5 Tips To Keeping Your Knees In Shape
Tue 21st Jun, 2016 @ 9:30 pm
Knee pain is one of the most common complaints among us mountain bikers (usually from smashing into rocks!). But that doesn’t mean that you have to suffer through the experience of ongoing knee pain. We take a look at five simple steps to keeping your knees healthy and pain free so you can enjoy riding the trails for longer.
1. Build up gradually
One of the most common reasons that new cyclists get knee pain or even suffer from knee injuries is because they want to do too much too fast, that way putting strain on their joints, which can result in problems. So don’t drastically increase distance, speed, intensity, and also don’t over-do it on new terrain or riding a new bike. It’s better to build up your endurance to new conditions gradually, letting your knees adjust to the increased joint load so you don’t develop pain that can halt your joy of riding a bike.
2. Adjust your equipment
You also need to make sure that your equipment is adjusted just right before climbing on your bike, since even wrong saddle height can be the reason you develop knee pain. Make the necessary position changes to all of your equipment, so it is comfortable and doesn’t put added strain on your joints and bones, and you should be able to keep your knees healthier for longer.
3. Know your riding style
Another thing, that not everyone thinks about is your riding style. Here we refer to the way you are using your bike, because often riders tend to either favor one leg over the other or lean in a specific way, that also can be a cause for knee and other joint pain. So if you feel that maybe only one of your knees is hurting, this might be the reason for it and then you should try to adjust your riding style, in order to correct the imbalance.
4. Ease back into it
If you have stopped riding for a while due to an injury or just because the weather outside wasn’t suitable for riding, make sure that you ease back into riding, instead of just going full force on your first day back on your bike. Follow the rule of about 10% to 15% increase in how vigorously you are training each time you get on a bike and your knees should only become healthier with each training session.
5. Stretch regularly
And lastly make sure that you stretch regularly before and after riding. You should stretch all large leg muscle groups such as quads and hamstrings to loosen your muscles and make them more flexible so they can easier deal with the pressure of added riding intensity. On top of that you can also do specific stretches to the sore spots of your leg or knee, that will not only make the sore joints feel better, but also will limit the chance of injury.
For more information on keeping your knees intact and info on knee pads take a look at kneesafe.com
Read reviews on knee pads and other types of body armour
