How to cycle with knee arthritis

Cycling with knee arthritis can be a challenge, but it can also have health benefits that you cannot achieve from other, less intense types of cardiovascular workouts. The trick is to know how to do it without hurting yourself, or worsening your knee pain and problems. Some basic information on how to go about this exercise safely is good to know before going in.

Things You'll Need

• Topical analgesic
• NSAIDs

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Instructions

• 1

  Consult your doctor. Do not attempt any type of cycling without first talking to your doctor about how it may affect your knees. If your arthritis is advanced, cycling may hasten degeneration.

• 2

  Start with a stationary bike. A workout should begin easily, with no sense of strain, and last for five minutes, three times a day. After a couple of days in this pattern, increase the time increments by five minutes until you work up to an hour or more a day.

• 3

  Increase the tension on the stationary bike; if it is en electronic model, program the bike to take you on "hills." Start at lower time limits, then increase them as you did before. When you reach an hour of workout on the stationary bike on a variable program, you are ready for a normal bicycle.

• 4

  Take the time to stretch and apply a topical analgesic to your knee before biking. Plan a route that does not have too many hills, as this can strain the tendons and put a great deal of strain on the quadriceps. Start small. Plan an easygoing 30-minute ride, and start slowly.

• 5

  As your body adjusts, slowly build up to longer and more challenging rides, but avoid serious biking with heavy hill work and other obstacles that people without knee arthritis would try. Stretch before and after a ride to avoid strain and injury.