Knee Pain

I've been stretching and rollering most days recently as I've upped my running miles but kept my bike miles consistent (about 50-60 miles commuting p.w.).

I also think running with glute activation beforehand is really helping strengthen my glutes - more so than the specific exercises I was doing.

Better yet before and after. Or All The Time

Stretched before my ride on Saturday, stopped for a coffee on Box Hill and did some stretching, did some stretching when I got back home.

I should be stretch Armstrong by summer at this rate.

does that mean you're going to use muscle relaxants to cheat and not have to stretch as hard yourself?

If that was an available option, I totally would.

Is a nice bath with some radox in it considered doping yet?

I'd suggest you just do squats on a towel (what my physio recommended) rather than one of those boards.

Squats on a towel? How exactly? Folded up with heel raised?

tl;dr: any thoughts on if I should be in a leg cast for an MCL tear?

Was playing football, turned on right knee and had sharp pain on inside of the knee and went to the floor. After a hospital ride to Whipps Cross (was the nearest hospital) the initial diagnosis was ACL tear, which turned in to MCL and ACL tear after a GP diagnosis 3 days later.

As of today (a week after GP) I'm now in a full leg cast courtesy of the fracture clinic at Whipps Cross. He said he thinks definite MCL tear but not full rupture (probably grade II) and possible damage to ACL and/or other knee damage.

Done some research on the web which suggests a full cast is an archaic practise which can actually hamper recovery.. I'm after a second opinion - any one have any recommendations? Also still waiting on the MRI requested by my GP, I'm thinking shell out for one instead.

Slowly easing back on the bike after problems that developed at a training camp I went to over the new year. Knees where really weird, different types of pain, on both knees at lots of different places on my knees.

The contributing factors could have been many. Either over training (with weights, fencing, running up and down brecon with a heavy bergen, cycling hard continuously for commute, etc...) or due to my bike and fitting, either being over geared or because I was using fixed cleats with no float at possibly at a slightly wrong angle.

I initially stopped everything for a week, then after doing a bit I stopped again for about a month. I haven't done weights since Jan and haven't been on a serious ride since before it happened. I've been doing strengthening exercises and making sure i'm getting my nutrients and have felt both knees improve massively.

With the help of the national fencing team's physio i've managed to decipher most of the pain. I've ridden ss a few times now and today started riding fixed again without any issues (not clipless). However when I tried going clipless (with float this time) I felt the pain on the outer side of both knees creeping back. I think i'm going to just get straps and be done with clipless for now until i'm fully recovered and I get the cleats aligned professionally.

btw the cycling seems to be affecting the knee end of the IT band. That's the part still giving me some trouble, while touches wood the many other areas that were hurting seem to have recovered.

I'd be interested to hear your progress because I've still basically got that same ITB issue.

I did a big programme of strengthening and physio but stopped while I was doing running training from Jan-March. The ITB issue (a.k.a runner's knee) was 100% fine when I ran and I could feel how much stronger my glutes were, but on the bike it still gives me jip.

I found massage helps, but I want to bring things in one at a time to see what eventually fixes it. So atm it's going to be riding with straps. Followed by inner and outer thigh strengthening. If both don't improve it dramatically then i'll try getting a professional bike fit and cleat alignment. Let me know if you find a fix too!

Cheers!

To give you an idea of what's worked for me in order of effectiveness:

Foam rollering the ITB
Stretching around the ITB
Glute strengthening (more helped my running massively)
Bike fit
Rest (resting just made me fixate on why it wasn't getting better and when I rested I wasn't stretching so it kind of seized up)

The problem started when I was using clips and has got neither worse nor better since I started using clipless.

I should also add I was going to a very well-recommended physio from Sept-Feb.

Thanks! I'll add those to the list. I'm sure a combination of all these things will have a massive effect!

I'd seriously recommend some time off the bike. I haven't cycled for around 2 months now. It's bloody hard but knees are getting stronger all the time. Shallow squats, incline squats and stretching are all helping. I've been doing that for a few weeks and slowly starting to introduce cycling.

My diagnosis seems to be spot on. Basically cleats fucked me over. Feet were too far in and toes pointing in too much I reckon. Just came back from the Midnight in the City Ride and I was fine through out.

The 1st and 3rd picture from the left illustrate my incorrect cleat positioning.

What this does is it tenses up the IT band, so I ended up wit acute ITB syndrome. This explains the muscle I saw and felt popping out on the outside of the knee and I felt it twing (like a guitar string) when bending and straightening my knee.

The solution is to firstly carry out RICE ofc. Then when starting to ride again to ditch cleats or get them aligned properly. I'm going to go for straps when fixed and no foot retention when SS to keep things simple. Then you have to stretch religiously, massage the IT band and otherwise get it to loosen up. You also have to strengthen the Gluteus Medius because essentially the IT band is being used instead of sharing the work with this muscle.

This vid explains three levels to a strengthening exercise for the Gluteus Medius.
SportCenter Exercises: Gluteus Medius Strengthening - YouTube

This guy explains it in more detail, he tries to explain that you not only need to strengthen the Gluteus Medius but also get the body to re-learn how to depend on it rather than the IT band
Gluteus Medius part 2- the Clamshell - YouTube

Interesting idea with the glute burn. Will try

Has anyone experienced numbness/pain in the illiotibial band just above the knee?

I'm just recovering from tendonitis, basically because I rattle too big a gear!

Two months in and it's still like toothache, but my doc reckons I can be out pedalling again in six weeks time.

^^ IT band is on he outer side of your leg. If that's what you mean then yes that's exactly what my problem is.

^ Yea that's it. I had it quite badly for 6 months or so, and it occurred to me the other day that it hasn't been bothering me as much as before. Possibly because I began to do a couple of lengths of crouch-walking up and down my hallway before rides when it was really bad. It feels and looks stupid but I reckon it's helped me..I'd recommend it

are you riding clipless? are your cleats aligned correctly?

I have it too (the ITB band thiing).

See a few posts up this page for discussion between me and Husy.

I don't know what I've done to my right knee but it's absolutely killing me, on and off the bike. I'd ridden about 400 miles fixed in 5 days and it was fine and then suddenly after a short break, I got back on the bike and was in absolute agony. I want to get riding again as soon as I can so is worth seeing my GP or something? Or does it sound like the kind of thing that some rest and a fiddle with my bike fit might clear up soonish?

Where exactly is the pain and what sort of pain?

It feels like it's right on the front of the knee cap and slightly above. It's quite a sharp pain and it feels like it's crunching a bit when I move it. It gets really stiff and painful if j don't keep it stretched out as well.

^and it hurts more walking down the stairs than up?