I have been unicycling for five months now and seem to have gotten a little obsessed with one wheeling! I ride everywhere I can and sometimes there isn’t a day, for weeks, that I haven’t been out on my uni.
In the past few weeks I have increased my commute from 8 km to 12 km and then been out on the weekends blasting around doing moderate Trials stuff and light MUni.
In the past few weeks, as well, I have started to notice stiff knees after a lot of riding. They aren’t really sore but definitely a bit creaky and when I do a full squat if feels like tight rubber bands over my knee cap.
Anyone else had this happen? David Stone, you mentioned some knee soreness in a recent Coker post. Any suggestions of excercises that might prevent this? I do a stretching regime everyday and some resistance training 3 - 4 times a week but maybe I don’t have the right mix of exercises to complement the unicycling.
Yep! I started riding December 2000 and had sore knees, especially on the tops of the kneecaps, for a couple months. The good thing is that it eventually went away and never returned.
I would suggest doing some knee strengthingng excersizes. I have been reccomended to do sqats, no weights while balancing on one foot and the other foot is pointed out to your side in front, in the middle and then behind you a bit. I usually try and do these to warm up but they work well on both balance and your knees. Try and go down as low as you can with every squat and stay on just 1 foot if you can. Also dont forget to do them in sets like any other excersize and do them with both legs equally…
Be sure to warm up lightly before every ride. I usually do a half-mile ride before a freestyle session, after some crunches, pushups, and stretches. These things help lubricate your joints, realign your muscles, and generally get things happy. Then when you’re torquing up a hill or bailing out of the 100th failed mount your body can easily absorb the high decelerations and forces. The stretches I do are: neck, hamstring, calf/Achilles tendon, groin, and squats (not the exercise, the stretch). These seem to cover all the motions I’ve encountered so far. I added the groin after a mild pull working on the leg-through-hands side mount.
As pains come, back off for a while on that particular aspect of unicycling for a while then come back to it. This allows your body to heal better and also allows your technique to catch up with your goal-setting. A month later, the motion that caused the pain doesn’t require nearly as much force because your technique has improved.
Two good examples for me are wrist pain and right knee pain.
Wrist pain: I sprained my left wrist last year on a fall onto frozen ground. I’ve had to baby it until just lately, so I have had to curtail my hopping and concentrate on rolling skills. Now when I practice hopping I think hard about minimizing the force I use to keep the uni with me.
Right knee pain: This comes and goes depending on the type of riding I’m doing. MUni increases it because of the lower seat, so I sometimes have to put a trail ride off or take an easier trail. Next time, though, I don’t have to. Also, one-foot riding practice affects this knee because I come off the freestyle uni a lot - not hard, but over and over again. Some days I have to concentrate on learning other skills instead. As my one-footed improves, the number of similar UPDs decreases and the strain on that knee decreases too.
Other times, and I haven’t figured out which ones yet, it is best for me to ride through the pain. It goes away and doesn’t come back.
Icing your knee in the evenings might help. That activity got me back on the trail a couple of summers ago during a long hike. The icing definitely speeds the healing and recovery rate.
I’ve been on Vioxx for a few months. The podiatrist prescribed it because I have a split pad under my right big toe. It flares up and affects my riding so that my knee degenerates faster. The Vioxx has really helped too. It helps me sleep better after a long workout and seems to help my legs track better during riding by reducing pain avoidance motions.
Although I’m 44 these issues were actually worse for me when I was in my early 20s. Now I’m better at warming up and dealing with pain issues during activity.
Hey U Turn, I really appreciate the points you discussed in your post. Also, it is good to know that I am not the only one giving pre uni ride stretches and uni ride warm ups some thought.
I like your clear explanation of how easing off on a skill or trail when that type of riding causes discomfort/pain doesn’t mean that it will never be ‘do-able’. It is encouraging to think, “I’ll take a break from this for now but later when I try it again I might be stronger/fitter/more skilled and therefore it might actually come more easily”.
“Erin” <Erin.f76ma@timelimit.unicyclist.com> wrote in message news:Erin.f76ma@timelimit.unicyclist.com…
>
> I have been unicycling for five months now and seem to have gotten a
> little obsessed with one wheeling! I ride everywhere I can and
> sometimes there isn’t a day, for weeks, that I haven’t been out on my
> uni.
>
> In the past few weeks I have increased my commute from 8 km to 12 km and
> then been out on the weekends blasting around doing moderate Trials
> stuff and light MUni.
>
> In the past few weeks, as well, I have started to notice stiff knees
> after a lot of riding. They aren’t really sore but definitely a bit
> creaky and when I do a full squat if feels like tight rubber bands over
> my knee cap.
> Anyone else had this happen? David Stone, you mentioned some knee
> soreness in a recent Coker post. Any suggestions of exercises that
> might prevent this? I do a stretching regime everyday and some
> resistance training 3 - 4 times a week but maybe I don’t have the right
> mix of exercises to complement the unicycling.
Do you do heavy full (rock-bottom) squats? Dynamic leg raises?
>
> Any ideas?
>
> thanks,
> Erin
Consider Prilepin’s Table:
Triples: 8 (6-10) 55%-65% or 7 (5-9) 65%-70% or 6 (4-8) 70%-75% or 5 (3-7)
80%-85%
90%+: 3 (2-5) doubles or 7 (4-10) singles
I d’ont think there is such thing as too much uni-ing. It’s impossible. My knees frequently creak, and my back is in constant pain (from uni-ing) but i still go out every day. i’m hoping that it will go away . I just think that it happens to some people and doesnt to others. I stretch before every ride, and it makes little difference. Oh well, it’s a small price to pay for how muh fun
uni-ing is!!
>>"I stretch before every ride, and it makes little difference. >>Oh well, it’s a small price to pay for how muh fun
>>uni-ing is!! "
I agree. I sometimes stretch, but not often.
I can’t stop uniing because of an injury. I sprained my wrist and ankle within a few days of each other and I could not stop riding.
This is also the reason why I have a blister on my hand that has been there for so long, perhaps a week or more. Yes, hand. I have been hopping a ton lately and I hold the seat.
Anyhoo, I think that if you can still move and you aren’t in too much pain it should be ok to uni, but perhaps not as much as usual. I’m no doctor but that is what I do. And I’m still here after a year of riding.
Last summer, I started spending a LOT of time on my uni, and my knees started really hurting. I was having trouble just walking up stairs. Then I started taking a day or 2 off between hard rides, and the pain just went away within a couple weeks.
This reminds me of the stories I’ve read about the guys that have unicycled across the country. At first, their knees would really hurt, then their body would adjust, and they’d be fine. It just takes time to condition the knees.
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. I just think that it happens to some people and doesnt to others. I stretch before every ride, and it makes little difference. Oh well, it’s a small price to pay for how muh fun