For many beginner cyclists, cycling injuries are a big problem.

Often in the beginning, cyclists may overdo it or ride for too long, causing back pain, hip pain, or posterior knee pain. Such pain is caused due to the unaccustomed muscles to a new type of exercise or overload of muscles.

How to prevent injury while cycling?

Unfortunately, injuries cannot be completely avoided, they occur in most cyclists, you can try to prevent injuries. If you do not try to warn yourself against injury or do not analyze the cause of the pain, then you can get the most common injuries, for example, chronic back pain. Such an injury may be due to incorrect seat height or improper bike fit while cycling.

The article presents the most common cases of cycling injuries and ways to prevent them.

Follow basic safety rules

There is a set of basic preventive measures for avoiding pain while riding. Every cyclist should not forget that there are cars, pedestrians, bad weather conditions or even road rash. There’re top tips on how to avoid common cycling injuries.

Follow traffic rules.

Thoroughly study the traffic rules, most cyclists get into accidents precisely because of non-compliance with traffic rules while cycling. This applies not only to bike riders, but also to car drivers. The safety of all road users depends on this fact.

Take care to buy a helmet.

A helmet can be purchased at every local bike shop, be sure to buy a quality one. In most accidents, it is the helmet that saves from serious head injuries while cycling.

You must be visible to other drivers and cyclists.

A proper bike usually has reflective elements on its body at the front, rear, sides and wheels. Also wear bright, reflective clothing or accessories. Drive through illuminated streets.

Do not change direction on the road.

Drive only on one side of the road, do not change direction. It will be correct to drive on the same side of the road on which the traffic flows. If you see a dedicated bike lane, use it to minimize the risk of accidents while cycling.

Pay attention to your surroundings.

Pay close attention to how cars are moving around. Also, do not take your eyes off the road surface, a small obstacle can easily lead to a fall and, subsequently, to injury while cycling.

Types of common cycling injuries that can occur while cycling.

Before learning how to prevent injuries, it is worth understanding the classification of the main examples.

What about neck or head injuries?

During the ride, the body must be in the correct position. In this case, the body should slightly bend, this will help prevent back pain or neck pain. If you ride with an incorrect posture for a long time, this will lead to undue stress in the whole body.

Be sure to practice a slight bend as soon as you start riding, this body position should be in your habit. Your shoulders should not be hunched, and your arms should be relaxed while cycling.

Back, knee pain common injuries are due to improper bike fit, the bike may be too small or too large. The bike must be selected in accordance with the anthropometry of the cyclist.

You need to pay attention to the difference in height between the handles and the bike seat, there should be about 2.5 centimeters in height between them.

What about head injuries?

In the classification of cycling related injuries, head injury is the most serious and dangerous. In falls from a bicycle, this part of the upper body is the most vulnerable and prone to injury. If the impact on the ground was too strong, then the cyclist could die.

From a blow, a hematoma, bleeding, cuts can form, this can cause a lot of trouble. In order to protect yourself, you need to constantly ride in a helmet, this will reduce the risk of fatal injuries.

What about numbness and arm pain?

To avoid unnecessary muscles tension, you need to keep your forearms slightly bend, they should not be constantly straight. If you are riding on a rough road, then this position of the hands gives cushioning, especially while trips on mountain bike.

Also, keeping the arms in one position causes numbness in the muscles surrounding the nerves, which causes weakness in the entire arm. Such overvoltage on a permanent basis can lead to overuse injuries.

What about upper, lower leg injuries and knee pain?

Leg injuries are the most common injuries during riding. The legs take all the effort to pedal. Due to an impact or fall from a bicycle, the legs receive the greatest impact force.

Often Achilles tendon, knee pain and numerous bruises appear due to inaccurate riding. Make sure that the pedals do not hit the calves or front of the leg, as this will lead to numerous bruises. Achilles’ tendonitis and severe burning sensations can also occur due to bumps from the bike while riding.

How foot and arm numbness appears?

Due to insufficient blood flow to the extremities, carpal tunnel syndrome appears. This phenomenon is characterized by tingling and numbness in the leg.

While cycling, keeping the knees bent for an extended period of time and repeated action can also cause this issue, which is then followed by knee pain. Wearing tight cycling shoes, which exert too much pressure on foot, is one of several causes of such syndrome.

