Bike Injuries

This article is about common cycling injuries and what are some things you can do to avoid them as well as smart training, because almost all cyclists experience some sort of injury at some point in their cycling career.

These injuries will vary with their location, cause, severity and healing time, but the one thing they have in common is that most of them come from overtraining.

Ways that you can avoid many of these common injuries is by allowing yourself proper resting periods in between your training and your competitions. Being precautions like this will also help to avoid sore muscles and joints.

It’s important to remember that the main reason for the base training sessions is to avoid becoming injured later in the season.

Some cyclists will become injured during their training, but these types of injuries are usually not caused by overwork.

They are usually the result of changes made to your bike or using a different form or posture while riding; a good example of this comes up with a bad adjusted pedal which may cause the common “cycling knee injury”. This is why it’s so important to make major changes to your bike and equipment during the training so you’re accustomed to a comfortable bike when the cycling season begins.

Some of the changes you may encounter that may cause injury if your body is not used to them are handlebar position, stem length, saddle or pedal height. The main types of injuries encountered by cyclists are overuse injuries and trauma injuries.

Trauma Injuries

Trauma injuries are just like their name says. They are caused by some sort of trauma like falling or crashing. Results of trauma injuries are cuts, scrapes, bruises, abrasions, sprains and occasionally broken bones. Provided you manage to stay away from the broken bones, you may still be able to continue your training even after sustaining trauma injuries. The best ways you can avoid or lessen your chances of getting trauma injuries are keeping your bike in good condition, riding with a helmet, using good bike handling skills and using common sense while riding.

Overuse Injuries
They happen because of the body being overused with the amount of training it’s been given. Knowing about the different kinds of overuse bicycle injuries will be the best way to avoid injuring yourself and having your cycling season ruined.

One of the main overuse bike injuries is caused by attempting to ride too many miles early in the season, doing too much speed work, excessive hill riding or large gear riding before you’re ready. Body types that may encounter these injuries are twisted shinbone, riding flat footed, a wide pelvis, muscle imbalance or leg length differences.

Overuse cyclists injuries can also be caused by an incorrect crank length, poor foot pedal position or incorrect saddle height. Performing incorrect exercises during training may also help contribute to overuse injuries.