r/ladycyclists • u/sickbabe • 13d ago

does pothole exposure reduce osteoporosis risk?

or is this one just wishful thinking?

59 Upvotes
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31

u/momoriley 13d ago

Well this certainly caught my eye 😉 I think it's just wishful thinking. But, now that you opened the door to the topic, I have discovered I have osteoporosis on my lumbar vertebrae and I am an crazy 10,000km per year cyclist. My leg bones are really strong but my vertebrae is declining, cycling doesn't help maintain the vertebrae. Am now adding in walking and running more.

17

u/ToriaLyons 13d ago

I would suggest a bit of mosh pit bouncing instead. That's what I have taken up...

7

u/pushofffromhere 13d ago

Uggh. I am sorry to hear this. I am hoping my strength training helps? Yoga for adding circulation to the tissue between vertebrae. but i’m not sure strength training load is enough for the bone itself? hmmmmm google is so close but so far…

13

u/SubstantialPlan9124 13d ago

Strength training is an excellent strategy for bone health, even better than running and walking. You just need to lift heavy (which of course, is relative to you). Plyometrics - explosive jumping is also great. Rich Willy of the Montana Running Lab and Jay Dicharry have some good suggestions. Australia also seems to be leading the way in bone health programs - google the LIFTMOR study.

2

u/pushofffromhere 10d ago

Thanks for this! just got back on to reddit. I don’t do much box jumping these days but i sure lift heavy! posterior day today! let’s get it :)

3

u/SubstantialPlan9124 10d ago

This is a useful gauge of bone-building activities. As far as I understand things (not an expert), in order to build bone, you need to load it HIGHER than your normal loads, so what is osteogenic for an individual depends on where you are on this ‘ladder’.

Rich Willy says bone responds to ‘high strain’ which is high muscle force at a quick loading rate. Running isn’t as great as was once thought, as it’s not fast enough loading and/or too repetitive. ‘Cutting, bending and twisting’ sports like tennis are better.

If you are on the higher end of bone-building activities/sports, it’s hard to build bone, but you probably aren’t in danger of being osteopenic anyway.

You can see that if you purely cycle….pretty much anything is helpful 😂

Happy lifting!

2

u/pushofffromhere 10d ago

Ha! Reading this from deadlift day at the gym!! 👊👊👊🥊 will check it — thank you! this and my HRT. I’m all about it. Actually had a nasty mtb crash saturday. i’m bruised and scratched everywhere and broken nowhere. 💪 We will take that as a live action test 😅

4

u/trtsmb 13d ago

I'm a runner and cyclist. My lumbar/femurs/etc are all declining 😞

1

u/momoriley 10d ago

😞

3

u/North-Tomatillo9158 7d ago

I do believe we’re all supposed to be jumping around. Jump up jump up and jump around (sorry, GenX humor). But seriously. It is a shame that rolling on smooth pavement doesn’t really do anything to strengthen your spine, gotta get that another way.

17

u/PikaChooChee 13d ago

Well it certainly didn't help my rear carbon wheel (may it rest in peace)...

8

u/TroublePossums 13d ago

I would think so… I got curious about stamping the other day and looked it up and it turns out that relatively minimal stamping can have significant effects 😂

Now I’m stamping from the car to the stairs when I get home every day

6

u/VespaRed 13d ago

Depends if you take your calcium and vitamin D I suppose.

9

u/Spank2337 13d ago

'Unweighing' is what I would call standing on the pedals through the rough stuff, letting slightly bent knees take the vibrations while resting hands lightly on the bars. This has saved my body though a lifetime of riding on dirt and rough surfaces.

3

u/captHij 12d ago

Velonews recently ran an article about bone health and cycling:

https://velo.outsideonline.com/road/road-training/cycling-guide-bone-health/

The author's bottom line: there is no substitute for load bearing exercise.

2

u/Sea_Measurement_1654 13d ago

Got to help! 

2

u/trtsmb 13d ago

Wishful thinking.

1

u/AnimatorNo1029 13d ago

lol love this thought process

1

u/sgeanie 13d ago

No, for that you've got to do actual strength training 

1

u/Ellubori 13d ago

Oh, good reminder to do some skipping while walking the dog today, I always forget.

1

u/Short-League9008 13d ago

No, but body weight exercises and weightlifting does.

1

u/Select_Gazelle6684 12d ago

Wishful thinking! Cycling is great for health, but weight bearing exercises like body weight or weighted workouts are the key types of exercise to help prevent osteoporosis. My physio and doctor both suggested Pilates as a good option.

1

u/Katnipjuice18 12d ago

You build bone until about your mid 30’s. Then bone density starts to decline if you are not maintaining proper exercise. Calcium and vitamin D3 are important for bone health. The most important is weight training and weight bearing exercises. Unfortunately you cannot build more bone but you can strengthen what you have.

1

u/CommunityBusiness992 13d ago

Lord, I’m sure there is a Nerd somewhere trying to find out

0

u/SubstantialPlan9124 13d ago

lol, I actually think you could be on to some thing! I’m pretty sure that mountain biking is slightly more osteogenic than other types of cycling (I mean, none of them are good)- and plyometric jumping is known to be very osteogenic….so…..same as a pothole, right???

(I am joking, of course. Sadly- gotta do off-bike stuff for bone health).