Which Is Harder On The Knees: A Stationary Bike Or A Street Bike?

The stress on your knees from riding stationary or street bikes depends on the particular design and fit of your bike, the gears you use and your riding position and style. However, stationary bikes are adjustable and most are programmable; the conditions of the ride are up to you. The lack of control of the external conditions of your ride can make street bikes harder on your knees than stationary bikes.

Benefits

Bicycling does not require the knee to bear any weight, uses a range of motion conducive to daily living and allows the rider to move their knee in a controlled movement at varying speeds and levels of resistance. In addition, the cyclic movement is good for knee cartilage. These positive factors apply to both stationary and street bikes.

Considerations

On a street bike, you have to pick a route that fits your goals for the day. The speed with which you pedal and the difficulty of pedaling is determined by the slope of the road, your chosen bicycle gear and your personal cadence. Reaching your destination or completing a round trip may require you to pedal harder or longer than your knees can reasonably handle, especially on hills, which put more stress on your knee. On a stationary bike, you can change the pedal resistance or stop riding at any time. As a result, stationary bikes are perfect for those recovering from knee injuries and those wanting to ramp up to the variable conditions of outdoor cycling.

Expert Insight

To minimize the odds of knee injury or to recover from knee injury, you should pedal with a cadence of 90 to 100 rotations per minute, counted on one side of the crank. You must also position your saddle correctly, an article published in the April 2004 edition of the journal "The Physician and Sports Medicine" concluded, as a stationary or street bike with the saddle set too high can aggravate ACL injuries. A saddle placed too low can stress the patellofemoral joint. Your knee should be bent 25 to 30 degrees when your leg is extended at the lowest point of the pedal's rotation.

Warning

According to Thomas Souza, a chiropractor writing for Dynamic Chiropractic, stationary or street bicycle exercise is contraindicated initially in the treatment of patellofermoral arthralgia and chondromalacia, injuries of the knee. Consult your doctor before beginning a cycling program, whether or not you have a preexisting knee injury. In addition, physiotherapist Karen Hambly, writing for the website KneeGuru Information Hub, says that rehabilitating stationary bike riders should not switch back to regular cycling until they get an OK from their doctors.

Solution

If you don't have access to a stationary bicycle, you can purchase a trainer, a type of bike stand that holds the rear wheel of your street bike in place. With the trainer's built-in resistance controls, your street bike can function as a stationary bicycle. A bicycle odometer can track the distance and speed of your workout.