Competitive cycling seems to be all over our TV screens, what with the Tour De France and the upcoming UCI Road World cycling champs coming up in Bergen.  However, we don’t all have to be competitive cyclists who love the look of Lycra to get benefits of this particular activity.  For example, did you know that group cycling has been reported to help with knee osteoarthritis in walking? 

The Research paper by Salacnmski et al, 2012 http://www.jospt.org/doi/pdf/10.2519/jospt.2012.3813?code=jospt-site reports that the subjects who participated in the 12 week exercise intervention had a significantly greater improvement than those in the control group in the following measures: gait velocity, improvements in pain after a 6 minute treadmill walk and improved scores in patient related outcome measures for knee pain.   However, bear in mind that the authors suggest that these improvements may only apply to the population studied in the report. 

The London Podiatry Centre is one of only a few UK centres to offer 3 dimensional computerised walking, running and bike assessments.  We work closely with bike fitters to ensure that our patient’s medical and biomechanical needs are matched by an optimal bike set up.    Literally hundreds of biomechanical imbalances can lead to injury and poor cycling performance.  By accurately detecting and treating these imbalances through an extensive range of possible treatments offered at our Centre we can maximise a cyclists full potential.