved one, killed by a reckless attitude towards them. In this article we will mainly consider only the problems of pain in the lower extremities associated with their joints (we will only mention ligaments/muscles in passing - but this does not mean that they are not important).
And don't say we didn't warn you. Praemonitus praemonitus .
For the purposes of our article, it is enough to imagine that, to a first approximation, a joint is a flexible articulation of two bones, separated by a lubricating fluid with the clever name “synovial”, which ensures the sliding of the articular surfaces (for a more detailed description, refer to the articles Prevention and treatment of injuries and diseases knee joints in cyclists and Who “plants knees” and in what beds). Accordingly, problems begin when the amount of this fluid decreases or its density increases - friction increases, pain appears, bones may even come into contact, injuring the cartilage, which ultimately leads to arthrosis.
Find out if you can heat your joints. Here you can read expert advice and learn all the intricacies.
People suffering from joint diseases often ask, is it possible to heat their joints?
Indeed, in some cases, heating has its benefits, but it is used differently. For example, if a person suffers from arthrosis, then it is better to use dry heating in the form of a heating pad or lamp. In this case, heat reduces pain.
For arthritis, it is better to use a bath as an additional remedy. If this is not possible, you can use a simple heating pad.
Often, patients with coxarthrosis or osteoarthritis are also prescribed warming with a blue lamp or heating pad. This allows not only to relieve discomfort, but also promotes the growth of cartilage tissue.
But for gout, using heat is not recommended, because it only intensifies the existing swelling. This treatment will lead to increased pain.
In general, doctors do not advise actively using warming when any disease is in an acute form, when there is an active process with pronounced symptoms.
In any case, it is better not to do warming without a doctor’s prescription. There must be an indication for this, otherwise, instead of improving, the person will only get worse.
The doctor finds out the main cause of the pain, determines the form of the disease, and only then decides with what intensity it is worth warming up the affected area and whether it is worth using this method at all.
In addition to them, chronic synovitis can be determined by the following additional signs:. Only rarely can the disease recur. To do this, you just need to be examined by a doctor several times a year in order not only to prevent a terrible disease, but also to maintain a healthy spirit in the body and the organism as a whole.
The accumulation of blood, pus or joint fluid in hydrarthrosis leads to stretching of the joint capsule, which leads to pain. In some cases, more rigid stabilization of the joint is required with splints for rest for days with the use of cold in the first days of hypothermia.
Open injuries of the elbow joint. Burns from contact with man-of-war and jellyfish. It is noteworthy that the secretion-resorption balance is quite fragile, and during inflammatory processes it is easily disturbed in the direction of increased secretion. Symptoms of Drug Addiction Living with Cancer Feedback. Also register on the Eurolab medical portal to be constantly aware of the latest news and information updates on the site, which will be automatically sent to you by email.
In severe cases, dermatitis is possible. Then the solution is prepared and the joint is infused throughout the day between loads. It is worth treating that human synovitis can be permanent. Some include Kontrikal, Trasylol, Synovit.
It is worth standing for 1 hour each time before meals. The loosening of the knee membrane can be caused by traumatic injuries, diseases, congenital and acquired slight resistance of the edge and periarticular tissues, allergic reactions, normal disorders, endocrine diseases, burning diseases and fever.
During the period of exacerbation, patients are referred to physiotherapeutic procedures: After the puncture, the doctor introduces antibiotics into the cavity of the diseased joint, broad-spectrum drugs are used to prevent the addition of a secondary infection or if the nature of the disease is confirmed to be bacterial; Dietary supplement You can also call a doctor at home.
There are cases when conservative treatment of synovitis of the knee joint does not produce results, but, on the contrary, contributes to the progression of the disease. With this disease, a microscopically serous process of inflammation of the synovial membrane occurs, characterized by a pronounced vascular reaction.
Features of massage for hip dysplasia.
They can be inserted vertically into the acute cavity and prescribed as a result of injuries or injections. Tight bandaging closer can be harmful, because then the blood circulation and antibiotics will not be treated properly. To suppression, it is often caused to patients, compression and reduction of naive factors. When analyzing, it is necessary to pay attention to the color, purity, and viscosity of the synovium; During a knee examination, it is important to know the position and treat turds, salt crystals, bacteria, etc.
Endocrinologist of the hip, problems of synovitis with special potassium. Perhaps the only possible arthrosis of the intervertebral joints is the cause that should be addressed. There may be deviation of movements, dull secondary minutes and laser fatigue in the disease.
For the former pigeon and fibrous synovitis, the joint is interesting in the positive. Online Feats Are you predisposed to the selection of generalization?.
The most informative study is considered to be punctate - a study of the fluid taken during puncture. Synovitis is also divided into microbial and aseptic. Subscribe to comments by email.
Indeed, the behavior of small inflammatory phenomena will reach the parafindermatologist, as well as catheterization. I want to take it every day before meals for 1 hour. Fine-focal synovitis of the knee joint in the disease from the severity and axons that died due to its jamming, treats several departments:. Taking into account irreparable technological advances, treatment of synovitis of the vagus joint takes only a short time in comparison with diseases of the knee and is often new.
There are a lot of gelatinous joints for treating this liquefaction. Synovitis of the mastoid process improves the steam room, from which the tissue queen undergoes a serious relationship. Simply put, from a pharyngeal point of view, headache diarrhea can occur after all large and synovitis joints of our body.
Arthralgia of the knee joint in children. To choose the right treatment, the doctor, in addition to palpation and examination of the joint, determines the presence of concomitant diseases. Gunshot injuries to bones and joints. The main thing is not to start the disease. The solution is then filtered and drunk throughout the day between meals.
And if adult synovitis is accompanied by severe joint movement, sea immobilization with cabbage splints or feet will be required. Ampicillin vapor poisoning, synovitis of fifths and. Camel tactics in this particular case are determined centrally taking into account the tablet of post-traumatic changes, the train of static disorders, post-traumatic arthrosis and the person of surgical intervention and other symptoms.
In acute organ synovitis, osteochondrosis and sleeping on the stomach begins in volume within a few days or a few hours. It is known not to drink the disease. In a knee case, microorganisms will subside in the patient through beautiful or blood vessels. Whether synovitis can contribute to illness, arthritis or angina.
However, they are not very compatible with the disease, even if the synovitis of the knee joint is moderate. And slippage in the valuable membrane of the joint can have a negative impact on the knee as healing structures.
Treatment of aseptic synovitis of the knee joint is usually outpatient and includes puncture with evacuation of effusion and immobilization of the limb with a plaster splint, knee brace or pressure bandage for a period of days.
If necessary, a biopsy of the altered synovial tissue is performed. The synovial membrane is easily removed from the superior inversion, more difficult from the superolateral ones; it is much more difficult to excise it from the inferolateral and posterior inversions.
If oxygen starvation occurs or the neurologist cannot resolve it for a long time, orders are used. In case of struggle with drug treatment, to provoke more complete information about dexterity, arthroscopy is performed - meat fragility with minimal intervention in the patient. Poisoning by profession, henbane, cod, cross, mandrake.
Joints affected by arthrosis should not be stressed to the same extent as healthy ones. But this does not mean that you should try to minimize any movements in the joint. On the contrary, the articulation must be developed, overcoming the contracture, in order to prevent muscle atrophy. Not all types of physical activity are allowed for arthrosis of the knee joints (gonarthrosis). Thus, lifting weights and weightlifting will accelerate the destruction of the joint; running and jumping, as well as contact sports with a high risk of injury, are also prohibited. But an exercise bike for arthrosis of the knee joint will help strengthen muscles, activate blood circulation, and increase the range of motion in the joint. Hiking, classic skiing (but not alpine skiing), and swimming at a calm pace are also shown.
Gonarthrosis begins with a change in the volume and composition of the synovial fluid, thinning of the articular cartilage, and loss of elasticity. As a result, when walking and performing other movements, the articulating surfaces of the bones rub against each other, causing pain. A person tries to limit physical activity and not put stress on his knees in order to avoid pain. The body also defends itself and responds to cartilage wear by compacting bone tissue (osteosclerosis) and the proliferation of osteophytes. The knees begin to hurt not only after exercise, but also at rest. Patients with arthrosis often develop arthrogenic contracture, that is, joint stiffness that does not allow the limb to fully bend or straighten.
At first, the main cause of stiffness is pain accompanying movement; at this stage, contracture can be overcome by regularly performing exercises to develop the joint. In the later stages of gonarthrosis, movements in the knee are hampered by large osteophytes. Narrowing of the joint space and bone deformation, violation of bone congruence lead to a sharp limitation of mobility. If the joint is completely destroyed, the bones fuse together, arthrosis turns into ankylosis, which can only be eliminated surgically. Due to insufficient load, muscles atrophy, the affected leg becomes shorter than the healthy one, and its girth also decreases. Due to deformation of the knee joint, the load on other joints of the legs increases.
It is not difficult to completely restore JOINTS! The most important thing is to rub this on the sore spot 2-3 times a day...
The causes of articular cartilage destruction are varied, including:
So people who have knee pain should figure out what is causing the pain. If post-traumatic arthrosis of the knee joint with acute manifestations and an inflammatory process has developed, you must first achieve remission, and only then begin to ride an exercise bike and perform exercises. In the absence of inflammation and pronounced degenerative-dystrophic changes in the joint and periarticular tissues, physical activity is necessary immediately.
Movement treatment is an essential component of complex therapy for arthrosis. These are exercise therapy, exercises on simulators, gymnastics, mechanotherapy and some sports. Physical activity is important for a number of reasons:
Exercising on an exercise bike for arthrosis of the knee joint is most effective:
Many people are interested in whether it is possible to ride a bicycle with gonarthrosis. If the knee joints are affected by arthrosis, cycling helps to develop them and strengthens the muscles. But we must remember that such trips are not always safe. In order not to aggravate the situation, a number of points should be taken into account:
So, if you have been involved in cycling before and have a good bike, you can use it in addition to exercising on an exercise bike. Only instead of cycling, you will have to go for cycling, keeping a moderate pace, limiting the distance and duration of trips, and taking precautions.
First of all, you need to ask your doctor if you can exercise on an exercise bike at the moment. If your knees are swollen, your legs are swollen, your skin is red and hot, arthrosis is accompanied by an acute inflammatory process, you should wait a while with physical activity. If you have recently had a knee injury or surgery, rehabilitation should be gradual. At first, you need to tense and relax the muscles to prevent their atrophy, but not make movements in the joint. You can increase the load and switch to exercise equipment when recommended by a rehabilitator. If the development of gonarthrosis has reached stage 3, the decision on the possibility of training is made by the doctor, who also determines the permissible load. At stages 1–2, the training is more intense, but the joint should not be overloaded.
