Originally Posted By: Cujet
Avid cyclist here!
Here is what happened to me. No problems for years. Then suddenly, I started having swelling and severe pain, it hurt to walk. Advil was suddenly my friend.
Doc said "repetitive motion injury", basically, I've worn myself out. My knees (both) my right hip and both ankles are simply worn out. It took about 40,000 miles of pedaling to create this damage. I can no longer ride any significant distance. As it aggravates my knees.
I now go to the gym almost daily. But I cannot do much with my legs. Squats and leg machines are stunningly irritating to my knees.
Please, Please, Please, don't think that serious cycling is completely knee safe. It's not. Many, correction, ALL of my fellow riders are discovering the same thing. Cycling is simply lower impact on knees. But it does cause wear and tear. And by the time you get 40,000 miles under your belt, you are worn out.
Cujet, I don't won't to dismiss your experience--it is what it is, after all. But there's no hard and fast rule here. I have well more than 3 times that amount of mileage under my belt, and my knees are mostly fine (I have a completely torn ACL and particularly torn meniscus, neither from cycling). I know master's guys in their 50's who are still racing competitively and are around 1/2 a million lifetime miles, without knee problems.
I imagine that by "worn out", the doc is referring to cartilage that's degenerated. I imagine that there's a congenital component to you own injury, because it's definitely not universal.
Avid cyclist here!
Here is what happened to me. No problems for years. Then suddenly, I started having swelling and severe pain, it hurt to walk. Advil was suddenly my friend.
Doc said "repetitive motion injury", basically, I've worn myself out. My knees (both) my right hip and both ankles are simply worn out. It took about 40,000 miles of pedaling to create this damage. I can no longer ride any significant distance. As it aggravates my knees.
I now go to the gym almost daily. But I cannot do much with my legs. Squats and leg machines are stunningly irritating to my knees.
Please, Please, Please, don't think that serious cycling is completely knee safe. It's not. Many, correction, ALL of my fellow riders are discovering the same thing. Cycling is simply lower impact on knees. But it does cause wear and tear. And by the time you get 40,000 miles under your belt, you are worn out.
Cujet, I don't won't to dismiss your experience--it is what it is, after all. But there's no hard and fast rule here. I have well more than 3 times that amount of mileage under my belt, and my knees are mostly fine (I have a completely torn ACL and particularly torn meniscus, neither from cycling). I know master's guys in their 50's who are still racing competitively and are around 1/2 a million lifetime miles, without knee problems.
I imagine that by "worn out", the doc is referring to cartilage that's degenerated. I imagine that there's a congenital component to you own injury, because it's definitely not universal.