Cycling is likely to reduce your risk of knee osteoarthritis. But why is that? Alex Dodds, knee surgeon for Cheltenham, Gloucester and the Cotswolds, explains.
*photo courtesy of IndianFaces via shutterstock
Earlier this year, a study was published that looked into the effect of cycling on knee osteoarthritis. The outcome was clear: if you’ve cycled at some point in your life, you’re 17% less likely to develop knee pain compared with those who haven’t, and 21% less likely to develop osteoarthritis symptoms. The effect appears to be cumulative, so the more regularly you’ve cycled throughout life, the more likely you are to lock in those benefits. Or, as the study rather cautiously put it: “”bicycling may be favourable to knee health and should be encouraged”.
But why is that?
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Which exercise is best for knees?
The truth is, it’s not just cycling. Exercise in general is good for all-round health, and some exercise is particularly good for knee joint health because it helps strengthen the muscles around the knee in a low impact way.
Walking can benefit knee joint health by helping you lower your weight, which in turn reduces the load you place through the joint. The only issue with walking, though, is that even when it’s quite vigorous, you’re not doing a great deal of muscle strengthening.
Running, on the other hand, is better at building muscle strength but tends to pound the knees. Impact isn’t ideal for any knees and certainly not for those showing the first signs of arthritis.
Cycling and swimming, then, offer the triple benefit of aerobic exercise and knee strengthening without the harmful impact.
Exercising with knee osteoarthritis
Cycling and swimming may be ideal for helping to lower the risk of developing osteoarthritis, but what’s the situation if you already have osteoarthritis?
This is an extremely common situation for many of the patients I see at my Gloucestershire knee clinic. When osteoarthritis is developing, exercise of any sort presents two challenges. First, there’s the issue of starting to exercise when your knee is already sore. Then there’s the fear that exercise may make your osteoarthritis worse. It can sometimes feel like a Catch 22 situation: exercise can help strengthen the muscles, lower weight, and reduce osteoarthritis pain. At the same time, however, the act of exercise can increase pain.
If this is your situation, I’d say this: exercise will never make the knee so bad that you can’t have a knee replacement. The final surgical recourse that was open to you before you began exercising remains open to you throughout. On the other hand, exercise may help you reduce the symptoms of osteoarthritis. It may help slow its progression. And it may help you delay the need for knee replacement.
The situation will be different for every individual but, in general, doing something will be better than doing nothing. So try swimming or cycling and track your own progress. If it’s not working, book your appointment at my Cheltenham knee clinic, or call 01242 246549 and let’s explore other options.
> Discover more about osteoarthritis of the knee
> Discover more about partial & total knee replacements