Patients diagnosed with gonarthrosis should consider purchasing an exercise bike. This is more convenient than visiting the gym, especially at the first stage, when short-term but frequent approaches are indicated. But it is better to master the exercise machine in a physical therapy room under the guidance of an instructor who will teach you how to choose the optimal mode and dose the load.
Classes on an exercise bike are carried out according to the following scheme:
Patients exercising at home should undergo regular examinations and adjust the load depending on the dynamics of arthrosis development. If the condition worsens, a decrease in the intensity of training or even its cessation may be indicated until a stable remission is achieved. But long breaks in classes are undesirable.
Exercise on an exercise bike is the best way to maintain mobility of the knee joints and muscle tone for as long as possible, slow down the progression of arthrosis and delay severe deformation of the limbs. An exercise bike provides optimal load distribution compared to walking; such activities are safer than cycling. But you cannot start training without consulting a doctor, who must determine the optimal intensity of exercise for each stage.
Accustomed to leading an active lifestyle, people find it difficult to perceive restrictions associated with physical activity after they have been diagnosed with a vertebral hernia.
But if physical exercise is necessary to treat this disease, then you can also engage in sports, for example, cycling? Is it possible to use a bicycle if you have a herniated disc?
The mechanism of occurrence of intervertebral hernia is as follows:
A deformed piece of disc is often compressed by the vertebrae during physiological stress on the spinal column, and such compression can provoke:
To avoid compression and the occurrence of pathological symptoms, doctors recommend gentle physical movements that exclude direct stress on the spinal column. But how do a bicycle and a spinal hernia go together?
Before answering the question of whether it is possible to ride a bicycle with a hernial deformity of the spine, it is worth considering what effect cycling has on the human body:
But what happens to the spine when you ride a bicycle? It is worth considering in detail the processes that occur during a bicycle trip:
So is it really impossible to take a bicycle for exercise if you have a hernia?
Of course, cycling and intervertebral hernia do not go well together, but for cycling enthusiasts who, despite their illness, do not want to part with their favorite sport, we can give several recommendations:
Is it possible to go cycling with a herniated disc? Not recommended. But if you really want it, then it is recommended to follow the tips suggested above to prevent complications.
By the way, now you can get my free e-books and courses that will help you improve your health and well-being.
The information in the articles is for general information purposes only and should not be used for self-diagnosis of health problems or for therapeutic purposes. This article is not a substitute for medical advice from a doctor (neurologist, therapist). Please consult your doctor first to know the exact cause of your health problem.
It is not prohibited to do Nordic walking, take the stairs, ride a bicycle or use an exercise bike if you have coxarthrosis of the hip joint. Moderate physical activity helps to improve well-being and stop the progression of arthrosis of the hip joints. Not all sports are allowed for this disease. The doctor will decide what exercises you can do and what you cannot do, taking into account the individual characteristics of the body and the degree of development of the disease.
For arthrosis of the hip joints, physical activity is necessary as an auxiliary treatment. Thanks to the work of certain muscle groups, blood supply and nutrition to the affected areas is improved. This helps to stop the progression of pathology and restore damaged areas. But not all types of exercise have therapeutic properties. Intense movements, impacts, sharp turns or heavy lifting will negatively affect the condition of the sore joint. Therefore, if a person is diagnosed with coxarthrosis of the hip joint, such sports will need to be abandoned forever.
Physical activity is necessary for all people. They prevent the development of degenerative-dystrophic pathologies, help a person always be in good shape and control weight. Even if grade 3 arthrosis is diagnosed, sports activity is still necessary. It will prevent joint structures from atrophying, prevent the formation of contractures, and normalize the functioning of the joint.
All exercise during the recovery period should be supervised by a physical therapist. Thanks to tips and advice, a person can learn to independently control the intensity of exercise. Then going to the gym will become optional, because you will be able to train yourself, at home.
Walking on snow with skis helps relieve stress on the hip joint. Sliding on the ski track reduces the number of steps, thanks to which your own weight does not put as much strain on the lower limbs. But before you start skiing, it is important to familiarize yourself with the following rules:
Return to contents
You can run at stages 1-2 of coxarthrosis. At later stages, the mobility of the joint is limited, so it will be difficult for a person to engage in running sports. Light jogging or slow walking is recommended, but if a person experiences pain or discomfort during exercise, further exercise should be discussed with a doctor.
When pedaling, the muscles of the hip joint are stimulated, this helps activate blood circulation and nourish the joint. Thanks to this effect, the functionality of the limb improves, pain and stiffness disappear. If the weather is damp and cold, it is recommended to exercise on an exercise bike. It is better to choose a horizontal type model with a backrest. This will prevent unnecessary stress on the spine and joints. An elliptical trainer that does not require sitting has proven itself to be effective for coxartosis. All movements are measured and performed in a standing position.
Swimming in the pool and underwater exercises have a beneficial effect on the condition of the musculoskeletal system, this effect is especially relevant when diagnosed with coxarthrosis. For water aerobics to be beneficial, it is important to train and swim under the supervision of a trainer. Taking into account the type of illness, he will be able to select the optimal exercises that will help normalize the condition and speed up recovery. Water aerobics is contraindicated for people with cardiovascular pathology, psychological disorders, as well as exacerbation of degenerative-destructive diseases.
Yoga for coxarthrosis has a beneficial effect on the condition of not only joint structures. It has a healing effect for the whole body. Correctly performed stretching and even breathing during asanas helps to warm up the muscles, activate blood circulation and accelerate the regeneration of affected tissues. But if you do the exercises incorrectly, the condition worsens. Therefore, to avoid complications, you should train together with a specialist who is familiar with the diagnosis.
Classes are not prohibited, but the main part of them should be static, that is, muscle tension is present, but there is no movement of the body and limbs. Static exercises include:
But you should give up intensive fitness classes. Excessive stress can provoke complications, which will then be much more difficult to deal with.
If you have coxarthrosis of the hip joint, you should forever abandon the following types of sports:
All these sports are characterized by high trauma and sudden movements. With coxarthrosis, such loads are strictly prohibited. They negatively affect the diseased joint, further destroying and deforming it. But you shouldn’t give up sports activities. For any disease, you can choose the optimal set of exercises that will promote recovery and improve your condition.
Arthrosis is a disease of the joints that occurs due to their immobility. Previously, the disease was considered a disease of old people, but now it also occurs in young people due to a sedentary lifestyle. Is it possible to play sports with arthrosis? What strength exercises should you choose for arthrosis? We'll look into this further.
In most cases, arthrosis affects the knee joints, then the elbows, and then the shoulders. Therefore, a properly selected sport will not aggravate the disease, but, on the contrary, will improve your health.
You can’t play sports, but you have to do it. The main thing is to observe moderation and choose the right set of training. If you have never exercised before, ask your doctor what you can do. After going to the doctor, sign up for a fitness center and talk to a trainer there. Sports for arthrosis are needed in order to:
Before engaging in therapeutic exercises or exercise therapy, study the indications and contraindications. First you need to normalize your weight and consult a traumatologist. Then do physical exercises at home, go for walks. You should also pay attention to the following indications:
Exercises for osteoarthritis and arthrosis that should not be done:
Exercise therapy for arthrosis must be done, since the complex will help relieve pain during acute periods and prevent remission. Home exercise is an option, but it is better to work with a professional first. Exercise therapy for osteoarthritis is usually done with the following exercises:
Next, we will describe the simplest and most popular activities that can be done without the supervision of a specialist at home. Starting position – lying on your back, stretch your legs and:
Do the following exercises while sitting on a chair with your back straight:
Therapeutic exercises for arthrosis are somewhat different from exercise therapy. It is performed lying down, sitting and standing. The starting position depends on preference, the preparedness of the cardiovascular system and the degree of joint disease. If the knee joints are injured, corrective exercises are performed to eliminate gait defects.
Therapeutic gymnastics for arthrosis involves special breathing exercises. Classes can be passive or active, depending on the person’s preparedness. First, the healthy limbs are relaxed, and then the sick ones. The complex includes training to strengthen the back muscles. The stronger the pain, the weaker the load. As you practice, the amplitude of the exercises increases, unless pain is felt. The greater the amplitude, the more active the person.
Physical therapy for arthrosis is carried out individually or in small groups. They are conducted by a doctor or trainer with appropriate education. During classes, dumbbells, balls, walls, and benches are used. Exercises are allowed 3-4 times a day for up to 10 minutes at a time. The doctor advises each person on his own amplitude, tempo and number of approaches. If your doctor does not do this, you should look for another specialist.
During the rehabilitation period, the exercises are stable, that is, with support on 2 limbs. Active classes come first, then passive ones. Between them there should be a breathing warm-up or a short meditation. After exercise you need to stretch. Gymnastics for osteoarthritis is appropriate.
From this video you will learn how to train with arthrosis or spinal hernia.
I constantly touch on this topic in my notes, but as you can see from the questions in the mail and comments, it needs to be formatted as a separate article.
The question is actually serious, in my opinion, the problem of sore joints in the context of cycling needs to be covered as often as possible so that it gets into the information field of novice cyclists.
I have not yet seen a single beginner get on a bike and start riding correctly. Everyone makes the same mistakes, which can lead to a very bad disease - deforming arthrosis of the knee joint.
Let's look at what these mistakes are, how to protect yourself from them and make cycling safer for your health. As always, there are many books, those who don’t like to read can simply scroll through the page, clinging to the highlighted phrases - the whole point is in them.
Unfortunately, cycling does not always bring guaranteed health benefits. If you do not take into account the risk of injury, then a novice cyclist has at least two directions to completely kill his already not the best health.
The first is the cardiovascular system. Cycling is a serious exercise, usually lasting longer than in related sports hobbies. For example, you are unlikely to see a football player kicking a ball for eight hours without a break, whereas for a cyclist it is a simple day spent riding.
Overloads are inevitable, but they are often not noticed, since the load on the muscles themselves is, in general, small. In order not to overload yourself, be sure to buy a heart rate monitor , create a safe exercise schedule for yourself and stick to it.
The second cycling problem is knees. Any advanced cyclist will tell you that he protects his knee joints the most, because ruining them is a matter of just one intense season . This can be considered another horror story, but unfortunately, there are cases where literally a few thousand kilometers away a person became disabled. Arthrosis deformans practically cannot be treated; its consequences can only be alleviated.
