Anyone cycle with dodgy hips?

[ILoveAGoodBrusselSprout]

Exactly that.

How dodgy are they? How do you cope with it?

I love cycling but have had one hip replacement and am getting my second next month. Right now, I'm walking on crutches as the joint is crumbling but I had a sneaky ride on DH's bike the other day (I'm talking about a few hundred metres - no distance at all) and I had no pain. I was so excited!

DH is concerned - he sees the state I'm in when I've walked too much (hardly any distance is too much for me right now) or when I've been on my elliptical trainer, and he thinks I shouldn't do it, but just wait till I've recovered (4-5 months from now!).

But I'm getting almost no exercise, I'm comfort eating because I'm bored and feel sorry for myself and I'm getting quite considerably overweight.

[prettybird]

Why not ask your physio? It may be that the non-weight bearing cycling motion is ok.

[wonkylegs]

I have RA in my hips, with damage to my left hip and both knees. I use an exercise bike as recommended by my consultant as its non weight bearing and as long as the resistance isn't too high it's fine and nice to do a bit of exercise although still need to remember to pace myself. I would ask your consultant / physio what they think as it will depend on your particular circumstances.

[ILoveAGoodBrusselSprout]

Thanks for your replies Ladies

[CMOTDibbler]

DH has very dodgy knees (both need replacing) dodgy hip (hasn't been MRI'd for a while but was told it was well on the way to needing doing) and dodgy ankle. He does 400 miles a month or more on his bike - the physios say that building the muscle to support your joints is the best thing you can do

[ILoveAGoodBrusselSprout]

I totally agree CMOT about supporting joints. My muscles are getting weaker from lack of exercise and it's really worrying me - it was a nightmare to build up my muscles around my joint after my last hip replacement. It took such a lot of work which is now being undone because of the pain.

Does your DH suffer from more pain after a cycle? That's my main concern. If I walk too much, it's painful during the walk but even more so in the hours and days following. Same with elliptical. It makes it not worth doing. I was wondering if cycling is the same?

[WhoTheFuckIsSimon]

I have a dodgy hip/pelvis though don't sound as bad as you. I do loads of cycling, like 100 miles a week and cycling doesn't bother it. Physio says im banned from all exercise apart from cycling, yoga and swimming. Anything like aerobics bothers me. I think listen to your body, do small amounts, build up. If it hurts then stop.

[CMOTDibbler]

Mostly, he doesn't have long lasting extra pain. When he does a long/tough ride it does, but overall its so much more stable he's happy to take that. He is just putting off the knee replacements as long as possible as he's so young, and the last assessment was that a replacement wouldn't last him long.

If you build it up slowly, and make sure your bike is the right size and geometry for you, you can't do any harm. Some of the oldies in our bike club have both hips replaced and still crank out a lot of miles