oxbob said:
i have osteoarthritis in both hips, cycling is one the few sport's/exercise i can do because it's not weight bearing on the joint.
Ditto. Running is out of the question for me now, but cycling is good.
My OA is in its early stages and I don't have any problems on the bike as long as I use low gears on climbs. I do have to be very careful how I swing my leg over the saddle now though. A couple of times I've dismounted a bit too quickly and my right hip ached for days afterwards. That's a bit of a warning to me that trouble isn't too far away, but even 200+ km rides don't normally cause me any (arthritic) problems.
I have a suspension post on my MTB, but that is to save my back from sudden impacts, rather than my hips. It does take the sting out of bumps and I'd recommend one if you ride on poor surfaces and have a bad back. Your best protection though would be to use the biggest tyres you can and don't over-inflate them. I weigh over 15 stone and I only use about 80 psi front and 90 psi rear on 25c tyres. On 23c, I'd add about 10 psi to those figures.
I'd also recommend cod liver oil and glucosamine sulphate supplements if you don't already take them.
I am seeing my GP tomorrow to get it confirmed what I would like to know is would it be a good idea to get a saddle that had suspension built in