And yet, dear readers who have just started cycling, do not be alarmed and do not invent false symptoms for yourself: what I am talking about applies to those cyclists who ride several thousand kilometers over the summer. If you ride at a relaxed pace several times a month, then you can have absolutely no worries and continue to do it the way you like.
But if you feel interested in cycling trips, long rides and intense training, then I ask you to read this article. I'll give you a few tips to keep your knees healthy. You must strictly adhere to them, no matter how absurd they may seem to you.
The fact is that the load that occurs when pedaling is completely atypical for our anatomy. The muscles adapt well to the bike, which cannot be said about the joints. The situation is aggravated many times over due to the duration and intensity of skiing.
In ordinary life, our knees do not move with such a large amplitude - in fact, pedaling for many hours, we seem to be squatting all this time. Can you imagine yourself doing squats for several hours in a row? Of course, the force applied to the pedals is disproportionately less, but the principle, I think, is clear.
Despite this bleak start, I can assure you that it is possible to minimize the negative effects of cycling. Roughly speaking, in a rotation system, the knee joint is the axis of the connecting rod, and you need to find the ideal position of this axis relative to the pedals, so that the load becomes minimal.
Beginner cyclists, think about how you sit in the saddle? I almost always come across a common mistake: a person sits so that without getting up, he can touch the asphalt with both feet. They explain it this way: so that in case of a dangerous situation you can firmly rest on the ground. The desire is laudable, but it entails an incorrect position of the axis of rotation of the so-called connecting rod, which we discussed above.
Please remember the only correct position of the “leg-knee-foot-pedal” system , because this is the basis. Have someone hold the bike or push the handlebars against a wall. Sit fully into the saddle, place both feet on the pedals and place your hands on the handlebars.
Now rotate the pedals so that one of them is at the lowest point. Place your heel on the pedal. Your leg should be fully straight, but not lifted. Place the toe of your foot on the pedal, now your leg is slightly bent at the knee.
To achieve this condition, you will have to work thoroughly with the adjustment of the saddle. Do not set the height by eye - your foot should lie on the pedal exactly as I said, every centimeter is important. Sometimes, due to this position, the saddle begins to press in the crotch: this means that the inclination is not set correctly.
If you have a normal sports or touring saddle and normal pelvic bones, then the ideal angle of the saddle will be zero, that is, it will be parallel to the asphalt. If you still continue to press, then do not tilt the saddle, but lower it literally a centimeter.
As a rule, this helps. Zero tilt is very important at long distances because it allows you to accurately weight your rear point without allowing the weight to go forward onto your arms or back onto your tailbone. Pedaling efficiency also suffers from this.
I myself rode with a forward lean for several years, until a road cyclist advised me to straighten the saddle and lower it a little. Following the advice, I got used to the new position after a couple of hundred km and only then realized how wrong I was driving.
The next thing you should do is try to get your kneecap to be above the pedal axle at the 3 o'clock pedal position. Adjust the saddle in the longitudinal position, move it back and forth until it works. In some cases, it is not possible to achieve the ideal position: this is usually due to the fact that the frame is shorter or longer than you need.
You can try using an offset seatpost. But sometimes, due to some anatomical features, it is not possible to set the correct position on any size. For example, my knee joint is shifted back by about 3 cm, but there are no problems due to this.
So now you are sitting in the saddle in the ideal pedaling position. But this is not enough. It is necessary to minimize the load itself. To do this, we switch to lower gears: we turn quickly, but easily . Remember a car: you won’t drive hard, you’ll always tuck it into a lower gear. It's the same here, the less physical force applied to the pedals, the less effort went into the knees.
The normal cadence (pedal frequency) is considered to be 80-100 rpm . Unfortunately, all beginners, at best, pedal at a speed of 50-60 revolutions per minute, turning them with noticeable effort. At the same time, they say that this is how they pump their legs. Everything is correct: the muscle grows, but the knee joint is killed.
I remember myself when I just started driving: how happy I was that I could drive onto the bridge in the highest gear. My hair is standing on end now: the cadence was probably 30 or even less. I was lucky that I read a horror story like this on the Internet in time.
So, friends, pedal like crazy. I can perfectly imagine how difficult and unpleasant this is. The lack of effort on the pedals is annoying; the legs lose ground due to the high rotation speed. Contact pedals help very well in such situations , but you can get used to it without them. Then you will thank me very much.
If everything is in order with the cadence and position in the saddle, then it is very important to choose the right gear so that the bike does not hurt your knees. You are not riding singlespeed; a bicycle has twenty, or even thirty, gears.
For example, I constantly change my speed: the slope of the road has changed slightly or there is a headwind. It has become a habit for me; I don’t think about switching, just like in a car. Achieve this too, so the effort on the pedals will always be approximately the same (light).
One note about the gears. Usually, when stopping at a traffic light, novice cyclists do not bother to set the speed lower in advance. For example, we were driving 25 km/h, stopped, and then you can’t immediately change the gear down - you’ll have to start at a high one.
You will have a huge load for several tens of meters, even if you stand on the pedals. So, also make it a habit: stop - three clicks down.
By the way, regarding driving while standing, there is nothing wrong with that, but don’t get carried away. The same rule applies here: there must be a transmission of its own. Even while standing, you should not have an unbearable load that you need to push with all your weight. You need to stand on the pedals only for the purpose of sharp acceleration and warm-up; you don’t need to ride this way for a long time.
Keep your thighs parallel to the frame. For beginners, when pedaling, the knees often move from side to side - this leads to ineffective pedaling. Ideally, you should not swing either your body or your hips - the body is motionless, only the legs work, clearly, like pistons, up and down. When you accelerate or ride uphill, feel like the muscles and ligaments are wrapping around your knee joint like a bandage.
That's all I can say about actually riding a bike. I understand that at first this will seem too complicated and even inconvenient to you. Don’t be upset, this is exactly what all people who seriously delve into our hobby go through.
I also remember how I didn’t like riding with a high cadence, how I wanted to make the saddle lower, how lazy I was to watch the position of my legs and click the speeds. But I did not give up, and useful skills became part of my nature, and as a result, I never had serious problems with my knees, despite the huge, by amateur standards, runs.
The rest of the advice will be only accompanying, but no less important. The most important thing that I repeat in every third article is that you need to drink a lot. When riding a bike, fluid is lost at an alarming rate, and the person himself does not feel it. You can drive for quite a long time before you feel really thirsty. And water is precisely what makes up the physiological lubricant that protects the knee joint from abrasion.
Imagine what will happen if you regularly dehydrate your body while pedaling for hours at a time. It’s easy to guess that the intercartilaginous tissue will first become inflamed, and then it will simply begin to wear off from working dry. The result is a serious internal injury to the joint.
Therefore, you should always drink before you feel thirsty. Ideally, constantly, every 10-15 minutes, taking several sips. It’s good if there is a place for isotonics in your drinking diet, this will replenish the loss of salts and electrolytes. An article about what to drink while cycling is coming out soon.
Be sure to monitor the weather so as not to overcool your knee joints. Cold is the easiest way to cause inflammation. The person does not notice this at first, continuing to drive at full load. Sometimes it seems that it’s already quite warm outside; you can go out in a short summer uniform. That’s the way it is, you won’t feel cold while moving, while the knees themselves are not covered with a layer of muscles that would protect them from hypothermia.
Be sure to warm up before riding, especially if you haven’t yet logged a decent amount of mileage this season. Rub your knees until they turn red and sit down several times. When you start driving, put it in a very light gear, and roll for the first kilometer at a cadence of 110-120 rpm.
Bring lycra pants with you when riding, which you can quickly put on in case of cold weather. If on an autumn ride you find yourself caught in the cold rain, and it’s still a long way from home, then go to the first cafe you come across and ask for a newspaper. Fold several sheets and put them in your trouser legs like knee pads; this design is not blown by the wind. By the way, in this case it won’t hurt to put a newspaper directly on your bare chest under your cycling T-shirt. A wind shield for the bronchi is provided.
An important step away from knee pain is switching to clipless pedals. The main benefit here comes from the fact that in the contacts the pushing load that we apply to conventional pedals is replaced by uniform circular pedaling, without dead spots.
With clipless pedals, you can not only push, but also pull up, thereby unloading the opposite pedal. Overall, there is a significant reduction in the load on the knee joints. Almost all enthusiastic cyclists ride in contacts - think about why.
That's about all for today. Follow these simple recommendations, and you will never need what I will write about in the next article (what to do if your knees hurt from cycling).
Friends, let's not get lost on the Internet! I suggest you receive notifications by email when my new articles are published, so you will always know that I have written something new. Follow the link please.
add your rating
Thank you for, on the one hand, a simple and, on the other hand, precise determination of the correct height and position of the seat. Before this, for some reason I came across some abstruse and complex descriptions, in general, today I will regulate ?? On the topic of contacts and knees, I don’t even know what to say, before contacts my knees sometimes hurt, then I bought contacts and the first week my knees got worse, now everything seems to be fine, in general, I still don’t understand if they helped me or not, but I’m driving around It’s a bit difficult in the city among cars and pedestrians (I fall every few days, or even several times a day). On the other hand, before, when I rode on trails for 100 km or more, my knees hurt and my legs hurt, this weekend I rode a hundred and it was as if I hadn’t gone anywhere at all.. True, this was the first time I went out in full gear: contacts and cycling uniform.
Why do you fall so often? Are you driving too hard?
If you are making your way among the crowd, then simply whip one of your legs.
Thank you very much for the article!
I have some problems with my knees (they hurt during static exercise, so rollers are put aside until the diagnosis is clarified), so I try to monitor them during other physical activities.
I’m a beginner cyclist, I ride a little, but nevertheless, I want to do everything right.
Dina is good, you need to instill the right habits from the beginning.
At first I thought that I simply had no experience, but now I blame the pedals. I was feeling really hot and I went to the store and bought what was on sale, I didn’t even remember the brand (on the pedals it says I think L2 or something like that), in general they are disgustingly quilted. The spring unclenches, my leg begins to dangle, but often I can’t remove it from the pedal—the cleat gets caught on something, so I fall, or the cleat gets stuck and I can’t turn my foot at all. Because Every day I go to work in the city center, then I find myself in the thick of people and cars where I often have to stop unexpectedly, that’s where the pedals play a cruel joke on me... I want to buy a Shimano 540 soon, maybe they will save me. People actively recommend crunks, because... Quilting there is the simplest, but I'm afraid of them, because... I weigh 100kg and love to jump?? But trips out of town are a pleasure, where even if I get stuck in sand or mud and don’t have time to unfasten myself, it won’t hurt to fall??
