How You Can Prevent Cycling Injuries

Riding your bike is an incredible way to stay fit, explore the outdoors, and commute sustainably. However, like any physical activity, it carries the risk of injuries.

There are two different types of injuries we need to worry about when it comes to cycling–chronic use injuries, and injuries that come from accidents like falling off the bike. Both are a huge bummer because none of us want to spend time off the bike.

The good news is that with the right precautions, many common cycling injuries can be prevented. This guide will help you understand how to stay safe and enjoy your ride to the fullest.

Get A Professional Bike Fit

One of the most crucial aspects of preventing injuries is ensuring your bike is correctly fitted to your body. An ill-fitting bike can lead to various issues, including knee pain, back pain, and numbness.

Sometimes folks are literally on the wrong sized bike, but most of us just need small adjustments to the bike to feel our best. These include making sure the saddle is set to it’s correct height and adjusting the handlebar position, but also other tweaks like cutting the handlebars to a narrower width or swapping out cranks for shorter ones.

Some of these things you can do on your own (most of us can get our saddle height set to a mostly correct position), but a professional bike fit will really help you dial things in. Ask anyone who has a cycling-related chronic knee injury, and they’ll tell you they wish they had invested in a professional bike fit BEFORE it developed.

Don’t Mash On The Pedals

I work with lots of athletes who are what I call “pedal mashers.” These folks like like to push a huge gear with a low cadence.

This not only puts a lot of force on your knees, pedal mashers also tend to wrench on the handlebars putting strain on their lower back and shoulders. This is a great way to cause a chronic use injury.

According to a study published in Sports Medicine, “Riding at too much pedal resistance is a major cause of overuse problems in cyclists. Overuse injuries are lower using lower gear ratios at a higher cadence.”

If you think you might be a pedal masher, start paying attention to your cadence. If you drop below 70 rpm, shift to an easier gear and pick it up a bit.

Proper Warm-Up and Cool-Down

Warming up before a ride and cooling down afterward are essential to prepare your muscles and prevent injuries. A good warm-up increases blood flow, allows your heart rate to slowly rise, and gets your muscles ready for the workout ahead. I like to have my athletes warm up for AT LEAST 15 minutes before starting any hard intervals.

After your ride, a 10 to 15 minute cool-down with light pedaling and gradual reduction of your heart rate, *may* help remove metabolic waste (like lactic acid) from your muscles and reduce soreness. While I don’t know if soreness can really be counted as an injury, it feels like it when you’re limping around for a few days after a hard ride.

Strength Training

Repetitive cycling motions can lead to imbalances in the muscles and strain certain areas of the body. Strength training helps in balancing these muscle groups, reducing the risk of overuse injuries. Exercises that target the core, back, and upper body are particularly beneficial in this regard, as they support a stronger posture on the bike.

Folks who experience knee or lower back pain, are particularly benefited by strength training.

I recommend my athletes do a MINIMUM of 2 or 3, 20-30 minute strength training sessions per week.  I have them focus on five types of strength movements:

1. Core (examples: planks, side planks, medicine ball twists)
2. Pushing (examples: pushups, bench presses, overhead press, tricep dips)
3. Pulling (examples: rows, pullups/chinups, deadlifts)
4. Squats (examples: traditional, goblet squats, pistol squats)
5. Lunges (examples: traditional, walking, curtsy lunges) 

Mobility Exercises

Cycling is a repetitive motion sport, meaning you’re doing the same movements over and over. This can lead to muscle imbalances and tightness, especially in the hips, back, and shoulders. 

Mobility exercises help counteract these effects by improving flexibility and range of motion. While specific studies directly linking mobility work to injury prevention in cyclists are limited, systematic reviews on general sports injuries suggest that flexibility and mobility exercises are beneficial in preventing injuries

Stretching after a ride, going to yoga classes, and using a foam roller are all good ways to work on your mobility.

Gradually Increase Mileage And Properly Train For Big Events

When I was a senior in high school, I decided I wanted to do a 200-mile road ride with my dad. Up until this point, the longest ride I had done was 50 miles and I wasn’t riding on a regular basis.

