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Can cycling make a hernia worse? The answer depends on various individual training and health conditions. Check the link out for a better understanding.
Contents
Introduction
Can cycling make a hernia worse?
Numerous patients with herniated discs strongly believe that regular cycling can help them to relieve their pain. By contrast, many others view it as a bad idea which even worsens the recovery of this back illness.
Can Cycling Make A Hernia Worse – Listen What’s Your Body Telling
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From the medical point of view, the back hernia relates to a displacement in which the early spinal degeneration occurs.
Simply put, the spine does not have enough space for nerves and fragments of the herniated disc. Over the years, it has caused severe pain.
Despite that bad condition, cycling unnecessarily leaves negative effects on your disc herniation. The worsened hernia could be a result of several other factors. So now, our write-up will help you figure out the problem.
Can Cycling Make A Hernia Worse?
Pedaling constitutes one of the gentlest forms of cardio. So, can exercise aggravate a hernia?
We have to say that cycling is not completely a factor. Problems related to muscle fatigue and impaired spinal movement probably contribute to degraded low-back health.
Muscle Fatigue
When it comes to the question “do cycling causes hernia”, people tend to think about the bike setup.
However, numerous elite cyclists with high-quality facilities still suffer from hernias. Thus, the key needed to mention here is muscle fatigue instead.
With the aim of breaking the personal limit, some bikers often pedal beyond their normal cycling frequency (link in with the article: how many cycling miles per week). Consequently, both calf muscles and hamstrings will become progressively fatigued.
Some bikers often pedal beyond their normal cycling frequency
The fatigue, then, produces changes in muscle movement (especially for the lumbar region and knees). In short, the more exhausted these body areas get, the worse your spinal posture will be.
Besides the muscle fatigue and bike setup, does hernia pain get worse with movement? Undoubtedly, it is YES with the one related to impaired spinal movements.
Impaired Spinal Movements
Another factor is the static flexion cycling position. Maintaining it for a long period comes as one of the main causes of weakening effectiveness of your muscle.
In other words, it cannot generate the needed force for the spinal posture and stability well.
If cycling does not make your hernia worse, should you ride a bicycle after the hernia surgery?
Should You Do Cycling After Hernia Surgery?
The answer is YES. However, it takes time for recovery.
Typically, patients can get a discharge from a hospital on the same or the following day after their hernia surgery.
That said, it often takes about weeks or even months for a full recovery. Then, you need more time before fully being back with your regular activities.
For effective recovery, there are often four phrases in total. In particular, supportive products like the ORTONIX belt also can improve your recovery effectiveness. They will offer more support for your herniated disc for sure.
Two Weeks After The Surgery – Walking As Necessary Only
After a couple of weeks since the surgery, paying attention to how far you move daily is still extremely important. It will help if you walk around the house only.
Besides, what exercises make hernias worse?
You might want to stay away from driving or going to work. Also, the recovery can get worse if you try to do small tasks (make the bed, for example).
After The Surgery is time for rest rather than cycling
Three Weeks After The Surgery (Light Exercises)
In the third week, it is an ideal time to add stretches along with several light exercises into your daily routine. This combination enables you to build core strength.
- Stretch for abdominal strength: Lie on the bed and stretch one leg forward. For the other leg, bend it with your foot under the knee. Then, bend at the waist and touch the outstretched foot with two hands. Take a break when you feel pain.
- Stretch for abdominal strength: Sit up straight on a chair. Put your right hand on the left knee, look to the left, and breathe deeply. Then, do vice versa.
In case you find it challenging to do the stretches yourselves, let’s ask for help.
One Month After The Surgery (Light Cycling)
When 30 days have passed, we suggest you try some low-impact exercises and then return to your normal routine for workouts.
During this phase, it is essential to listen to your body. Besides, it would be better to level exercises up only when the workout does not cause pain or any discomfort.
…then you can start with light cycling
For the third period of recovery, you can begin with light cycling. Furthermore, activities such as swimming and using elliptical machines are also advisable.
Six Months After The Surgery (Mountain Biking)
Without instruction by an experienced physician, you only should do high-impact exercises after around 6 months since the surgery.
In these months, mountain biking comes as a safe training method for your back pain. Additionally, we would like to recommend the ones including running, jumping, and gymnastics as well.
What To Consider when Cycling With A Hernia?
Despite a few bad effects regarding cycling, is cycling good for hernia?
Well, this activity is still useful for your herniated back as long as you choose the right bikes and adjust the right pedaling postures.
Choosing Right Bikes
One of the first and most important steps when choosing bikes is to test the ride. In addition, you can take advice from friends or technical experts, too.
In terms of consideration, the key elements include size, wheel, suspension type, brakes, gears, to name but a few.
The mass of bicycles on the market could make you confused sometimes. So, the ones by well-known manufacturers, for example, Schwinn bikes, should be your priority.
Adjusting The Bicycle Properly
Choosing the right bikes is not enough. An optimal cycling time needs to go with the correct bike adjustment as well. Simply put, the handlebar and seat height must deliver a perfect fit with your body.
Riding With The Correct Posture
Next, what else could be going on?
You must ensure whether the adjustment is correct by seeing your posture on the bike. In other words, your upper body should be stable in a slightly bent position.
Moreover, the hip leans forward. These things are relatively helpful to have a healthy spine with the riding.
The highlight exactly focuses on the lumbar spine. The more correctly your pelvis is tilted forward, the better your back muscles will become pretensioning. As a consequence, your spine will be perfect with its S shape.
Correcting Both Leg & Arm Position
It is not good to keep your legs fully straightened at the lowest pedaling position when cycling. Instead, you had better slightly bend them.
On the other hand, the knee bending angle should not exceed 90 degrees at the upper pedaling position. If it exceeds this level, your knees could get injured.
Correcting Both Leg & Arm Position
Let us give more explanation.
A 90-degree bending angle comes as an ideal posture benefiting the combination of back and arms. For more details, it optimizes muscle loading and avoids excessive pressure on the wrists.
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Conclusion
To sum up, can cycling make a hernia worse?
Our final answer is NO if you follow proper instructions for recovery and workouts. By contrast, it comes with a big YES when you do the opposite things. On top of that, do always bear in mind to wear a supportive hernia belt as well as choose the right bikes.