It’s bad if there’s a problem with unfastening. Shimano - no problem, easy. I don’t recommend cranks after breaking two pairs in one season.
Victor, have you by any chance studied how to select the length of connecting rods? I’ve been researching this topic for the last couple of days and read that they recommend choosing depending on the length of your legs. If you have short legs (and in my case this is exactly the case), then when riding on standard connecting rods (175mm), your knees may also hurt.
My knees are generally a problem area, so I always try to keep my cadence high and drink a lot, the saddle is scientifically adjusted. Sometimes my right knee still hurts a little. So I think I might try putting 160-165mm connecting rods...
Yaroslav, to be honest, I don’t know anything about this. If you have someone to buy, try short connecting rods, you could, but it’s somehow expensive to buy for the sake of experimentation. ?? I doubt it would hurt my knees.
I always try to keep the optimal cadence. But my friend, he’s like you when you first drove up the mountain in maximum gear. He screws in 3-6, 3-5. At 7 speed ratchet. But at the same time, the cadence in the region of 70-80 towards the top certainly drops. No matter how much I argue with him, he tells me that with a high cadence he is not at all comfortable.
Nikita - it is true, people are uncomfortable with a high cadence, this is logical. Therefore, those for whom knees are important overpower themselves, and gradually a high cadence becomes a habit. I don’t know about your friend, there are people who drive in this mode for years, several thousand km per season - and nothing. Health is good. But this is not worth emulating.
I emphasized this point because my wife does this. I teach it all the time - switch in advance, but then you push with all your weight. Sometimes it helps, sometimes it forgets. The point is very important, I agree.
“For example, we were driving 25 km/h, stopped, and then you can’t immediately change the gear down - you have to start at a high one. You will have a huge load for several tens of meters, even if you stand on the pedals. »
This is how I tore my knee ligaments at the beginning of May: with one leg strapped in, I started from a traffic light in high gear. As a result, I didn’t ride for 3 weeks. Now I have an iron rule - whether before a traffic light or just in front of slowed down cars, I immediately throw it on the small front sprocket at the front.
Victor, you are great for paying attention to this particular point. They write a lot about cadence and other things, but you are the first to write about starting from a traffic light. Well done, write more!
That's right, I forgot about the traffic light. I do the same. I take off the front and the back too.
Kotovsky, comrade! ?? But for me it’s the other way around: over the winter my knees become decrepit and begin to sag, but as soon as I get on a bike, everything goes away. I'm actually looking forward to the cycling season! It’s news to me that you can get cold knees in the summer. I liked the way to combat the cold using newspaper. I wonder if waterproof tights have been invented yet? And I always thought that cycling hardens the bronchi and it is absolutely impossible to catch a cold while riding a bicycle. Yesterday I got caught in the rain - an unpleasant occurrence, however! It’s good that it was not far from home, but if only it was km. over 30, I can’t even imagine what to do to keep my feet dry??
Galina, the season started a long time ago. ??
You can catch a cold in the summer, too, if it happens in Estonia. ?? Just kidding - it can get cold everywhere.
There is nothing completely waterproof, because in this case sweat will accumulate inside the clothes. There are cycling clothes with a high degree of water protection, but you won't like the price. ?? And still this is not a panacea.
Cycling hardens the bronchi, yes, but you can catch a cold. Ride for five hours in the icy rain and wind - there is a considerable chance of bronchitis.
We had great weather all week, so why didn’t you go skiing? ?? Now it is unknown when the next week of summer is, maybe in July.
Victor, thank you for such a thorough explanation with pictures! In other sources I found a similar text description, but without accompanying sketches - and in the end I got confused with these “at three o’clock”, “leg extended”, etc. I tried to set it up, but I felt like something wasn’t working out right... In the end, I set it up for convenience. The other day I bought a new saddle to replace the stock one (it’s already taken out my loin part) - and here’s an article on the topic, I’ll set it up correctly??
And with the gears, I had to persistently retrain myself to reset before stopping and especially before the hills (I have several valleys on the track, when first, when rolling down a hill, you pick up more speed and the gears are correspondingly increased - and then you take off up the mountain, the speed quickly drops, and if in advance If you don’t downshift, then under load you won’t be able to shift very well - and you’ll pull out at a low cadence)
Good day everyone! I want to share my experience so that my knees don’t get cold. I carry two elastic bandages and two knee braces in the kit... One day in the fall we were riding in the woods and in the evening the temperature dropped 8-10 degrees, such a difference immediately affected my knees... I still had to roll home 60 km, wrapped it up with bandages, bondage on top and more and more - things got less smooth... Then I tried to equip myself in advance... By the way, I practice the same method on a large ski track, the load on the knees there is also not weak. In general, here it is...))
Nicholas, good method, glad it worked out.
And don’t forget about warming up, friends. Just even morning exercises. This prepares you for stress.
I don’t travel without knee pads in any weather. After 2-3 hours of driving I feel some discomfort, but the product is effective.
Cranks are good for those who mix shit a lot. There's easy fastening. For the rest, SPD rules.
Elastic bandages for knees are not the best option - they get wet and start to get cold. Better are special knee pads with fleece and a windstopper.
Abysmal, I support. It is especially better with cranes in winter - SPDs are often not fastened at all due to ice.
Thanks for the article Victor, short and clear as always. I am increasingly inclined to buy contacts (or rather, my mind was inclined a few weeks ago, but my wallet is still inclined :)).
Having traveled a little more than 1000 km this season, my knee began to ache, I would like to ask the experts what ointment and at what interval of use is optimal for eliminating the aching pain?
Egor, the day after tomorrow the article is about what to do if your knees still start to hurt.
Contacts are required. ?? Sooner or later, almost everyone switches. It's better early then.
Thanks for the article, everyone writes about this cadence of 80-100, maybe this is more relevant for cycling and even specifically for road bikes, which spin at speeds of more than 40 km/h, applying high power for a long time, pushing through air resistance. Since the time of Brezhnev, I have been riding at a physical training pace of 25-27 km/h on a 28′ city bike. My knees never hurt, even though I climbed Vorobyovo Gora every day with minimal cadence (the Tourist does not have a front derailleur). True, from year to year I increase my mileage, well, maybe 4 thousand per season: from work, to work, to the dacha. Yesterday I tried to ride with a high cadence: the speed is lower, it’s unusual to move my legs quickly, even my breathing gets more tired :).
.ps I met a lot of people who were seriously involved in cycling racing with the described problems with the knee joint:-(
Cyclists in general are not very healthy people, like all professional athletes. We are not talking about them, but about us, ordinary Catalans. ??
Regarding the fact that someone’s knees are fine, despite the fact that he rides singlespeed, with a low cadence, in shorts in winter, I always answer one thing - if you are confident in your iron health, experiment. If not, do as other cyclists advise, that is, high cadence, knee insulation, warm-up, contact pedals, etc.
As for insulation, when skiing in winter I basically dress the same as for skiing, only my outerwear is warmer. You sweat a lot when skiing, and when you stop without changing your clothes, it’s easy to catch a cold. There are two problems with a bicycle - blowing frosty air on your face simply makes riding above 20 km/h uncomfortable, even with a balaclava protecting your chin, it’s somehow difficult to ride faster. The second problem in cold weather is the feet. Riding every evening in Chinese Shenyang (in Russian in Mukden), the weather there in winter is the same -18 -20•, there is no snow or ice, the Chinese are all on bicycles :), I noticed that blood circulation in the feet on a bicycle is much worse than on skis or on foot, but no matter how I didn’t warm myself up, after half an hour my feet froze, it’s not good to ride in high boots :-(. As a result, due to frozen feet, I caught a severe cold and was already waiting for spring..
In general, my blood circulation is poor, and my feet are cold even in the fall, and in the winter it’s generally a pipe... When I skated in winter, at one time I even seriously looked for electric heating in my boots, but somehow it didn’t come to fruition.
By the way, there are also chemical insoles-heaters; they heat for several hours after they are taken out of the package and exposed to air. It's just an expensive pleasure.
sergey, cadence 80-100 is not that bad.
When I installed a bike computer with a cadence, I discovered that I was only riding 70-75. I was babbling above. Having installed the contacts, the cadence rose slightly, to 80-82. Then I simply forced myself to practice pedaling in circles and riding in lower gears in order to rotate at the limit of feeling the load, i.e. as if idle. After a season I started skating at 95 by the end of the season.
Now I start the season at 90 and I feel uncomfortable, as soon as the first 2 hundredths of the season pass, the cadence is consistently 96-98. This is now my comfortable pace. But I always have a couple of forward and reverse speeds in stock due to the fact that I can raise the cadence to 110-115 at the peak. It’s very good to enter bumps or go straight on the highway past a turn, accelerating to 40-45 km/h.
As for highway cars, for them often 120 is the usual cadence, cruising, but it can also be much higher.
As for the cranks, I wanted to confirm the words of uv. Victor. These are pedals for the season, especially eggbeaters 1. They have one bearing that is a sliding sleeve. At the same time, they are the cheapest, like reliable and repairable Shiman 540s.
If a Shiman has a backlash after about 5 thousand km, which is usually eliminated by a bulkhead, then with cranks one of the frames often bursts after about 2-3 thousand km, but also after about 2.5-4 thousand km the bushing wears out until it is completely replaced . Finding bushings is a problem, but a model of eggbeaters with normal bearings costs more than 100 bucks.
It’s cheaper to buy a bundle of 520s with this money and replace it as it wears out, i.e. approximately every 5-6 thousand km
Thanks for the advice, I'll work on my cadence. It’s summer now, there are few cyclists on the route, no one will overtake;). Then on my Auchan bike, which I took in Rome, the front sprocket was 42 teeth, by the way, this greatly reduced the average speed on a bike ride - according to the speedometer and automatic speed meters on the side of the road, it was only 22 km/h and not even against the wind! Of course, I installed the standard 48-38-28 at home. I have not tried contact pedals yet. I haven’t tried to insulate my knees; in cold weather, wearing a short jacket causes a lot of air blowing into the affected area, which is fraught :-(
sergey, 28-38-48 or 22-32-42 doesn’t play much piano. What is more important here is the physical condition of the skater, whether he can turn these teeth.
