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Cycling With Gout

09.22.2013 by Ray Niekamp // 7 Comments

I am proud to note that once again, I am suffering from the “Disease of Kings.” Yep, I have another gout flare up.

I have had them before, but this time, it’s different. This is my third attack in about four weeks. The first one lasted only 24 hours. The second one was with me a full week. This one got me on Friday, and we’ll see how long it lasts.

Gout is the crystallization of uric acid around a joint — often the big toe. That’s what I’ve been dealing with. It swells the joint, inflames it, hurts when it’s touched, and makes walking difficult. It’s accompanied by quite a lot of pain.

Walking the dogs around the block this evening was agony. I’m not looking forward to going in to work Monday — I’ll have to connive to stay parked at my desk, rather than walk around the building. Thank goodness I don’t have to move between buildings on Mondays.

A shot of my two feet shows right away which one is afflicted. The left foot is swollen around the joint, and the swelling has moved up the instep a bit, too. (I stood on the sides of my feet a little to show off the problem better.)

gout

But there’s one activity that isn’t adversely affected by gout: cycling. I did a short ride with my wife Saturday morning, and was looking forward to getting out again Sunday. I was even able to cut the grass, wearing fairly stiff-soled hiking shoes. But inactivity makes the pain worse, and when I got up Sunday morning, I could hardly move. I made an excuse to skip the club ride, but pledged that when I had medicated myself and had a decent breakfast, I would ride.

I decided to stay relatively close to home, in case things didn’t work out as I’d hoped. I needn’t have worried. The rigid soles of cycling shoes are great for gout sufferers, because they inhibit the toe joint from hinging. I did a couple of quick laps around the Veloway, attacked a hill going back into the neighborhood, and racked up a nice 26-mile ride before calling it quits.

After showering and getting dressed, I found that I could walk more easily than I could earlier. The increased circulation of blood from the cycling must have had a salubrious effect. It was only after several hours parked in front of the TV watching football that I reverted to the agony of Saturday night. I limped around the block with the pooches, and downed some Ibuprofen for the third time when I got home.

When you get a gout attack, odds are good that you’ll get more. Now, my job is to control the level of uric acid in my blood. Cherries are supposed to help. There are some foods I should minimize. One of the worst things for uric acid turns out to be beer. Cutting beer — even temporarily — will be my biggest adjustment (I really enjoy drinking craft beers!).

Various cycling forums are loaded with posts from gout-suffering cyclists, so I know I’m by no means alone. I’ve taken heed of some of their tips, and will be checking with my physician at my annual physical in a few weeks to see what else he might recommend — there are some effective pharmaceuticals for the treatment of gout.

In the meantime, I’ll stick to a more-or-less regular cycling schedule. Maybe that will speed up my recovery.

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Categories // fitness, Injury Tags // gout

Comments

  1. Tim says

    September 23, 2013 at 6:52 am

    I’ve been getting cramps in my toes…pre-gout?

    Reply
    • Bike Noob says

      September 23, 2013 at 8:12 am

      Probably not…look for a mild soreness around the toe joint.

      Reply
  2. Ira says

    September 23, 2013 at 7:43 am

    Allopurinol has kept my gout under control for many years, and with almost no side effects. I’m sure your doctor can find something that works for you.

    Reply
    • Bike Noob says

      September 23, 2013 at 8:11 am

      Yep, that’s one of the pharmaceuticals that keeps getting mentioned.

      Reply
  3. Spencer says

    August 2, 2018 at 7:54 am

    Hi Ray, Thanks for sharing. I too found recently that cycling definately provided me relief. During the ride and after. I was careful though to not put pressure on the joints with hills and such during flareups. A nice Long easy ride really helped. I was amazed how much better the toe felt. But, then i got into some HBO and it started to stiffen up as the evening went on.. I use cherries, celery, green tea, extra vitamin C, bananas, and eat a gout friendly alternative diet during a flareup. Bathing in epson salts sure helps. Also found putting Japanese Mint Oil on the toe provided relief After a bath. The #1 culprits for me have been Liver, Oysters, Crab, Blackberries, Wine, but most of all, Home Made Unfiltered Beer. I never ever got gout from regular beer. I drink the hoppiest craft beer on vancouver island and have never had a flareup from it. However i believe that things with yiest extract can cause gout. I am actually in the middlemof a flareup right now from crab and especially home brew. But, i did not filter my homebrew that much and probably drank some of the sediment. Filtering homebrew more and careful pouring could prevent homebrewers from getting gout attacks but just a theory. Yeist is the killer here…

    Reply
  4. Milissa says

    December 8, 2022 at 9:40 am

    Hi! My husband has gout and is taking up my love for cycling to help sun for his love of running. What brand of cycling shoes would you recommend for someone with gout? Want something he can clip in, not just a sneaker. Thanks!

    Reply
  5. John B says

    November 10, 2023 at 2:25 pm

    I’m sure this question was long ago answered. I got here because I’m having my first gout flare up! Yay! And I’m a cyclist (GREAT news to hear I can go turn the cranks a bit!)
    Re shoes: I rode a pair of Giro VR70’s for ~12,000 miles. I use SPD pedals on my road/gravel bike . . . because 35 years ago I rode with “road” cleats and felt like a total douche bag clomping around uncomfortably. I liked VRR70s a lot. Later in the process, my feet started hurting. I’d had some metatarsal arch pain previously and solved that with inserts (with a metatarsal arch pad.) But then I started to get foot pain. I couldn’t figure it out. Changed out inserts. Did a rain dance. Raged at the heavens to no avail. Then I read a thing that said cycling shoe lasts are all made from people with narrower feet (well, probably narrower than me!) I got some Lake Cycling shoes which are supposed to have wider shoe lasts and boom! WAY better shoe comfort. I’ve got about 1500 miles on these and think they’re great. I bought one of their “wide” versions

    Reply

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