1 Myth of a Trike’s Impact on Your Body
Riding a recumbent trike offers many benefits that are attractive: exercise, weight loss, being in nature on the roads or trails, improvements in mental health and mood, being a part of a larger community, and more. Over the last decade of business, we have seen our customers seek out riding recumbent trikes to achieve these benefits but also to alleviate some of their pain points. For one reason or another, a traditional bicycle just doesn’t cut it for them anymore. Whether it be lack of balance, back pain, mobility issues, knee pain, stroke recovery, or just hindrance or pain in general, riding a trike offers a comfortable way to stay active that doesn’t put all that pressure of a traditional bicycle on your body. After hundreds of customers over more than 10 years, Laid Back Cycles has experienced what an amazing solution riding a recumbent trike can be to alleviate pain. However, there is one misconception, or myth if you will, that we have seen about the impact of riding in correlation to your body.
Let’s start off with a quick disclaimer: we are not medical professionals, however, our knowledge of the body comes from years of analyzing movement, pain, and fitness with recumbent trikes. Often, the “why”, or the reason people decide to ride Laid Back is to cycle with more comfortability and less pain. Sometimes, pain can be a limiting factor for people. Let’s dive into an example for this. Someone comes into the shop because they have been experiencing knee pain for several years and decided it’s time to pursue some activity and fun through triking. They hop on a trike for a test ride, ride it around the parking lot for a while, and start experiencing soreness. After experiencing some pain in their knee, they decide a trike isn’t their magic pill. The Myth is that their pain can’t be eased by riding a trike. Pain can’t always disappear the moment you start pedaling, however, riding a recumbent trike is regenerative.
“[Exercise is] like your own personal regenerative medicine,” says Michael Joyner, an exercise physiologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.
At Laid Back Cycles, we like to parody Newton’s Laws of Motion: “A body in motion stays in motion.” We say this because we have seen just how extraordinary continued exercise can be for people. Ask around a community ride and surely you’ll meet someone who has drastically improved in pain, stamina, strength, or all three!
We may be as enthusiastic to say that a trike is like a fountain of youth! Just last week, we saw someone go from having pain just riding around the block before she had her trike, to riding several miles with her buddies that same weekend! Riding your trike consistently over time has compounding health benefits. Through riding, you can reduce pain, increase stamina, and gain strength. We see most of our customers have the ability to ride for longer and longer distances because of the regenerative nature of riding a recumbent trike.
Everyone has their individual experience so it’s certainly not a “one size fits all” type of solution. With many brands and models, choosing your perfect trike is just one test ride appointment away. Get some regenerative exercise under your belt in a fun and comfortable way, and ride Laid Back.