For example, for me it’s generally 22-32-44. I feel more comfortable this way. Plus the cassette costs not 36-11, but 34-11, because... The gear ratio, even 1-2, is enough to go up hills. Next, the technique of overcoming climbs comes into force, so as not to fall back and cause the rear wheel to slip.
In general, I use the 3-9 combination very rarely, more often on descents, I don’t go further than 3-7 in a straight line, I very, very rarely spin 3-8, but usually I get by with increasing the cadence on lower combinations
Thank you, everything is clearly and clearly written.
It helped me a lot.
It will be necessary to reconsider the adjustment of the saddle height) But I think I initially chose not the worst option by eye, sitting on the saddle, my toe barely touches the asphalt, I’ll check and measure according to the article, maybe I’ll need to adjust it a couple of cm. Yes, it will be hellishly difficult to increase the cadence at first ((It seems very inconvenient to me, especially when you pick up speed, turn very quickly, sometimes there comes a moment when the pedals get lost under your feet at idle, they just jump out from under your feet, this happens to me periodically, without load on the pedals.
And about water, I’m still too tired to drink every 15 minutes, I haven’t bought a bicycle backpack yet, I only have a large backpack with a capacity of 35 liters and if the ride is not long, it turns out I don’t take anything, 0 cargo with me, 0 water, I only buy it at the stalls along the way, I drank I took 0.5 liters in one gulp and drove on until the next pit stop, which is probably frankly not correct.
Hops, you can't increase the cadence too much at first if it's uncomfortable.
Drive in straight lines as you like, as long as there is not too much load. Choose a cadence where it seems easy, but you don’t seem to be talking too much.
But you definitely can’t climb the mountain. There, try to keep the cadence higher.
You are just getting used to the bike, so you shouldn’t introduce all the features right away. Graduality is the main key.
Hops, are these typical mistakes of all beginners??
Just increase the cadence, but don’t learn to actively work with the gears to maintain even effort throughout the entire range, and you’ll end up “chattering” out of habit.
Drinking is also wrong. There is a great device for those who don’t want a backpack - a backpack bottle holder and a flask.
Half a liter in one gulp into the stomach, and most likely cold, is a very heavy burden for the body. After this intake, the water does not spin at all, let alone cadence and maintaining speed. 3-5 sips every 15-20 minutes for no reason.
Well, a typical mistake in determining the height of the saddle based on your leg on the asphalt, let you go a little further, at least reach with your toe. It is written that when the pedal is strictly at 6 o’clock, sitting on the seat, the heel without a shoe on the pedal, the leg must be completely straightened. Then putting on your shoes and placing your foot on the pedal, with the joint of your big toe on the pedal axis, we get just the very necessary slight bend of the leg at the knee.
Why is it wrong to measure from the ground? You don’t know how high the carriage is in your frame, how long the connecting rods are.
At the Cycling Caucasus, I was repeatedly advised to exchange my “road bike” for a “normal bicycle” - now it’s clear why they grinned at me so much. ??
What should I do? I have a singlespeed (I’ve talked about this more than once before). ??
On every descent, I don’t pedal at all to give my knees a break. And on exactly the same climbs, I try to drive them at maximum speed, as much as possible, so as not to force myself with prolonged efforts. Am I doing the right thing?
So that's the thing, singlespeed. It seems to be for an ordinary, untrained person, not for speed indicators. Just a vehicle to move from one point to another at a steady pace. When there are many climbs, one gear becomes a stumbling block. Of course, this does not mean that it cannot be driven on such terrain, but we must forget about the minimum time to cover the distance.
Question for Victor and all caring cyclists. Are there velocoms that measure cadence and place a magnet on the wheel or crank? It’s very important because I’m going on a long-distance ride, and my knee hurts when the cadence is low and still dangles from side to side (there are contacts, I hope they will help).
Vasily, the magnet is placed on the connecting rod, and the sensor is placed on the chainstay. Yes, the instructions will say what and how, it’s simple.
Thanks Victor. It turns out that you need two computers: one for measuring cadence, the second for speed, distance, etc.
No, you just buy a computer with a cadence counter. It’s more expensive than usual, but for those who are not used to maintaining cadence, it’s worth it.
Hm. It turns out that one computer must have two sensors: one for the connecting rod and the other for the fork. After all, the one on the connecting rod will not show the real speed, etc.
How about this option: two computers, one with a sensor on the fork for speed, distance, time, the other with a sensor on the crank solely for cadence.
Yes, two sensors. Maybe on a wire, or maybe through the air.
Regarding the second computer, it counts the speed, not the revolutions per minute. ?? Or are you so cool that you can reflash the bike computer? ??
I have this one and recommend it:
link is NOT clickable
OK. clicked on another computer.
I saw somewhere on the Internet how to use a regular bike computer for cadence, but you need to learn how to convert the speed into revolutions. This is what I consider poverty. After all, you can buy just one, but the “correct” bike computer. If wireless is expensive, then wired ones are also quite expensive.
I have been using VETTA RT-277 for the last 4 years.
In addition to the cadence, it is also convenient with a service time counter, which can be set by hours of running or by distance traveled. Helps to remember to change chains around.
Abysmal, I also read about this about five years ago. Not a serious approach.
I have a question for Victor. I want to change my heavy frame to a light one, possibly an aluminum frame with carbon stays. Still, the materials are different, is this design reliable at the place of attachment of aluminum and carbon fiber?
Vasily, the design is reliable, if it is not some unknown China.
Vasily, why not immediately go down the path of purchasing a carbon one, albeit a Chinese one? At Velomania they get very good reviews of frames from this manufacturer http://flyxii.com/ And this is the topic itself http://forum.velomania.ru/showthread.php?t=139329
Hello, Victor! Thank you for your articles, I’m just glad - everything is to the point, simple, clear, understandable. This is how a practical person presents the material, and that’s why it is vitally important. Thank you!
Please tell me, is it necessary to protect your knees from the “cold” in the summer when cloudy weather sometimes rains when the air temperature is +18-20, or can you continue riding in your usual summer cycling uniform?
Alexander, you don’t need to protect your knees if the temperature is +20 or higher.
The lower the temperature, the more responsible you need to be in protecting your knees. At +17 +19 it will be enough to simply wear 3/4 shorts so that the leg covers the knee while skating. Or if you like to ride in cycling shorts, then use summer 3/4 cycling shorts for this purpose.
You can simply attach lycra knee pads to a pair of cycling shorts. This option is more flexible, because You can travel in warm weather without them, but put them on on the way. From +15 and below you need to take a serious approach to the insulation option.
Yesterday evening it was +16, when I left, I came back at +14. I didn’t rack my brains too much and put on 3/4 bicycle leggings with light insulation, similar to fleece. http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=79674
I didn’t regret at all that it would be hot.
Unfortunately, only cycling shorts are available (probably with straps and diapers, but they don’t cover the knees), I was just thinking about wearing sweatpants over them or should I still ride without covering my knees? In the future I will definitely buy myself lycra/fleece knee pads, because... in my area in the summer it’s more often +30 than +18 and it rains once a month, but here I was about to go on a visit 150 km away and, as luck would have it, it was cloudy. Do you think it’s better to wear pants over the top (I’ll definitely take it with me, maybe it’ll snow soon??) or it’s okay, I’ll finish it without consequences for my knees?! Thank you for helping beginner skaters with advice??
And regarding online stores, unfortunately, I made an order from wiggle in June, they delivered it to Russia quickly, but before going to customs, my parcel lay in the warehouse for 1.5 months and only now cleared customs, I think it should arrive within a week to my city (delivery time will be 2 months). Calls, complaints and search applications sent to the post office did not speed up the process, now I will know that if you need something by summer, buy something in winter, by summer ems Russian post will deliver by summer, maybe??
Yes, you can take your pants with you. You can do sports ones, you can just use regular 3/4 shorts, since there are no knee pads
In this case, I recommend buying lycra stockings. They take up almost no space with you, but in case of a sudden change in weather they can keep you warm.
It remains unclear how dangerous it is to drive singlespeed or fixed-speed. Can they be ridden for, say, 30 km every day at a leisurely pace around town without potentially harming your knees?
Dangerous for beginners - they do not feel the load on their knees.
One thing is not entirely clear: you say that the plumb axis of the pedal should coincide vertically with the beginning of the kneecap, other sources say that the center of the kneecap should coincide with the axis of the pedal, where is the truth? I’ll post it myself, adjusted for my feelings.
There is no truth. I, too, when I first started riding a bike, wondered why there were such discrepancies. From my experience I learned that it is correct to coincide with the beginning, and not the axis.
Guys, there is another way to preserve joints, simple and tasty and at the same time very effective: jellied meat! Make it from beef legs and tails for 12 hours so that all the collagen (building material for cartilage, etc.) comes out. ??
For some reason, since childhood I can’t stand jellied meat. ?? He scares me purely outwardly.
I know many people with the same problem - both the appearance and the tactility are repulsive... But for the sake of your knees, you can try to overcome yourself. ??
I once rode 180 km in the fall in just cycling shorts. My left knee began to ache, and as they say, “it’s done.” I wear neoprene wrestling knee pads in any weather, even in the heat (Crimean roller coasters are like that, the long descent after climbing into the heat cools down quite well). So far there have been no relapses, I haven’t noticed any inconvenience at distances of 100+, and in case of falls they work as protection, I have experience.
The article is excellent, as are many others. I'm 45, I've been cycling since I was 3 years old. I thought I knew a lot about bicycles, but it turns out I don’t. Every time I discover something new. THANK YOU!
Igor, thank you for your interest! ??
Victor, thank you for the article. While driving I did the opposite. And I was sure that I was strengthening my knees. I will rebuild.
This is a mistake many people make, and I did too at first. ??
If it’s not a secret, where did you get the neoprene knee pads? It’s getting colder and they will be just right?
I thought and thought and old torn socks came to mind. ??
Two pairs of even the thinnest synthetic socks are enough for one very good knee pad.
We cut the ends of the socks, insert one sock into the other and sew on a typewriter. You don’t even have to cut the holes - everything will fall on top of each other and, if the socks are the same color (for example, black), nothing will be visible.
Of course, if you ride in shorts, it’s better to put new material on top so that you don’t feel ashamed in front of the people. And so - everything hides in your pants. ??
It’s good that my parents had a sewing machine from Stalin’s times - a real, almost eternal machine, a unit that has served for a thousand years. ??
If the knee pad is tight, good! The feeling of the sock digging into the skin has a plus - it tones. By the way, weightlifters use this widely! This feeling somewhat distracts from the pain - even if the knee is worn out by incorrect pedaling and hurts: probably, the psychological effect that the leg will not fall apart allows you to calm down a little. ??
