Originally Posted by
Trakhak
Do all of you who stretch and see chiropractors and massage therapists and use foam rollers and so on do so because of injuries? Asking because I've never stretched, etc., etc., in 50 years of riding.
For myself, I've always found riding a bike in a nearly flat-backed position leaves me as limber as I need or want to be. I do have an old lower-back injury that gives me problems every once in a while, as well as arthritis in one elbow that I broke twice, but the discomfort always goes away after a few days without my attempting to do anything about it.
I never stretched until, in my early 60s, I began to get bursitis in my knees. Stretching fixed that right up. I agree that riding a bike and working out at a gym does all that most people need in the way of stretching. I might be an outlier in needing to stretch my knee tendons. I've never seen a chiropractor, used a roller, had a massage, etc. I have had the occasional injury. Hiking has also been very good therapy for restoring strength and flexibility to injured lower body parts - hiking's really just a fun method of strength training.