Does biking in the cold really damage your knees?

Long/long - the dress code for bikers when it gets cold outside. Who rides in shorts when it's below ten degrees? It's bad for your knees, isn't it?

Dr Hartmut Gaulrapp, sports orthopaedist from Munich, explains:
"I can give the all-clear, the knees are not at risk. We have receptors in the skin. They control the vessels to contract when it gets colder. The result: pain. You can experience this, for example, when you wade through an icy stream.

However, this sensation of cold is purely superficial. The temperature in the knee itself remains unchanged and there is no risk of cartilage damage. There is also no temperature limit that needs to be warned about. The sensation of cold is completely individual and is influenced, for example, by the thickness of the subcutaneous fatty tissue.

Nevertheless, we know that there is an ideal operating temperature for the body. That's why Olympic swimming pools are heated to around 22 degrees. The athlete can perform best at this temperature."