Is cycling bad for your bones?
 

This study was done with competitive cyclists so it probably doesn't apply to people commuting short or moderate distances. It also apparently doesn't apply to triathletes :)

I wonder though about those of us who also tour for long distances or do things like centuries. Probably wouldn't be a bad idea to incorporate some weight lifting or at least some extra calcium into the mix.

Thanks for posting this. The exercises which counteract osteoporosis (thin bones) must involve working against gravity. Hence, swimming and biking do not do anything to help with bone density but running does.
It is interesting since cyclists develop incredibly muscular legs and one would think intuitively that this would put stress on the bones and help bone density but this is not the case.....Interesting why it needs to be against gravity.......
Do you remember when that cyclist crashed with Lance (not the final tour he won) and broke his femur? Was it Ivan Baso (sp)? The femur is the strongest bone.........takes a big mechanical force or a weak bone to cause such fracture. Though I don't know his bone density my guess would be that he has osteoporosis.......the crash was not that big, IMHO.........

It says right there: Don't worry about it. And if you feel you need to, lift some weights and then don't worry about it.

I suppose I probably should actually pick up running like I intended to in order to counteract my fun rides, and improve my fitness.

I really doubt that a racing cyclist breaking bones in a race has anything to do with the cycling per se. Tossing yourself to the ground at high speed is hard on your bones period. Everything I have read suggests that excersize in general, is GOOD for bones.

Cycling is very good for your bones and your general health, competitive sports like pro cycling is probably less healthy.

I recently read a study that followed bicycle commuters over some years, the study had some surprising results for me; Bicycle commuters had significantly less risk of fractures and broken bones. I always assumed that bicyclist would suffer more broken bones from bicycle accidents. But even though some cyclist fall of their bikes and break eg. their collar bones, their exercise strengthen their bones so much, that in general their stronger bones are less likely to fracture when falling in the bathroom (compared to their control group). So the overall bone strengthening effect of the bicycling exercise far outweighs any risk of breaking bones when cycling.
Also bicycle commuting drastically reduced pregnancy and birth complications, and also reduced the chances of getting cysts both benign and malignant.

If the health benefits of bicycle commuting could be had in pill form it would be the drug of the century.

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Regards

It is always a good idea to cross train; cycling, running, weights and/or swimming are the best way to go; as long as you do not overdo any one of them.

I suppose there're contra-beneficial aspects to everything. Weight-lifting's good, but it can take a toll on the joint; same with running. Biking's easier on the knees, but, it seems, "over-kill" can be detrimental to bone health. Moderation and variety seem like good ways to try to stave off the ills of being extremist in one's pursuit of one's interests (be they physical or mental).

Regardless of what people says,

One thing i noticed after cycling, is that my posture got better, and my back pains are gone.

I think that's prove enough that it's good for your bones. :thumb:

If anything, that's evidence that it's good for you, specifically. (Unless you were kidding, in which case, color me aloof.)

olympic style lifting. that'll strengthen them bones! :thumb:

and don't bother with supplements or any of that crap. just eat right.

Don't know about bones, but, my knee joints like me a lot more since I put away the running shoes and put on my cleats.

Interesting. Thanks.

all together now,
 

thanks for posting, but now I'll have George Thorogood running through my head:

On the day I was born, the nurses all gathered 'round
And they gazed in wide wonder, at the joy they had found
The head nurse spoke up, and she said leave this one alone
She could tell right away, that I was bad to the bone
Bad to the bone
Bad to the bone
B-B-B-B-Bad to the bone
B-B-B-B-Bad
B-B-B-B-Bad
Bad to the bone

It says recreational cyclists don't need to worry about it. What's not very helpful about studies like these is that they don't really say how much is too much. I'm not an uber-competitive cyclist but I'm not a recreational cyclist either. Makes you wonder about people who take spin classes.

What is good news is that it seems like for even the competitive or really high mileage rider that the problem can be avoided by incorporating some things known to increase bone mass. Triathletes both ride and swim, - apparently neither of which is particularly good for bone mass. Yet the fact that they run too seems to be enough to counteract the ill effects.

Well, no, they don't -- but if you understand how scientific research happens, you also understand that simple and comprehensive answers like the one you want are not arrived at by a single study (if, indeed, there are any simple answers at all). Expecting such answers is unreasonable.

It's more of a wish than an expectation.

Anyway, another thing that is interesting to me is how much the human body differs from our mechanical creations. By stressing the mechanical device, we speed it's demise. By stressing our bodies (in moderation), we make them stronger. You would think that limiting the impacts and loads on our bones during exercise would help keep them healthy, but it turns out that that is not necessarily true.

I hear ya. If you find that magic eight ball, please let me know...or we can go into business together, answering questions for people like, "How long will it take my (insert injury) to heal?"

And yet machinery freezes up, too, if it never gets used...and in some cases degenerates. If you live in the north and own a car, particularly if you live in a city, you know how much faster parts like exhaust and radiator degrade if the car sits constantly as opposed to when it is used.

what the studies don't even hint at is where the lost bone goes. Women in their 50s get osteoporosis after nursing and other hormonal things suck the calcium out of their bones. Where does it go in bikers? Is it just juicing racers who lose calcium?

If you make the assumption that competitive cyclists are eating more protein to maintain their muscles, then calcium would be leeched for use in excess protein removal in the kidneys.

Are you b a s t a r d i z i n g or claiming poetic license? :)

The saying is actually: "If the health benifits of physical exercise could be put into a pill, it would be the most prescribed medication on the planet."

I have a brother that works with some nutritionists at a university. This stuff gets complicated, -at least to me. For example, I believe he told me that combing iron and calcium supplements together causes problems because one blocks the absorption of the other.

I don't know if anybody reads it, but the Road Bike Rider website (http://www.roadbikerider.com/) has a long debate going on in their newsletters. If you search you can find the info. The doctors they have interviewed suggest that the problem comes from a lack of weight-bearing exercise in the legs. They also suggest that minimal weight-bearing workouts, such as one run a week, can countermand the effects. The problem only applies, according to their research, to people who get no exercise off the bike. If you think about it, osteoporosis isn't a problem for the average man, so as long as you don't live on a bike you should be OK.

I recently participated in an employee health fair and learned my bone density is low by ultrasound measure of my heel. Got me concerned so I did a little online research and decided to take calcium 3-4 times/week and trail run twice a week. We'll see in a year what my next scan reveals. I commute ~45 miles/week and swim 6 mi/week.

I don't know too much about the validity of the bone density concern, but the first time this story did the rounds of the mainstream newspapers it was amazing how little time it took a car-driving colleague who is "greener-than-thou" in every other area of her life to let me know that my commuting was liable to make my bones crumble to dust. Um yeah. Thanks. Riding a bike has also lowered my blood pressure and my weight, increased my fitness level and improved my quality of life, saved me a ton of gas money and lowered my environmental impact. And it has helped me to set a good example for my kids. No way this study is getting me off my bike.

Dairy blocks iron uptake, vit C increases iron uptake. I hadn't looked into what aspect of the dairy caused the problems, but I could believe it was the calcium. When our daughter had a low iron issue, we fed her spaghetti w/ meat sauce (tomatos + beef) and lemonade to drink, just weekly for however many months before her next blood test. Punched her iron right up, was cool to see, and not constipating like an iron pill would have been.