So apparently this is probably me 🙁

Age 37. Heart and lungs are fine (ftp of almost 4w/kg) but bones of a 55 year old. 🙁

This is based on a bone density scan and I’m not yet bad enough for official diagnosis but 97% of adults have a stronger bones than me….

So it would be fair to say my days of hitting Whistler A-line have come and gone in a flash (managed it 2 years ago). My GP was very much in the stop riding camp yesterday as you “can’t fall”. I’ve fallen a lot and not suffered broken bones (based on actual x-rays) so this isn’t going to happen but I’m currently mulling over lifestyle changes etc. I suspect more armor is in my future.

I realize I’m rare but wondering if anyone else can offer any thoughts / advice either here or via e-mail etc.

I should also add that I live in Canada and so names of consultants etc while appreciated aren’t overly helpful.

Cycling is well known to be bad for bone density.
Cut back a little and devote some time to load bearing exercise.

I had osteopenia – diagnosed after falling off my bike (fairly gently) and breaking my hip at age 35.

Bone density was assessed as abotu that of a 75 year old man.

I saw a endocrinologist (sp?) and had blood tests, calcium levels were a bit low but testosterone etc was ok.

He recommended that I took calcium and vit D supplements for a year and concentrated on doing a lot more impact exercise or free weights (the impact create electric currents in your bones that encourages bone density to increase or soemthing). Cycling is not good for bone density so I did running and some weights work in a gym. I never stopped ridign – I just made sure I did other stuff too – prior to my fall I really just sat at a desk or rode a bike, not much walking or any other impact exercise.

After a year I was back to about 40 year old for bone density.

I’ve had a lot harder falls int he last 15 years and no broken bones so it’s probably all good now.

bit of background here: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/01/is-bicycling-bad-for-your-bones/?_r=0

+1 load-bearing exercise. Also essential to have a varied diet rich not only in calcium but in foods that help absorption. So lots of salmon, pilchards, dark greens. Drinking a ton of milk can have the opposite of the desired effect.

That is very much in the plan. Last couple of years I’ve really focused on cycling (BC Bike race etc) so more running / strength training etc are in my future.

Really sorry to hear that mate – sounds like a bit of bad luck indeed!

I don’t think armour really helps much.. It stops puncture wounds and can help deflect a bit but I’d say if you were looking for a safe option it’s going to be more about your riding style and risk management… The fact you haven’t broken bones already is surprising though isn’t it?

Sounds crap but I’ve had a lot of injuries too and I keep biking so it depends if you can afford to take the breaks and continue or if it’s too much of a risk on your dependants / work ect.. and you need to calm the riding down..

Sods law as always though for me is that most of my injuries are on silly things rather than road gaps so they are hard to predict in this sport!

I’d still rather take my chances on a MTB than a road bike though!

You need some adamantium suppliments from Wolverine!

wwaswas – That’s the kind of case history I’m looking for 😀

You must embrace the bimble!

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/the-bimble-thread

Bimbling hasn’t really been my style recently…

Take up weight lifting, soon get bone density back up….

Out of curiosity, why did they do a bone scan thing at your age if you don’t keep breaking bones?

My mother and uncle on my mothers side both have it really bad and and have suffered from a late diagnosis. I also cracked some ribs but in a bad fall (i.e I think most people would have cracked ribs in the same fall).

So given family history and some cracked ribs it was deemed precautionary. I had hoped I’d inherited my fathers genetics for bones but it would appear luck isn’t on my side….

I got osteoperosis because of coeliac disease and I broke my hip because of ostepoerosis and I started mountain biking again because I broke my hip! Far from stopping me it started me.

I can’t remember my t count just now, it’s not horrendous but it’s pretty bad. I don’t break bones at a drastically higher rate than others, a bit more but livable with- still never done a collarbone! Ribs, coccyx, my hands a couple of times but unscientifically, it seems to push me to the edge of the normal envelope- ie, I don’t break at times when other people definitely wouldn’t have, I’m just more likely to break at times when other people might have.

Way I see it there’s a choice- do what I want now and risk injury, or live like I’m already injured. THe only thing that stops me riding is if I’m broken so stopping riding to avoid breaking is like ****ing for virginity. This isn’t necessarily responsible mind.

And it’s treatable. Did they prescribe risedronate and adcal or are you to use shop-boughts? Impact sports, keep up the calcium, check your diet- it’s not just that cycling’s pretty low impact, it’s also that apparently we sweat a lot of calcium and don’t replenish it, we worry about salts and carbs and protein. (the science seems a bit unproven)

I went back to see my consultant for the busted hip. He said “my god, you’re walking well! Something’s obviously changed!” I said “Yeah, I’m riding my bike a lot”. He said “Excellent, gentle cycling is fantastic physio for your injury”. I showed him a picture of me racing downhill. He didn’t quite throw me out of the hospital but you could see he wanted to.

