Enjoy The Benefits of Exercise But Stay Safe – BionicOldGuy

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Enjoy The Benefits of Exercise But Stay Safe – BionicOldGuy


A few days in the past, fellow blogger Tony posted this: Most types of train are overwhelmingly protected – however don’t ignore the hazards. Thanks, Tony. It relies on an fascinating research not too long ago revealed within the journal Injury Prevention [1]. By analyzing accident statistics in England and Wales within the interval 2012-2017, they got here up with harm charges for numerous exercise-related actions. Cycling had an harm fee of two.8 per 100,000 outings, whereas strolling had 0.03 per 100,000, and health actions (e.g. fitness center participation) had 0.21 per 100,000. All of those are comparatively low, I’m solely more likely to get injured about as soon as each 33,000 rides, and it may be argued that the well being advantages of the exercise outweigh the harm danger. But word that biking had 100 occasions the harm fee of strolling. So it is smart to do no matter potential to attenuate the dangers. This is particularly true in my case, as within the few years I’ve been penning this log, I’ve accrued the train advantages of many hours of exercise. But I’ve additionally: damaged a collarbone in a motorbike crash, ripped my rotator cuff in a mountain climbing fall, and needed to go to the hospital for a head trauma (fortunately not too extreme).

For biking, listed here are some apparent security measures:

  1. Accident danger greater at evening than throughout the day, so if potential keep away from driving at evening, in any other case have good lighting and brilliant reflective clothes.
  2. Accident danger is greater at busy roads on rush hour. Riding at these occasions could also be unavoidable for bike commuting, however it helps to seek out alternate routes on quieter roads. Back within the late Nineteen Seventies I used to be commuting from Mountain View Ca to Palo Alto. Palo Alto is now thought-about a bike-friendly metropolis however was significantly much less so again then. I keep in mind my route went midway on Central Expressway, which had a pleasant bike lane, however then become Alma Ave, a busy road with no bike lane and a slim shoulder. I shortly mapped out a route that averted Alma Ave through the use of quieter streets, in any other case I may not be right here to put in writing this weblog.

I used to be already doing measures like these and others like holding my bike well-maintained. My latest accident prompted me to rethink what I may need finished in a different way, and I got here up with: Use fatter tires. The bike I crashed on is taken into account a “gravel bike” and may have been sure-footed on the highway I used to be on. It got here with 32 mm large tires, and after they wore out I changed them with 25 mm to be quicker. Safety first! I’ll be placing 32s again on the bike quickly. I’ve additionally at all times prided myself on being a “fearless descender”. Since the crash occurred on a downhill flip, I feel it’s time to slightly take delight in being a “cautious descender”.

References

  1. Davies M, Lawrence T, Edwards A, et al, “Sport-related major trauma incidence in young people and adults in England and Wales: a national registry-based study”, Injury Prevention Published Online First: 24 October 2023. doi: 10.1136/ip-2023-044887.

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