Regarding weightlifters’ knee pads, I even remembered the lines:
“Knee pain from knee pads can be useful - it tones. The athlete becomes angrier, thinks less about the weight of the barbell - and ultimately lifts more.”
What about cyclists? It could be written like this:
“The cyclist becomes angrier, thinks less about distances - and as a result, he will go farther during the day, forcing each climb faster.”
While I haven’t sold my clunker yet - as the pain in the knee will decrease by 90 percent (it’s when driving, and not at rest - at rest it always seems that you are already healthy!), I can try to tightly tighten the knee with ripped socks (their stretch limit not endless, they are not rubber) - and then we’ll see how much they will distract from the pain.
On the other hand, I don’t want to go too far in experiments. Arthrosis, motherfucker! For fools, he does not sleep - and you miss the moment: hop, and you are already disabled, without knowing it.
Intern@vt, you don’t need to escape the pain, but heal your knee. This way you will definitely get arthrosis. For what. People say that recovery takes a very long time and costs a lot of money. And some can no longer afford more or less serious loads at all.
Don't be stupid, leave the bike until spring.
“What about cyclists? It could be written like this:
“The cyclist becomes angrier, thinks less about distances - and as a result, he will go farther during the day, forcing each climb faster.”
No, I don't think anger will help a cyclist. Pushing the barbell is an immediate thing, maybe anger will help. A cycling marathon just requires patience. Agree that you will cover any distance. It’s hard, like in a fog, at a snail’s pace, but you’ll get there. You need to gather your will and go. ?? Anger won't help.
The most effective prevention of knee problems, and just as unusual as high cadence, is shortened cranks. This is especially an irreplaceable thing when you ride with a load. Among bourgeois cycling marathon tourists, 165 mm connecting rods are worth their weight in gold.
The material of the frame is also important - preferably no aluminum for marathons! As a last resort - a cromoly or carbon fork. Well, in general, chromol, carbon or titanium are the best means of combating overload of the spine and joints over a long distance.
In addition to contacts, toe clips are also possible.
Let me add from myself - you should never miss the opportunity to get out of the saddle and pedal as a dancer.
Knowing very well about the rules of cycling and the principles, last Saturday I broke almost all of them. As a result, a sore knee and possibly running and cycling will be taken out of my training program for two weeks.
Very interesting article! I liked it so much that I will definitely post it on my website (with a link to the source.) Thank you for the excellent and useful work!
As for cadence, I think the issue is a little controversial...
I've been skating for more than one year. My conclusion is that cadence discipline is very individual! The main thing is to maintain comfort when pedaling, and the body itself will tell you your cadence frequency....
I suggest making friends with sites.
Alexander, copying materials from my site is prohibited, even with a link.
This article reveals many very important issues, but there is one more and rather delicate one...
You have covered the issue of saddle adjustment and selection very deeply.
Can you tell me the subtleties of selecting a saddle for women, taking into account their physiology and anatomy?
I emphasize, not for beginners, but for veterans who skate a lot and for a long time.
Women, as a rule, do not advertise their problems very well, but believe me, they exist, and they are very difficult...
Of course, it would be ideal to find out the answer to such a question from a woman with cycling experience and who has successfully resolved similar issues.
Maybe you have the opportunity to clarify this issue?
For women - women's Brooks. In general, the only difference in physiology is the width between the sit bones, which is greater than in men.
— Alexander, copying materials from my website is prohibited, even with a link.
I don’t prohibit copying materials from my website, but it is advisable to include a link.
I believe that everything that benefits our hobby has the right to be replicated.
The author's desire is the law. I won't break it.
Now there is an incentive to write a similar article for your resource...??
Thanks again for the great and interesting work.
Thanks for understanding!
Thank you for the article!
At 60 years old, I am a beginner amateur, so I thoroughly study your site.
Today I ordered medical elastic warming knee pads with wool mixture from the pharmacy. There were also some with 70% sheep wool, but I haven’t ordered them yet. I'll see how things go with these.
I wanted to thank you for the article! In general, my right knee has an old sports injury and it hurt after I rode a bike. I read it yesterday and today I set up the bike as written here. It doesn't hurt to ride and your knee doesn't hurt afterwards. I couldn’t even believe how such simple rules could change everything. Thank you. It turns out I was skating completely wrong.
Anna, good news, great!
I ask for your advice!
At the age of 60 I sat on a bicycle for the first time, well, if you don’t count my distant childhood. I am studying your site inside and out. I've been riding for a week. The first and second days are 5 km, then 10 km. a couple of days and already two days of 20 km. SO THIS IS THE PROBLEM. Today I noticed that your foot rests on the pedal almost with your heel, there’s actually a dent on the sole, and not like your support on the joint near the base of your toes. I tried to place my foot according to yours, but somehow I couldn’t stand firmly. Well, I shouldn’t immediately switch to contacts when I’m still not confident in driving.
Victor, your articles make me remember and think even to the point that, it would seem, this is almost off-topic.
I remembered how in 2011, when my walk to work and back ran along a hill in the city center, I stopped on quiet streets and picked a handful or two of cherries from the trees that still grow there right in front of the houses (and not behind the gates ).
This cherry is small and sour, but I picked the ripest ones, preferably already burgundy or red-burgundy in color. I didn’t touch the rest, I specifically waited until it ripened and became sweeter (if the surrounding children didn’t snatch it up before my next walk through those streets).
Now I have decided to resume my practice. Do you want water, sugar and acid? Stop and pick. In 10 minutes you can eat 300 grams of cherries in a row, not counting the seeds, if not more. During this time, the knees will rest and the pulse will subside, and the body will begin to be saturated with the substance necessary for Weller - water, acid, sugar, vitamins. Ideal isotonic!
Now every June my rides always take place along streets where cherry trees grow. As long as I can reach it (if people don’t care and no one really guards the tree - and who will guard it, you’re not getting into someone else’s yard! - and it’s big, then you can climb in for a couple of minutes) - there’s no need to turn away, because this eliminates the need to carry Bring a bottle of compote with you!
...so that's it. my knees hurt the more the load, the pain went away overnight... I didn’t even know about such rules, thanks for the advice!
It seems that I am following all the recommendations, but my knees still hurt (the mileage is only 120 km, 8 km a day) and the pain is as if my leg is being twisted by the heel
And my personal opinion is that pain in the knees is due to incorrect geometry of bicycle frames. I am now 26 years old. I bought hard tail wheels 27.5, frame size 20, with my height 180. On the second day of riding, my knees immediately began to hurt.
Just 3 years ago I drove my father’s “Tourist” all the time, and no matter what loads I gave, I pressed on the pedals as I wanted. I didn’t even know what knee pain was or what it caused. The Tourist has a completely different frame geometry. Low bow to Soviet engineers.
Now, after the pain in my knees, I adjusted the saddle according to the instructions, and increased the pedaling frequency and drink every 20 minutes. I eat well. I don't smoke or drink. Nothing helps. My knees start to hurt after 10 km. Day breaks, the knees recover. If 2 days in a row for 10 km. ride, then I get up from the sofa like an old man. I did 50 squats every day. Now, because of the new 25 bike, I have pain in squats.
Now I’m thinking about buying a curved seatpost or even selling the bike and finding a frame that’s suitable for me.
Probably not all people are suitable for the frames of certain brands of bicycles. You need to look for your own.
The other day I finally purchased a Niner GT. I was driving from the store (9 km) and at 8 km I started to feel numb between my legs, and somewhere on my hands under my little fingers. What I don’t quite understand about the saddle is how to align it parallel to the ground, by eye? To the eye, it seems parallel. Or you should at least ride 100 km and gradually try to change the position of the saddle. That is, at the initial stages it may be limited to adjusting the height, because The last time I skated was about 15 years ago, I need to get into at least a little rhythm. And then adjust the saddle and handlebar according to your feelings.
God, what a most useful article. Thanks a lot! I found ALL MY MISTAKES! It’s as if it was written especially for me! Eh-h, it will be difficult to rebuild again. But I will try, before, as they say, the rooster pecks...
Thank you, Victor, for the article!
I rode 40 km, my knees hurt. From your article I learned that the reason was the wrong choice of saddle height.
Today I went for a ride again, but now I set everything up wisely, and I got a lot of fun, and not a nagging pain in my knees.
Still, I managed to adjust the saddle, it turned out to be easier than it seems. I tilted it forward a little - I didn’t like it, it immediately began to slide and I had to push myself with my hands, I tilted it back a little, the same thing, I slid, only in the opposite direction and reached for the steering wheel so as not to slide, I returned it to its original position (sort of parallel to the ground), rolled 36 km, everything is fine.
Ehhh I wish I had come across this article earlier... Unfortunately, I went through these most unpleasant moments associated with knee pain, but now, of course, everything is adjusted correctly, everything is as written in this article
Hello! I have a question for you about safe cycling. Are there any exercises or massages that can be done on the side of the road while driving to prevent knee problems? Thank you in advance.
Artem, I just massage my knee, right as I ride, if I feel discomfort in my knees.
What to do if you have singlespeed or fixed. In my case it is fixed gear. It happens that the incline is 4.5% and lasts 1.6 km, so you can’t go fast enough. I didn’t count, but I think that the cadence is less than 80-100. But this is compensated by the fact that from the hill I start pedaling at a very high speed.
Question: that is, driving a fixed-gear bike is not an option for long distances, and what should you do with your knees?
But there are people who travel on fixed-gear...
Yuri, it is what it is. This [censored] guy completely rewrote my article, he was even too lazy to insert other photos. There are my other articles there as well.
Victor, thank you very much for running this blog.
I recently bought a bicycle, it’s a pity I didn’t get to you before buying and didn’t take advantage of the advice on choosing.
And every time I have a cycling question, only on your site do I find the most complete, thorough and at the same time digestible advice.
I just have a problem with my knees. During my first trips, I fell and my leg hurt. I had an MRI and it showed a muscle or ligament rupture. I took medication for a month and wore bandages.
I started driving again - quite slowly, my knees hurt. I went on vacation, walked a lot, swam - forgot about them. Now I’m afraid to get on a bike, but I don’t want to give up.
Hello, Victor! Great job and useful information. =)
I enjoy reading your articles. I reached some points myself, I learned something new.
I can add to what was written above that I use neoprene knee pads during training/riding. Even in summer. This includes bandaging the joint and warming up and maintaining the knee in a warm state. I wear it under bicycle leggings.
