Best Bikes For People With Arthritis

Hey guys, Dustin here. CEO of sixthreezero. I want to talk to you today about the best bikes for someone who suffers from arthritis. Now, I do want to say a disclaimer here before we get started. I am not a doctor. I'm not giving the opinion that is medically approved, necessarily. I have spoken to some doctors, some massage therapists, some people with arthritis, generally speaking. So I'm using their opinions and their feedback to present you with my ideas today.

Arthritis can obviously be a very debilitating condition. It can immobilize a lot of people. We've had a lot of success stories actually, with sixthreezero bikes, about people with some cases of severe arthritis, actually being able to get back on a bike, because of certain bikes we offer that have certain riding positions. When we talk about what's the best bike for someone with arthritis, I think there's a couple of ways to approach. Number one is really looking at where is arthritis affecting you. I know it can show up in all areas of the body, including the neck, the back, the wrists, the knees, anywhere, the legs, the feet, et cetera. The hands, in particular. I know some of the more common areas obviously would be things like knees, even shoulders and back.

Biking With Arthritic Knees

Many seniors might debate the benefits of cycling, especially if they have knee osteoarthritis. While the general assumption is to avoid things that might cause discomfort, low-intensity cycling effectively improves mobility, functionality, and gait. In fact, cycling has been shown to boost aerobic fitness and decrease chronic pain in seniors with arthritis.

Before you get on your bike, allow your joints to warm up. You want to gently move around and then enter into a rang-of-motion exercise for five to 10 minutes before getting on the bicycle.

Biking With Arthritic Hands

Biking with arthritic hands can be challenging without the right equipment. One of the best purchases and upgrades you can make to your bike is a wide grip handlebar if you have arthritis in the hands. The wider bar allows for weight distribution across the entire palm. You can also opt for riser handlebars, allowing you to sit up higher, relieving some of the strain on your hands.

Sixthreezero Best Bikes for Seniors Arthritis

When looking for bikes at Sixthreezero, some of the best options for people with arthritis will include tricycles, cruisers, and the newer Relaxed Body bikes.

Trikes:

•      EVRYjourney

•      BodyEase

Cruisers:

•      EVRYjourney

•      AroundtheBlock

•      BodyEase

•      Paven’Trail

•      RideInThePark

Relaxed Body:

•      EVRYjourney Steel

•      EVRYjourney Deluxe

Tips for Biking With Arthritis

Arthritis can be a debilitating condition, but it varies. Some people only experience arthritis in the hands. The focus should be on finding a bike with wider handlebars and an upright riding position to reduce the stress on the hands for these riders.

Other riders will have issues in their knees and hips, making balance and lifting the legs challenging. For these riders, a tricycle with a step-through is best. The tricycle will eliminate any balance concerns, allowing the rider to cycle with confidence. The low entry point will make it easy for them to take their position on the seat.

A newer model, like the Relaxed Body bikes, might be the best option for riders with general arthritis. The extended frame and riding position are ideal for relieving joint and muscle stress. Therefore a cyclist can ride for longer in more comfort.

Ultimately, the style of bike you choose is up to you. Only you know what your body can handle. However, do not avoid cycling because of arthritis; many studies have found the exercise beneficial, especially in the retention of mobility and flexibility. If you would like help selecting a bicycle that will work for your specific condition, contact a bicycle specialist.

There are bikes called recumbent bikes. Now, we actually don't carry recumbent bikes, but recumbent bikes are essentially bikes where you're sitting down and you're peddling with your leg straight out in front of you, and you're literally sitting in a seat. Now, these would be great for someone, if you have actually a pretty, I would say a severe case of arthritis, where it's very hard to lift your leg, or you don't really want much pressure on your hips or your shoulders, or even your back. Recumbent bikes would be a great option because you're going to be in a very comfortable sitting position, and it's going to take a lot of pressure off your back, off your hips, off your knees, things like that.