While my mind was ready, my body was not. At the 100 mile point, my left knee developed excruciating pain and it lasted for several months after the event. Not smart.

For long distance riding, make sure you are working up to longer miles on the bike and following a training plan. A proper training load helps reduce your risk of injury.

Avoid Overtraining

On the flip side, it’s important to listen to your body and avoid overtraining. Overtraining can lead to fatigue, decreased performance, and an increased risk of injuries like tendinitis.

Be sure to include rest days in your training schedule (take AT LEAST one day completely off per week) and vary the intensity of your rides to give your body time to recover. For every HARD ride you’re doing, you should be including an easy ride in your schedule.

Stay Aware of Your Surroundings And Choose Safe Routes

Accidents with other cyclists, pedestrians, or vehicles are common causes of cycling injuries. Always stay alert and be aware of your surroundings.

Use hand signals, wear visible clothing, and make eye contact with drivers when necessary. Following traffic rules and riding predictably can greatly reduce your risk of accidents.

Choosing safe routes, particularly bike paths away from traffic, can help reduce your risk of injury as well. One study showed that bike paths separated from traffic had a 28% lower relative risk of injury than on a street.

That said, only 7% of cycling injuries involve collisions with vehicles–most are from falls or hitting stationary objects–so it’s really important to stay alert while riding even when you’re away from traffic.

Wear Your Helmet!

Brain injuries are the most serious cycling injuries of all, and can be prevented with a helmet. According to a review in Scientific Reports, studies consistently show that wearing a helmet while cycling is beneficial in preventing injuries, regardless of age or crash severity.

Make sure that your helmet fits well and isn’t cracked or worn. Make sure to replace it every 3 to 5 years, or sooner if you notice signs of decay or if you’ve been in an accident.

Make Sure Your Bike Is Well Maintained

Regularly maintaining your bike, including checking the brakes, tires, and chain, can prevent mechanical failures that might lead to accidents. As someone who’s worn her brakes to failure before, let me tell you that it is a very dangerous situation!

Before each ride make sure to do the A,B,Cs! Check your tires Air pressure to make sure they are properly inflated. Squeeze both the front and rear Brakes individually to make sure they are working. And clean and lube your Chain to keep it spinning smoothly.

At least once a month, do a thorough cleaning on your bike and check your brake pads and chain for wear. Check all bolts to make sure that everything is snug. These are easy things to learn on YouTube, but if you don’t feel comfortable doing it yourself, make sure you are taking your bike into the shop regularly for service.

Take Care Of Your Nether Regions

Some of the most common cycling injuries or the least discussed. Saddle sores, chafing, and genital numbness are just a few issues that cyclists experience. And you shouldn’t have to put up with any of them! Butt or genital pain shouldn’t be a normal part of riding a bike.

Depending on the issue and the cause, there are many things you can do to address saddle pain. These include choosing a bike saddle that’s the appropriate width for your sitbones, getting a professional bike fit (as previously mentioned), wearing padded bike shorts, and using chamois cream. For more serious problems, like pelvic floor issues, a doctor or physical therapist can prescribe exercises to help.

Wear Bike Gloves

At some point, nearly all of us will have a bike crash. And most of these crashes don’t involve broken bones or head injuries–they usually result in road rash.

Common locations for road rash are our elbows, forearms, knees, and palms. Long cycling pants and long sleeve jerseys can help prevent road rash, but are often impractical due to heat. Bike gloves, however, can be worn even in hot temperatures and help prevent our hands from getting skinned in a crash. They also provide additional grip which can keep your hands from slipping off the bars.

Finally, gloves with a little padding can help prevent wrist and hand injuries, such as Cyclist’s Palsy and Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (as can alternating hand positions on the handlebars).

More Stuff You Might Like

• Preventing and Treating Cycling Injuries With Samantha Welter (podcast interview)
• Getting Back On The Saddle After A Bicycle Crash
• Cycling After Surgery: How I Got Back On The Bike

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