What causes genital problems?

Tight seating and continuous cycling may cause people to feel pain in their genital regions. Pressure buildup in the blood arteries that supply the genital regions is what causes this problem.

This problem develops because the genital region frequently makes contact with the front of the seat. Riders should wear loose clothing, sit on padded seats, and switch positions frequently while riding to prevent this issue.

How can cycling injuries be prevented and treated?

Many cyclists have back, knee pain or even in whole body, they experience it while riding. These wounds injuries can be easily prevented and cured with basic care. The below options are the best techniques examples to avoid and treat cycling injury:

Permanent stretching

For cycling, the rider must have a full range of flexibility and agility, as the body must change position quickly.

After a ride, stretching exercises help cyclists realign their thick and thin muscles and get rid of the lactic acid deposit in it that causes painful feeling.

Lack of flexibility also may result in physical unbalance and even cause the body’s structural balance to change. If you don’t stretch properly before a bicycle ride by engaging in a low-impact activity, you could hurt yourself.

Warm up your muscles

Many beginners neglect to warm up before cycling, and many related injuries result in muscle soreness and injury due to lack of warming up. Connective tissues must first move to reduce injury. A lot of people are especially concerned about how to prevent saddle sores.

This warm-up takes a few minutes, but it does prevent injury while cycling, especially saddle sores. Saddle sores are especially annoying as they cause pain and if left untreated, the injury can get worse and you will need to seek medical attention. Chamois cream will help prevent saddle sores as it prevents chafing and has a cooling effect.

Move while bike riding

All the time you are in the same static sitting position, which is not good. Muscles are in the same position for a very long time. Because of this, overuse injuries may appear.

To avoid such cycling injury, you need to move your body during riding. You can do just a couple of movements to relieve tension, namely, turning the torso in different directions and moving the pelvis to the sides.

Make sure you have a comfortable saddle

Often, when buying a bike, the original saddle is uncomfortable for cycling and does not fit the individual characteristics of the person. Because of this, the previously mentioned saddle sores, as well as numbness of the genitalia area, may appear. If there is such discomfort while cycling on an ongoing basis, then seek medical attention is needed.

Until you get a comfortable saddle, you should use chamois cream. Bike shops provide a full range of saddles, they can be wider or narrower, with different textures. The main purpose of a comfortable saddle is to relieve pressure, as too much weight leads to knee, pain, back pain, genitalia area pain, and other injuries while cycling.

Keep track of how much water you drink

The best option to prevent cramps is to monitor the amount of water you drink. For long trips, it is best to use special sports drinks, and for short trips, ordinary water is fine.

Strength exercises

Muscle mass must be evenly developed so that an imbalance is not created. As a result of uneven movement, one part of the muscles will be highly developed, while the other part, on the contrary, will not be developed.

In order to compensate for the lack of muscles, you need to do strength exercises. It is also worth including cross training in the list.

Due to strength training, posture improves and the back becomes stronger and more resilient. Also such trainings improve cardiovascular health, especially specialised cardiovascular fitness.

Bike fit

The bike must fit the body features of each rider, comfort during cycling depends on it. Most likely, you will have to spend time setting up the bike, but this will bring its bonuses in the form of comfortable cycling.

The saddle needs to be at the right height and angle, the handlebars need to be properly positioned as well as a host of other small details.

This can be a difficult process, but it is very important. If the bike fits correctly, then the risk of injury, such as achilles tendon or even broken bones, is reduced.

What mistakes do bike riders usually make?

No one is immune from mistakes, even the most experienced cyclists. There are a few nuances that many people overlook.

Technical shortcomings

If cycle is not technically maintained on a permanent basis, then there is a risk of insecurity. The wheels must be properly inflated, the brakes, pedals, chain must be constantly checked.

Basic safety equipment

There are few main things that directly affect your safety:

Helmet: The best way to protect yourself is to wear a helmet while riding. A head injury is very dangerous and can lead to death.

“A major study of bike helmet use around the world from more than 64,000 cyclists has found helmets reduce the risks of a serious head injury by nearly 70%.”

Reflective patches: Wear reflective patches, to make you visible to other drivers.

Traffic rules: Without following traffic rules, a road rash will happen sooner or later and can harm not only the cyclist, but also other drivers and pedestrians.

More information about “What to wear cycling?” here.