Cyclists love riding bikes, but riding bikes doesn’t always love us back – in particular, when it comes to bone health. Whilst cycling is great for our health – mental and physical – cyclists tend to have lower bone density than the general population, and the higher the level of cycling, the worse our bone density is likely to be. Considering the high risk of crashing or falling off our bikes, especially for those of us who race, this is not an ideal situation.
I had my first DEXA scan in 2018 as part of a pilot study looking into bone density in cyclists, and despite having been a competitive cyclist for almost a decade, my bone density (hip and lower back) was above average, even compared to the general population. As well as favourable genetics, this is likely due to the fact that I played a lot of team sports as a teenager and young adult. Activities that involve jumping, landing and running with rapid changes in direction during high growth years will optimise bone density for later life.