They're very, very comfortable and there's a whole slew of different types of recumbent bikes. From the seats, you're sitting into the wheel size, to how low to the ground you are. Now I would say that is one negative piece of a recumbent bike, is because of how low they are to the ground, it could be a little bit difficult to get on and off the bike, if bending too low is difficult. There are recumbent options that wouldn't be as low to the ground as others. So if bending is an issue, try to find a recumbent that maybe is not quite as high as a bicycle, but somewhere in between the really low recumbents and the higher recumbents.

Now moving on, there's something called a step-through bike. With that is step through bike with a forward peddling design. If you have arthritis in your knees and bending or lifting your leg, even if you have it in your hips, so it's difficult to live your leg, I would say I recommend a step-through bike. Basically what that means is that just the frame comes low enough, so in order to mount or dismount the bike, you can literally just step through the frame. If once you're on the bike, you typically don't have any issues in terms of peddling, then you could just do a normal step through bike with a perfect down tube connected from the seat, to what's called the bottom bracket, to where the pedals are.

The step through will make it very easy to get on and off, and it'll eliminate the danger of mounting and dismounting the bike. Especially if you don't have complete mobility, again in your hips or your knees, or things like that.

Now another element to that is something called a forward pedaling bike and what this is, is it's an upright bike riding position, but the pedals are shifted forward about four inches. What this does, is it basically puts the rider in a little bit more of a relaxed position, takes some downward pressure off the hips, and typically speaking, bikes with forward pedaling would have an upright position. Upright riding position, meaning your back is straight. So if you have pain from arthritis, any part of your body, you really want to take as much tension off of those parts of your body when you're riding.

So if you're an upright position that's very natural, you don't have to be forward. You don't have to be leaning back, you're not tensed up in any one place on your body, and so a forward pedaling bike would be great for that. It will also allow you to keep your arms right out in front of you, or actually right here, so it'd be very relaxed. No tension on any piece of your body. So hopefully that would alleviate any pain during the ride, that you maybe would experience because of your arthritis on another type of bike.

One bike we offer is called the sixthreezero Every Journey, and we've had a lot of people write reviews in particular on Amazon, talking about how they got back into biking after arthritis, particularly in their knees or in their back. That was a great option for them. Again, I'm not a doctor to advise, but this has been common feedback from our customers, that particularly people with arthritis find that bike to be great for them.

Then I would say my third option if balancing on a bike is just too much, and your arthritis has affected your body where it's even hard to tense up anything to hold yourself up, a tricycle would be the last best option, in my opinion.

So there are different types of tricycles, there are multi-speeds, there are thinner tires, you don't have to think of a tricycle and think it's going to be this big clunky thing. There are different types of options. You can get baskets, no baskets. The bicycle will not be going anywhere, because it's on three wheels it's going to easily balance on the road, and you can also get a step-through model, so you can easily mount and dismount.

So it's just a great option if there's so much pain in any one of your joints, that it's hard for you to like I said, bear any weight on it or put any pressure on it. You can get a tricycle and you can get a tricycle with some speed options, so the first gear is very easy to pedal. Even though the tricycle's a little bit bigger in size, if you get something with speeds, it will make the pedaling easy in the lowest gear. So you shouldn't be worried about dragging around the weight of a very large tricycle.

They're fairly common for people over the age of 50. They're sometimes difficult to find. We at sixthreezero actually don't make tricycles. My suggestion would be, you can shop around online, look at different models and then visit a local bike shop near you. If you can, I'd recommend potentially buying a tricycle fully assembled, because the assembly might be a little more difficult. Or, if you have a local bike shop, you could order online and have them assemble it for you.

Those are my three options for best bikes for arthritis. The step-through frame or the forward pedaling frame. The tricycle and the recumbent bike. If you have any other questions about those three, please reach out to us directly. Also, comment below if you have a bike that's been good for your arthritis. I'm curious to hear of other examples of bikes, whether it be the model or the type or the brand, that maybe you've ridden, that you found is great for your arthritis when you go out for rides.

If you want to reach us directly, please shoot us an email theteam@sixthreezero.com, or call us, 310-982-2877, and please check out our bikes in the top navigator of our website. We have men's, women's, kids. Also, go ahead and enter your height and your weight, in our body fit calculator and it will tell you what bikes of ours will fit your body, 'cause our goal at sixthreezero is to find a bike that's the perfect fit for your body.