Is cycling good for knee ligament injury? (Read on if you hate clicking in your knee)

We’ve all been there. I minor IT band strain leads to clicking in your knee. Or an overuse injury leads to a feeling of a bruise in your patella. Your knee is one of the most important joints in your body because it connects some of the most important ligaments that connect and orchestrate the work of some of the largest muscles in the body. A painful knee ligament injury is not to be played with, and it is important to figure out what exercise is good for knee ligament injury. But is cycling good for knee ligament injury? We’re going to talk about that here in this post.

In this post you will learn a bit about cycling and how it can relate to your knee ligament injury. You will also learn about why cycling is good for knee ligament injury. Finally, we will discuss what types of bikes are great for knee ligament injuries, and why you should work with one specific type of bicycle if your injury is rather severe. By the end of this post you should have a good understanding of how cycling can help your knee, a good bicycle to choose and how to get started.

Is cycling good for knee ligament injury?

Yes, cycling is good for knee ligament injury. It is a great choice to repair the body because it exercises, and strengthens the muscles that the ligaments are connected to and the tissues in the knee. You are able to strengthen these muscles without damaging or applying high pressure to the ligaments while working out.

While exercising, you are also lengthening the ligaments, and sending blood flow and oxygen to the area that needs repair. Oxygen from the blood contains energy that is transferred into the ligaments to sustain and strengthen the healing process for the knee ligament.

How long should I ride?

This is a great question for a physical therapist pertaining to your specific challenge. However, if you have a sprain or a strain in any area around your knee, as long as you have incorporated and paired a great recovery regimen with bodyweight exercises, and stretches, 30 minutes for most days of the week at a leisurely pace will add large benefits to your recovery time.

What does a good recovery regimen for knee ligament injuries entail?

A good recovery regimen will include about half an hour at least every other day of stretching and exercise (15 minute stretching. 15 minutes exercise) on the injured area, plus 30 minutes of cycling. This regimen typically will last for about 3-4 weeks. For knee ligament injuries here are two great starting points for stretches and exercises:

Stretches

Keep in mind that the knee is a joint, so what you are doing is stretching the muscles connecting to the joint (and knee ligaments) to realign and strengthen the knee to move back to a proper functioning state.

Quad Stretches

The standing is the all around classic. The reason why the person photo’d below is doing so well is that both of his knees are aligned while doing the stretch. One knee is not in front of the other.

This is an alternative that many have learned about through yoga. It is an exponentially deeper stretch and also gets at other tissues in the body far deeper like the hip flexors which also play into the knee ligament connection.

Knee Pulls

When trying this, make sure that your lower back is on the floor securely by engaging your core.

Exercises

IT Band Presses

• You can get resistance bands here. Alternatively, if you want to work without props, stand with one foot against a wall, and the other hip distance apart. Push the right foot against the wall until you feel a reasonable amount of pressure. This will work the same muscle and you can use this as an alternate to the resistance band usage. 
• I personally prefer to do body-weight exercises without props because it helps me know that I can always at any time of the day, anywhere do some recovery exercises for an injury that I have.

Lunges

Focus on engaging your core to sustain alignment through the body. This will protect both your lower back from splaying out and your knees from moving outward as well.

What is the best bike for knee ligament injury?

The best bike for a knee ligament injury is a recumbent bike. We typically recommend this recumbent bicycle because of our far the seat pulls outward. It means that your knee can truly go to the correct almost flat angle to fully stretch out the ligaments in the knee. This elongates and strengthens the muscles to be able to work in a correct manner with the right posture. If you are in the market for a recumbent bicycle, here is a guide below for knee injury recumbent bicycles.

We really enjoy ours because in the last couple of years, the bikes have been made smaller and smaller, and lighter. They are transportable and can fit in your home very easily. Even more, there are miniature options as well.

Conclusion

Is cycling good for knee ligament injury? Cycling is a great option for knee ligament injury and should be done at regular intervals to be able to repair the body. When coupled with an excellent recovery regimen with stretching and exercise, the body will fully repair an you will heal your knee ligament injury.