Kickas.org Forums Ankylosing Spondylitis General Discussion Sporting ASKickers bicycling and the neck...

I am moving up to the Bay area and am thinking of taking up bicycling again (I used to race). Right now, I am worried about my neck and shoulder blade area. My sister (a massage therapist) is concerned that I will shorten by psoas and hip flexors. I figure nay activity that gets my heartbeat up and makes me breathe hard so my rib cage has to move, can't be all bad.

Any advice/experience?

TIA

Adam Rodman

i guess everyone is different but when my SI is too bad for any other form of exercise including gentle walking, i can often ride a bike.

i've found the recumbent bike to be the easiest on my body,

though there are also tour bikes that put one more upright, not so much stress on the shoulders, arms, hands as with a "ten-speed" / "racing" bike.

though for me, the upright touring bike is the worst for my upper back.

so lots of choices out there, and like you said, i get better cardio from that than pretty much any thing else i can do these days.

i'd say see how it feels to you and decide from there,

maybe rent a bike to find out

or go to a local gym and try out various exercise bikes?

good luck!

I "rode" a raing bike for about 10 minutes. It felt really good. The fit was perfect. That said, I wonder if in the long term I want to engage in an activity where I am leaning forward as opposed to something which might open up my chest. Dunno.

Adam

opening the chest? rowing (canoeing, kayaking, other) might be an option? if you have a convenient place to do that.

we live near a nice bay (opens into one of the great lakes), have a place where we can rent a kayak and tool around the bay and up a creek, lots of nice wildlife (turtles and various water birds) amongst the reeds and cattails.

we don't go often but when we do, the way the kayak seat is positioned, i can sit there pretty well, and so long as my wrists aren't acting up, kayaking is something else i can do, and its definitely cardio.

just another idea.

Riding a bike isn't something I can do very often anymore, though I must admit to being interested in the reclining bike idea. Hmmmm...

I get the most relief from swimming. I change up my routine depending upon how my body feels that day. For instance, if my ribs hurt I spend most of the time on backstroke & breaststroke. If my hips hurt I avoid sidestroke. If I feel awesome, I power out on crawl.

And of course I suggest coming over and joining our loseygosey KickAS FITNESS team as soon as possible.

It started out just swimming, but now it's a free-for-all which is really fun.

There's encouragement and entertainment ~ what more could anyone want?

Peace

If you think its fun then I'd suggest doing something for lengthening your hip flexors (like letting a pt work on it) instead of dropping biking. I do some bicykling myself and I love it....

good luck!

my husband has a cervical spine disc problem. the ten speed was irritating it. he had touring bike handle bars put on. much much better for him. his neck is no longer getting irritated by biking.