How To Deal With Riding Pain
Your motorcycle provides freedom and thrills, but it can also be a literal pain in the back on longer rides. Riding it is a workout and can cause serious strain and exhaustion in several parts of your body. If you also suffer from arthritis, your ride will be even more taxing, as frequent riding can aggravate your symptoms.
That’s why we here at Mission City Indian Motorcycle® have put together a few easy tips for managing your riding aches and pains. With a few preventative measures and plenty of pain solutions, we hope to keep you on the road for as long as you want. If you have more questions, concerns, or you’re just looking for your next bike, stop by our location in Boerne, Texas!
Pain Prevention Strategies
The best way to deal with pain is, naturally, to avoid it entirely. It may not always be possible, but there are a few methods to avoid hurting yourself while riding.
1. Stretch First
Your bike isn’t just a means of transportation—it’s a workout. And like any workout, if you stretch beforehand, you’re likely to come out of it feeling more limber and refreshed. Perform some simple stretches for your arms, legs, neck, and spine before you hop on your bike and you’ll be chasing that horizon as long as you like.
2. Take Breaks
Your bike might be more fun, but it doesn’t support your back, neck, and legs as well as a car might. Take frequent breaks every 90 minutes to 2 hours so you can take off your helmet, walk around a bit, hydrate and snack, and generally relax. After 10 or 15 minutes, you should be feeling refreshed and ready to tackle a few more hours on the road.
3. Know Your Limits
Knowing your own body and where it excels is the best way to know how much riding you can endure. If you’re used to riding for 2 hours at a time, taking a 10 hour road trip with no breaks isn’t going to sit well with your body. Stay within or near your limits and don’t be afraid to stop when you need to. An extra few miles isn’t worth hours of pain.
Reducing Existing Pain
Even if you do everything right, some rides are just going to hurt. Whether it’s unexpected bumps in your ride or you’re just having an off-day, it’s important to know how to handle pain when it flares up.
1. OTC Medications And Creams
Over-the-counter, or OTC, meditations like acetaminophen, ibuprofen, and naproxen are painkillers and anti-inflammatories that can help if you’ve got sore or tight muscles or headaches. If you have health concerns that prevent you from taking these medications, talk to your doctor about alternatives. And don’t take painkillers on an empty stomach—even a light snack can keep you from trading a sore back for an upset stomach.
2. Ice Or Heat
Depending on the exact nature of your pain, either ice or a heating pad of some kind can help. If the pain seems to come from some sort of inflammation, ice can help reduce that. If you’re having muscle spasms or other tightness, heat will help your muscles relax.
With ice, wrap a bag of frozen veggies, ice cubes, or an ice pack in a kitchen towel or other clean cloth before resting it on your sore muscle or joint. Try to apply ice as soon as possible after you notice pain. Use it for 20 minutes every hour or so to avoid stiffening your muscles too much or damaging your skin.
When using heat, a heating pad or heating packs from a drugstore are best. It’s still important not to keep it on your skin for too long to avoid skin damage or discomfort. When possible, a hot bath or shower can also help a lot. Epsom salts in a bath will help reduce soreness even further.
3. Avoid Drugs And Alcohol
While many drugs and alcohol are used for pain relief, this is a problem for a number of reasons. First and foremost, addiction is a concern with prolonged usage, especially if you’re using or drinking in order to relieve pain. Second, obviously, is that operating a motorcycle under the influence is incredibly unsafe for you and everyone around you, not to mention illegal.
Third, these substances don’t actually alleviate the cause of your pain and instead mask it so you don’t notice it anymore. Repeatedly continuing a painful activity, even if you can’t feel the pain at the moment, means risking serious injury to strained and overworked muscles and joints. Don’t hide the pain, and listen to your body when it tells you something needs to change!
4. Gentle Exercises
Obviously you don’t want to overextend yourself or your body, but there are some gentle exercises that can help to ease pain. These include stretches in the parts of your body most likely to be the cause of your discomfort.
Start with your neck, tilting your head from left to right in a smooth motion, touching your ears to your shoulders one after the other. Then, for your shoulder, rest your hands on the back of your neck and open your arms slowly until you physically can’t open them wider. Repeat this one a few times.
Finally, for your lower back, grip your handlebars with your left hand, turn your torso to the right, and put your right hand on the back of your seat. Repeat this with your other side, hands reversed, and do it a few times for each side.
Hopefully this guide helped you avoid and deal with riding pain management. If you want to know more, or you want to find yourself a new motorcycle, visit Mission City Indian Motorcycle®. We proudly serve San Antonio, Austin, and Corpus Christi, Texas, and we’re ready to serve you!