The other day I tried exercising on a recumbent stationary bicyle. It was, for the most part, painless. Unfortunately, even a few days later, my knees still hurt (in the joints, not the tendons or muscles). Someone I know said that excercise strengthens joints (in addition to muscles and tendons), but I’m not sure I should believe him. Can someone here shed some light on this? I need to know if I should:
A) No longer use the bike because it could seriously damage my joints.
B) Continue using the bike because it will help strengthen the joints over time.
C) Continue using the bike since it does not strengthen or damage joints, but is still good exercise.
or
D) Other.
I don’t want to use the bike again until I know it’s safe; it would be a pity if it isn’t…
I have pretty bad knees to begin with and I’ve never been given any problems by the recumbent bike at my gym. Is there any chance you had it mis-adjusted?
Eh, IMO you overdid, that’s all. Do a Google search under “exercise strengthen joints”. Also under “recumbent exercise bikes/bicycles”. There’s a ton of stuff out there.
Also, how old are you? If you have the beginnings of arthritis (don’t laugh, people in their 30’s get arthritis, which is just a joint inflammation, not galloping senility), you may have irritated your knee joints.
I agree, sounds like you pushed too hard. If you’re just starting out, you have to be careful and go slow at first. Your big muscles and cardio system will strengthen faster than the little stabilizer muscles and tendons that protect your joints, so this is a time that you’re especially prone to injury. Do you know anyone with more experience than you that can check out your form on the bike? They could tell you if there’s something wrong with your position on the bike.
Just shooting from the hip, but I’d say that perhaps you had the seat a bit too close to the pedals.
Your knees should bend to a maximum closure of 90 degrees, and no more. Any more acute causes the leg bones to pinch the edge of the cartilage, and perhaps even for the bones themselves to begin to rub together.
As a HEAVY weightlifter, I see wanabe’s doing squats that bring the backs of their thighs in contact with their calf muscles, and that’s BAD. I correct them if I see it, but often they don’t listen to my advice. I can only assume that, if the knee bends to an angle less than 90 degrees, that the same damage can be done.
In the mean time, take an analgesic to help alleviate pain and help reduce swelling, and do long, slow stretches of the legs.
It must have been that the seat was too close; my knees were bending at an angle closer to 70 degrees than to 90 degrees. I’ll make sure the seat’s properly adjusted the next time I use it (in a couple of days when my knees feel better). Thanks for the advice, all.
Or, you can develop it in your early teens after an injury, like I did. DDG is probably right, excerise is good, or so says my doctor, as long as you don’t over-do it. I walk a few miles a week, and it never bothers my knee. Going hiking, (to the top of mountains, not the “wandering a trail in the woods” type) on the other hand, is just begging to need to wear a knee brace for the two days following. It’s just too much stress on my knee going up. But the views! I don’t do it often, though I’d like to.
I agree a proper adjustment of the seat is critical. It’s also important to avoid pushing too hard on the pedals. Just use a smaller resistance and spin faster, which results in the same power output. On upright bikes it’s impossible to put more than your body weight on your knees. On recumbent bikes, the seatback allows you to push even harder, which can result in knee damage. You just have to be careful not to push hard. I usually aim for 90-100 rpm, anything less means either I’m slacking off, or I’m putting too much pressure on my knees.
Proper stretch excercise helps too. Also watch the posture - make sure your knees don’t move sideways too much as you pedal, and check that there is no twisting force on your knees.
If this doesn’t seem to help, I strongly suggest going to a sports medicine doctor (not just any doctor). I had knee problems recently from riding real recumbent bikes and went to one. Fortunately it seems to be just inflamed tendons, but if there is cartilage damage, you’d want to know about it.
I’d just second what most of the other poster said–adjust the bike seat. There’s a difference between muscle fatigue and soreness, and joint damage.
I also have problems due to a sports knee injury in highschool and now I have arthritis problems (I’m early 30’s). I personally like the bike because it’s low impact compared to running. My orthopedic surgeon (who is the team doctor for a NHL team, BTW, so I have some faith in him and he did a great job repair wise) recommends that I not flex the joint beyond 30 degrees with heavy lifting.
It’s a good idea to build strength in the joint, but you have to do it the right way. In my case, doing squats where my thigh touches my calf would be bad; (and as pointed out, that’s bad in general). I don’t do that. I look for exercises that allow me to strengthen my leg without the ‘snap, crackle, pop’ that occurs with some exercises or with bad form.
Cycling, with proper adjustment, can be a great way to build the quads and protect the knee from destability due to ligement damage.
Of course, it depends on what sports you want to participate in; I can run around as I like, but skiing requires a brace.