When I started to get involved in cycling many years ago, I was lucky enough to train, well, just ride, with a master of sports. He gave simple and effective advice regarding the work of the knees:
you must force yourself to constantly feel the pressure with the entire muscle above the knees, each press must be controlled by this sensation. Then the load is automatically removed from the knee joint. It will take some time to get used to the character - maybe a week, maybe two. But later the skill becomes as strong as the ability to ride a bicycle itself.
The same applies if you want to master the circular motion of the pedal.
To Victor’s wonderful presentation, I will add that in fact, different people have a lot of different anatomy. We need to look for ours.
Thank you!! After reading your articles, I’ve been riding clipless pedals for a year now, and it’s not scary at all. My story of switching to contacts in a video confession - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TA9yjfVpqOA Please share this video, because... Maybe this story will help someone get back a piece of themselves.
At one time my right knee was bothering me; I had pain when going down the stairs. I began to pay more attention to the placement of the foot (and, therefore, the rotation of the knee when pedaling) - it should occur strictly in the plane of the frame, that is, the foot should be in the same plane, and not turned, for example, outward. Because the worst thing is not even the low cadence, which can be partially compensated by muscles and weight, but the work of the joint with lateral twisting stresses.
1. I don’t agree that the bike has 30 gears, there are only 12-14 of them (with a small drive 3-4, with a medium one usually 5-6, with a healthy one 3)
2. Tea with condensed milk and a pinch of salt (to taste) helped us a lot during our winter hiking trip.
3. I used to see thermos bottles in bike shops, but they fit very little. There is an option to buy a holder for a green one and a half rack and wrap it with tape, tin foil, or reinforced tape.
4. Here it is written about a cocktail for hiking http://bikenow.ru/blog/velopokhody_kak_pobedit_ustalost_i_zhazhdu/2014-04-05-28
It’s a pity I wasn’t interested in this before... In the fall, on the last day of skiing, I went out to ride about 20-25 km, and during this trip I tore my knee, it hurts for half a year, and all because my knees were very cold, I never drank water at all, my knee aches constantly
Tell me, and during the runs
16 km a day, 8 in the morning to work and 8 in the evening, around the city, it takes about half an hour one way, is it worth bothering with a heart rate monitor and a computer with cadence measurement?
Or is this regime too insignificant to cause much harm to yourself?
lyaven, in my opinion, if there are no obvious health problems, then for the sake of such short runs there is no point in having a heart rate monitor and a cadesna sensor. But as a rule, people quickly get the hang of it and want to skate more, which is when these devices come in handy. In a word, if you have the money, it won’t hurt to buy.
Thank you, I learned a lot of useful information. The main thing is on time) I’ll adjust everything before the next start! The last time I skated, I myself felt that the position of my knees was uncomfortable, and my legs could not reach the ground. She raised the saddle, her leg straightened, and God bless her and the earth) Now I’m convinced that I did everything right)
In general, the problem with my knees began even before I sat down on the bike. Long walks in the wrong shoes damaged my knees, and now they periodically bother me. It’s good that there are such wonderful articles from people who have already lost their minds on this. Thank you!
It’s a pity that I learned too late about the dangers of a bicycle. During 2 active seasons I got my knees down. As I understand it, the disease is chronic and lasts a lifetime.
“As I understand it, the disease is chronic and lasts a lifetime.”
Well, if the joint is not very badly damaged, then you can treat it and then ride without heavy loads.
Victor, thank you very much for saving my knees?? I’m a relatively new skier, not counting the huge amount of Salute in my childhood and adolescence + frequent rides at the rental “infirmary” (the guys at the rentals call them that themselves because of breakdowns of varying degrees of severity). Now I’ve finally matured, took a 28″ cross and started mastering it. In principle, I knew that there was no need to ride half-bent and I intuitively guessed about the knees, but cadence also turned out to be one of the key points. My route to work is about 10 km, but half the way is downhill, then halfway up. The wave has enough legs to get there relatively easily even at 3-4 3-5 (I have 3-7). Now on the 2nd day I climb generally 2-5 with a higher cadence. And, as it turned out, the feeling of idling is wrong, I also, but without overload, keep the entire climb at about 20-22 km/h, but I arrive as if the 5 km uphill did not happen at all. I don't understand how this could be uncomfortable. Perhaps a lot of skiing, basketball and running have simply trained your legs to move quickly? For me, the high cadence turned out to be very comfortable and now, completely resting, I maintain the same speed that previously had to be slightly “screwed up.”
Heh, what about bmxers? You can only ride standing, one speed. I've been skating for a week, at first my knees hurt, but after 10-15 minutes everything goes away
I want to move the saddle back as much as possible. Is it possible to move beyond the limit mark on the rails?
your 5 cents. My knees have been hurting for a week now. I went to the doctor and diagnosed arthrosis, but x-rays showed no destruction of the joint; as a result, the diagnosis was arthritis. The doctor himself said that cycling is useful for arthrosis.
so, I understand everything) this morning I dashed off for 3 hours, in the evening I’m hunting again, but probably not anymore) I’d rather listen to the radio
and also, at least once a year, take a course of chondroitin + glucosamine.
more gelatin for 10 days, 10 grams each, and there will be no problems with joints at all.
But what, exactly, should we do with a singlespeed or a fixed speed? Roadway + high cadence - ok. But you can’t really push yourself on the climbs; sometimes you have to dance standing up to pick up speed. Is singlespeed, and especially fix, guaranteed death for the knees?
Super. how much you need to know... and here I was going to Paris on a bike. I get 2000 km one way. It’s impossible without this knowledge. I’ll try to learn and remember and stick to it.
My knees began to hurt slightly from riding a bicycle at high speeds of more than 30 km/h. The saddle is set correctly, the steering wheel is also on flat terrain, the gear is 48/21, uphill 38/24. The roll-in has passed and I have been driving since April of this year. When I drive at a speed of 25-30 km/h it’s normal, but when I try to exceed 30 km/h my knees, as they say, get clogged.
It got a little colder. About 16 degrees in the evening. Without hesitation, I went and bought insulating knee pads and my jaw dropped... My knees were replaced!
Not only do knee pads keep you warm, but they also help keep your leg together as one unit. Somewhere here Victor mentioned the comparison “as if in a bag of muscles” (something like that, I can’t vouch for the accuracy of the quote). For me, they are just a lifesaver since it’s still not very convenient to wear lycra to work (more precisely, it’s inconvenient to change clothes and carry another set of clothes with you). But ordinary shorts + such insulation save the situation. At work I just took off the insulation and was in order?? This is a comfortable compromise between “civilian” and cycling clothing, when necessary.
So take it and don’t hesitate, they don’t cost much, they take up little space and weight (at least in your stock pocket), but their effect is very noticeable.
The devil is not as scary as he is painted. I mean, the simplest conditions must be observed, of course. Sitting, contacts, gradual increase in loads, warm-up, water balance, protection against hypothermia - all this is not discussed.
But as for cadence and gear selection, everything is very ambiguous. Running kills your knees the most. And for those whose knees begin to hurt while running, they are often recommended... to get on a bike! (or go swimming). A significant part of the joint is ligaments and tendons. Ligaments and tendons are, in turn, part of the muscles. Well, muscles are strengthened through STRENGTH training. This means that quite often we can draw the following parallel: weak muscles - weak joints. Basic exercises strengthen ligaments and tendons best; they are also called multi-joint exercises, since they involve more than one joint, which makes them less traumatic than isolated (single-joint) exercises. So, if you want to strengthen your knees, squat with a barbell, do deadlifts, do lunges, or... set the power transmission and start tumbling! After all, in essence, working in a heavy gear, the cyclist conducts strength training of the leg muscles in an anaerobic mode. Of course, for strength training to have an effect, you must follow the rules of strength training: if the effort is powerful, it should be short, followed by a pause or a sharp release of the load, and the entire workout should not exceed an hour and a half.
As for the cadence of professional athletes, their sporting achievements come first, so the cadence of road racers and track sprinters is catastrophically different. Because the goals are different. Road racers select the cadence so that the pulse is at the border of the anaerobic zone, but does not go beyond it, otherwise there is simply not enough strength for a multi-hour race, especially a multi-day race. A track sprinter is another matter. He spends most of his training and the race itself in anaerobic mode, that is, POWER. The effort is very powerful, but not long lasting.
Bottom line: to travel a short distance as quickly as possible, you need a low (relatively) cadence for maximum power. Over long distances, energy levels are key, so the cadence needs to be (relatively) high. Well, this is all conditional, of course, I don’t pretend to anything. But it’s a fact that running is much more dangerous for the knees than running long. That the physique of sprinters and stayers is very different is also a fact. Compare the physiques of 100-meter runners and marathon runners. Also, watch this video and tell me: at what cadence do you need to ride to grow such legs?!
I ride singlespeed. The ride of the bike is very easy. For example, I’m driving slowly on smooth asphalt, the effort on the pedals is minimal, although the cadence is quite low. Am I really risking my knees in this case too? (The saddle is set correctly, I follow the drinking regime) Colleagues, please enlighten me!
Hi all. Fellow pros! Tell! I am an amateur, I ride about 500 km per month in the summer and ride a little in the winter (<100 km/month). Recently this problem appeared. There is no pain, no inflammation, but when I squat or stand up, it feels like the kneecap is locked, and there is some pain underneath, as if the bones have come together. It doesn't always happen, but periodically.
Is this already some kind of symptom, should I panic, or should I just change my riding style?
Hello everyone, great write-up, I’m getting ready to travel soon.
9 May – Barcelona – 9 June Genova
I still have pedals, but I don’t have shoes, maybe you can give me some advice on choosing them.
p.s. if only we could talk on Sakaip, you can pay for it
Hello! I'm 16. I ride around the city for 4-5 hours (3 years of experience on long trips). I don't drink very often...
Cadence is high. I started doing everything that is indicated in the article myself (downshifting
before hills and stops, periodically getting up from the saddle)
Yesterday I drove 30 km (there were many descents and long ascents along the way), and today I discovered that my knees hurt...(
Good afternoon and thank you for the informative article.
What can you say about using it while skating?
articulated knee pads for motorcycles?
they protect, they say it’s good, and freeze
They probably won’t give it to their knees.
but is it worth taking them for cycling?
one hundred, two hundred, three hundred gear changes per hour
on a motorcycle, and something completely different - a cadence of 100 units.