Thanks NW – I thought you might be someone but I wasn’t sure. Was hoping you’d appear on the thread.

This is all really new to me so we’re not yet at the point of prescribing things. I only saw my GP yesterday. My T score is 1.8. I’ve got a bunch of lab tests and a follow up with an “Internal consultant” (not quite sure what that is in Canada) in a couple of weeks.

Currently I’ve been told to up my Vitamin D and make sure I get enough calcium in my diet (without just chugging milk). Do weight training etc.

I suspect they’ll want me to do the low hanging fruit and see if it works before prescribing anything.

sweaman2 – Member

I thought you might be someone but I wasn’t sure.

I often feel the same

I showed him a picture of me racing downhill. He didn’t quite throw me out of the hospital but you could see he wanted to.

I had almost the same conversation with my GP.

“I don’t see how falling off your bike could break some ribs..”

Showed her the above photo and a couple of others…

Do you wear more armor? Wondering about things like Camelbak Kudu or Evoc?

I haven’t broken any bones so far in my life despite several nasty tumbles because I live on Rennies and I reckon the calcium is good for me.

I hope.

For VitD use a spray from amazon “betteryou” you can get vitd tests easily enough too – just send off a small prick / blood sample.. mine was low.. pretty much everyones is unless the climate is sunny.. painless taking it as a spray (as in it’s no hassle).

Also I didn’t realise before but VitD isn’t actually a vitamin apparently…

I realize I’ve been a bit contradictory above on the falls x-rays thing so…
I’ve fallen and broken ribs. I’ve also fallen and gone to hospital for x-rays (e.g dislocated thumb and needed stitches in elbow / knee) where they took x-rays and didn’t have fractures.

sweaman2 – Member

Do you wear more armor? Wondering about things like Camelbak Kudu or Evoc?

Kneepads almost always, elbows most of the time- the bits that stick out. I’ve got some 661 Evo shorts which I usually wear for uplifts and sometimes for harder stuff (kinlochleven enduro death frinstance), mostly to protect the old break (and the sticky-out bolt heads!)

I think the tradeoff for armour is often pretty bad, lightweight stuff really struggles to protect so I’ve never done the sub gear approach or similiar, and for trail use I always reckon a camelbak with soft stuff in is going to be a pretty effective back protector anyway. YMMV on all of that, this is just my take on the benefits and risks, I’m maybe a little blase about it since I came from a motorbike background. For downhill I have the full jousting suit 😆

Low testosterone levels were a problem for Chris Boardman.
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/story/0,3604,380917,00.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/diets/article-1227777/CHRIS-BOARDMAN-I-cycling-32-I-bones-old-woman.html

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=575PCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT29&lpg=PT29&dq=chris+boardman+bone+density&source=bl&ots=1b2GmvvJJz&sig=ufztvCyHawGI7RXqCvR-FfINGZ4&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwip49yOybrRAhVRFMAKHcS5A84Q6AEIUDAI#v=onepage&q=chris%20boardman%20bone%20density&f=false

I wouldn’t have thought that a 55 year old should stop riding, so I don’t see any reason you’d stop due to having the bones of a 55yo.

Good luck getting the bones of a younger man inside you in future though.

Internal medicine is basically the american term for a physician, they will look for secondary causes of osteoporosis.

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/7-smart-ways-to-boost-your-testosterone.html

One of the (many) lab tests I have is for testosterone so we shall see…. 😀

Mum has it (age 70). She had a hip replacement in november and they broke her pelvis trying to fit it. None weight bearing since and the silly bugger fell last week and broke her femur. She won’t listen and is doing my head in. To just fall down and break her thigh bone in two, they must be knackered.

Cycling is well known to be bad for bone density.

I would say that more evidence is needed before being certain

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3230645/

devote some time to load bearing exercise.

I would certainly agree with this 🙂

Also make sure you are getting enough vit D- especially if you are living somewhere where you might not be getting plenty of sun all year round (so I’d say that is most of the UK and Canada 🙂 ), have a good diet and don’t smoke..

Sweaman2 I can offer words of encouragement/ advice EMail me on rolandjulie2001@yahoo.co.uk if you want ?

If you’re supplementing with vitamin D3 and calcium (or calcium rich foods) it’s a good idea to take vitamin K2 aswell, apparently it has a role to play in returning leached calcium back to the bone tissue. Healthy gut flora helps, something to do with the bacteria making the vit k from the leafy greens as @Malvern Rider mentioned.