I’m in my 50s. Has anyone had any hip pain from unicycling? I have some pain below the hip joint on my left leg. A doctor in the past diagnosed it as bursitis. I used to ride a 24 inch. Now I ride a 29 inch and it’s a bit better. Yesterday I rode 4 miles which is the furthest I’ve gone. I think I may have to ease up a bit on the unicycling. I do some hills as well. I’ve been riding every other day. I ride to stay in shape on the street and like turning and doing circles to help with my core. I wonder if the different size unicycles have different advantages. Any advice would be appreciated.
I over extended my hip by falling while trying to save my knees (like a van dame split but knees bent). Sprained it, and havent been riding for a week… I realized how sore my other body parts actually were during the recovery.
So now i know to let my body rest. I recently started uni almost 2 months ago and now doing 6plus miles, wanting to push for more distance. Work slowly to it and don’t try to push yourself too fast to improve. That might not be ideal for everyone but thats my own advice I shall be taking.
Careful with the hip, life changing body part.
staying away from long rides until it heals up is a good idea. I had a ride once where it was very cold and I wore compression pants to stay warm, I started developing a pain in my knee and didn’t realize until it was too late that the compression pants were to blame, and were pulling my kneecap to the side as I pedaled. I believe I blistered the cartilage under my kneecap, which took a month or two to heal. Maybe something similar is going on. The unicycle saddle pushes your hips apart, but if you’re riding too far back on it, that may cause some hip issues. Too far forward, and pain will arise from other situations. Maybe tilting the saddle slightly nose-down from what it is now will make the profile overall more narrow. I also like short cranks, not only because they can let you move faster, but because they don’t require the same range of motion. This means less chafing, and happier joints in my experience. You do have to be careful not to push a gear too big though, because that can cause joint issues as well. I’m definitely no medical expert, and take everything I have to say with a grain of salt. It’s just my anecdotal experience. Wheel size shouldn’t make a difference, but cranks and saddle may. You may also want to consider a handlebar, and extend it forward to put you in a more bicycle-like seating position. That way your hips aren’t positioned as if you were standing.
Saddle angle and high have a big effect on the hips. As I have hip dysplasia I had to experiment a bit with saddle angle until I could do long rides on my muni without hip pain. If you don’t have one yet, I’d recommend you an adjustable seatpost.
That’s what I discovered too. Maybe also a narrower saddle may help you. That said, I ride a nimbus gel with the nose tilted up very steep. There was only a fine line between hip problems and crotch problems …
There was another guy on here not too long ago complained about hip pain after riding many circles around the school’s track field. Im not sure if he’s still riding.
For me, I had this chronic hip pain on my right side for a few years {until} I took up unicycling. It might sound funny, but I think it threw it back into alignment, with all the UPDs Ive had at the very beginning, same goes with my back:D, and my knees just simply feel better from working it out. Oh and yeah, I cant forget about my ankles, they at 100%, much improvement from all the muni. But then again, my so called muni is not all that…
Yeah, I think proper saddle height is important. Too low and it might affect your knees. Too high and you might hyper extend your hip and knees. For me, my preferred height is at full extention of one leg and still have a slight bend at the knee. With the right height, I can get the foot to really “stick” to the pedal, with good control and leverage, in the case of riding flats and shorter cranks. Muni, I like to have it lower so I can absorb the terrain.
So dont hesitate to play around with height, angle and crank length. Just pay attention to your body and careful not to over exert.
Thanks for all the ideas.
I appreciate all the ideas and feedback. I’ll try some of these ideas and see how it goes. I have a feeling that probably less hills is better too on the hips.
Thanks.
Be aware of your posture, especially if the pain is on one side and not the other. Unicycling with a hand on the saddle is asymmetrical, and bodies don’t like asymmetry. I’m not nearly as good with my left hand on the saddle, but I’ll ride that way in casual situations just to balance things out a bit.