I bought the bike based on height alone, not paying attention to the ETT size. After reading your articles, and also trying to calculate the appropriate dimensions of the frame for my body using the online calculator that you have in one article, I realized that the frame is still 4-5 cm longer than I need. Plus, I read on one site that the handlebar stem is selected by placing your elbow on the tip of the saddle, and your fingers should reach the steering wheel or at least half of the stem. I'm 2 cm short of reaching the steering column.
I understand that the distance from the seat to the steering wheel can be changed by replacing the steering stem with a shorter one.
But the question is this. I moved the seat back so that when the pedal was at the 3 o'clock position, the pedal axis was exactly under the cup. If I shorten the stem and move the seat, will this help me achieve a more comfortable riding position? And how much does shifting your seat affect your knee health?
Or is the best solution to change the frame?
I wonder, if you just ride around the city for 30-50 km, how do you go to the toilet? Should I wear diapers? Personally, if I drink a glass of water, then after half an hour I need to get rid of it, no matter how much I sweat. In my city there aren’t dry closets on every corner, and even if there were, you wouldn’t be able to drag your bike there with you so they wouldn’t steal it
When you actively screw it in, the water comes out with sweat. Well, if it’s really stuck, can’t you find some bushes? ??
Long-distance pros relieve themselves without getting off the bike, wearing a diaper underneath.
I ride 10-15 km for about an hour a day, I keep the cadence at about 80 rpm, sometimes with breaks of 1 day, I adjusted the saddle height, but after riding a certain discomfort appears in the knees, when I don’t notice anything bothering me when I’m riding . As far as I understand, under such loads it is unlikely that symptoms of anything serious will appear. Is it worth worrying, or is it just a reaction to the load like sore throat?
To be on the safe side, I would recommend massaging your knees before and after riding. Like warming up the joint. It helps me.
everything is very to the point
I'm perplexed by the definition of cadence. After reading another article, I tried to turn it at about 90 eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeem, it’s terribly fast, it seems to me. Even 70-80 is difficult to maintain, let alone the 120 mentioned in article.
And the problem isn’t even the loosening of the lead, although the imbalance is terrible. The problem is that the knees start to burn with fire from the speed of rotation.
Usually my spin is probably around 50-60, there is no effort. If you drop the gear and start threshing like an electric broom, your legs get tired instantly, although the load is zero. At the same time, I’m not driving in maximum gear; on a flat road, at my 27 speeds, I keep 3-5, 3-6.
And in connection with the above, I have a question - is it exactly 90 RPMs per minute? That is, complete circles of 360 degrees? Maybe 90 pedal strokes, 180 degrees? ??
90 rpm, yes. With the right gear. At first it seems difficult, then 100 is normal.
The additional manual drive reduces the load on sore leg joints. Russian models differ from foreign ones in their compactness and low cost. - http://forum.velomania.ru/showthread.php?t=183286
Without clipless pedals, it will be difficult to pedal at more than 80 rpm. 100 rpm is the frequency for professional cyclists; not everyone can do this; the heart rate can be very high. For those who ride a bicycle for rides, tourism fitness, the optimal pedaling frequency is from 70 to 80 rpm, compared to the usual 90 rpm for contact pedals.
Let's think from the following angles. Why do we need high cadence in the first place? That’s right, to reduce the load on the knee joints and partly on the transmission, the chain stretches less when it turns easily, right? But, if we ignore the wear of the transmission, what does the constant high cadence mode give? For me, it’s preservation of roll-up and acceleration. Now let's think about why a low cadence is needed (we don't take into account the masochistic load aimed at purposefully killing the knees and transmission)? A low cadence is needed either for measured, leisurely driving at low speeds when you want to ride comfortably without bothering with high-speed twisting, or simply to maintain speed in the region of medium revs. For example, you need to accelerate from a standstill. Here, a reasonable choice would be to lower the gear and spin it up as much as possible. But what next? We accelerated, the gear was spun up, there was no more acceleration, there was no significant increase in cadence, but the pulse only jumped up. That's right, put the gear higher. Etc. Further, the choice of low / high cadence depends on riding priorities. If this is a race mode, then as a rule they prefer to ride at the top (high cadence), i.e. ride at maximum torque, including while maintaining the ability to shoot as quickly as possible to overtake; here, of course, high cadence is the priority. If it’s just long-distance driving without the goal of gaining some seconds or just some long trip, where the priority is not the greatest waste of effort, then what we need here is not torque, but maximum power, which, on the one hand, would allow us to maintain approximately the same speed, on the other hand, it would not require large amounts of energy. This is where medium/low cadence is needed. That is, we accelerated, spun up, and then we simply maintained the speed solely due to the power. I can also note that this feature works on not very smooth asphalt / soil, when it often shakes, maintaining a high cadence becomes a big discomfort (this can really kill the knee joints), here it is also better to shift the gear higher, yes, it will not be possible to drive with such good acceleration, but you will save your nerves and knees and bumps will be overcome more easily. What also kills the knees is the amateurish manner of riding with the saddle lowered into the wheel at a low cadence, which also does not help to preserve the knees. Of course, I ride standing all the time for the best coordination of my movements; sitting with the saddle raised, riding will give you more time to spin at a high cadence with less strain, I think this is the whole difference between riding standing. And also, in order not to kill your knees, it seems to me (not a fact that 100 pounds is true, of course, but still) in order not to kill your knees, regardless of the cadence, 10 or 100 revolutions per minute, the PEDALS SHOULD BE TWISTED, NOT PRESSURED. This is what the coach at the BMX school in Yasenevo said when I was training in the gym. There is no need to move your knees to the side when rotating, this is a fact, but you can and should rock the bike from the side if riding requires it, that is, the main thing is to keep your knees parallel to the bike, but rocking the bike will improve the power output, i.e. On the side of the raised knee, if I remember correctly, the side of the bicycle rises diagonally, on the side of the lowered knee, it lowers. So do road racers. I think this information will allow you to maintain the health of your knees regardless of cadence and gear (of course, when the gear more or less matches the riding conditions, and does not stop spinning at some point).
I’ll share my empirical experience: what’s more, it’s “wrong”??
I’ve been riding multispeed bikes for 11 years, during which time I’ve developed my own habits, and there are deviations from the recognized rules. In the end, everyone has their own constitution, physiology, etc.
That’s why, for example, I set the height of the saddle so that the tips of my toes rest on the asphalt when the bike is slightly tilted. This roughly corresponds to the heel on the pedal. Well, to help skaters, traffic lights often have a curb??
My saddle angle varied from horizontal to a subtle tilt back due to my almost vertical seating position. This is probably not according to the rules, but this is what is most comfortable for my back, wrists and butt.
I never counted the cadence, but it usually feels like about 80-90 “beats per minute,” which music in headphones often suggests :). In any case, I try not to press too hard on the pedals, just enough so that there is no temptation to “work with my pelvis.”
As for drinks, I prefer something with fermented milk and/or slightly salted: kefir-tan-airan. I think it has everything you need, and in general I prefer natural analogues, but I suspect someone is making money on isotonics?? (more precisely, on the athletes who use them).
I don’t drink often, if the trip is up to 30 km I may not drink at all. However, I usually ride at a walking pace (12-16 km/h), almost without sweating. On long trips I can drink a bottle every 5-10 km. But the pace there is usually higher.
I’m not worried about warming my knees: I don’t like the cold, and I usually dress appropriately for the temperature. And even on a cool (>17 degrees) evening in shorts, the risk of overcooling your knees is small if you drive slowly.
I would use knee pads carefully: it is unlikely that the knees will like it if the peripheral vessels in their vicinity are tightly compressed. And for the development of peripheral blood circulation, I strongly recommend swimming??
Results: during the first three years of riding “multispeed” I got a little pain in my knees, but since I listen to myself, I quickly drew conclusions, read the necessary articles and began to “watch the cadence”. More accurately control the force on the pedal. After that, on the contrary, I made the chronic condition in my right knee almost invisible, which worsens in the off-season, when I practically don’t skate, and after the first regular trips any discomfort disappears almost completely, but I still don’t risk playing football anymore. At the same time, I get much more unpleasant sensations in my legs in general and in my joints in particular when walking. It turns out that a bicycle is a healthier way to travel, if you don’t fall into fanaticism :).
Tell me, what do you think about knee supports? A friend of mine runs in these, and his knees no longer hurt. But no matter what I do, I can’t get rid of the pain around my knees, so I’m thinking of trying shortened calipers!?
People, do the exercise every day with your knees together and squats 30 times and nothing will happen, if there is pain, stop riding and exercise and everything will be fine.
Max, when squatting there is a lot of stress on the joint and if the joint is sick, it will get even worse
Isn't there a better way to kill your knees yet??
Good day! I have a question about your article, which, by the way, made a great impression on me and I immediately adjusted the seat, i.e. raised it because It turned out that I was driving very low, like driving a BMX. Although it’s a mountain bike, which I recently purchased by the way, and this is my first bike, not counting the ones I had before I was 12 years old. In general, the essence of the question is this. As soon as I adjusted the seat height correctly and began to touch the pedal with my heel, after riding for a maximum of 1.5 hours I began to feel hitherto unknown sensations in my knees, without pain, but I felt that they no longer liked it. as if they were buzzing a little, just a little bit. Although before that, in the first days after the purchase, I rode very hard, in terms of cadence, which I also knew nothing about, and, as I already said, in terms of seat height. In the mud, uphill on pebbles, etc. Quite a long time, about 3 hours. And this didn’t happen, nothing happened at all and everything was as usual, although I was very tired. In general, now I’m sitting here writing this comment after the second correct skating and I understand that this happens like this: within a few hours after correct skating, the discomfort in the knees intensifies and somewhere in the distance there are very slight pain sensations, 10 points 1, no more. In general, this worries me. I confess strongly. So the question is what is this and how to behave in this situation. To begin with, I decided not to ride for more than an hour along the embankment so that the conditions would be mild. Hope it adapts. Secondly, doing a warm-up before skating, massage of the joints also helps me when I’m just tired, for example, it helps very well. Just don’t do it on the back of the joint. Do you think they are adapting or is it I who have already formed the joint over many long, albeit not regular, rides? I think that I have been skating like this since childhood, because... I’m sure, although I don’t remember exactly, that I always adjusted the seat height so that it was completely comfortable. I’m just so happy with my new cycling lifestyle, in every sense of the word, and I want it to continue. The depression subsides, the bike complements it well, harmonizes the healthy lifestyle that I already lead, in short, I like it. I look forward to your feedback.