Knee Pain

thinks, 'what would Jens do?'…

"Shut up, James!"

Think I'll stay out of this one.

Pain in back of knee is often related to an overly high saddle. Constant overextending, particularly in cold weather or under high load, stresses that area no end.

Do your hips rock when you pedal? Do you pedal toes down? If yes, dropping your saddle 5-10mm would be a good place to start.

I try to dip my heel at the bottom of each rotation, so it sounds like I could be over extending and then putting pressure on it,

I'll try and keep my foot flatter and lower my saddle a touch

Pin these through the skin on each kneecap.

To the actually knee cap?!?!

That might tingle

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I try to dip my heel at the bottom of each rotation, so it sounds like I could be over extending and then putting pressure on it,

I'll try and keep my foot flatter and lower my saddle a touch

Self-conscious changes in pedalling mechanics can definitely trigger injuries. I would've thought the heel-dip was closer to top-dead-centre, with a slight raise of the heel as you come past bottom-dead-centre - that's the traditional 'ankling' movement.

There's nothing wrong with being naturally toe-down or non-ankling or whatever - it's on those occasions when things go awry and you are forced to pedal unusually (relative to yourself), that problems are exacerbated by a saddle height too far along the spectrum, at either end.

Two things have got rid of my knee pains. 1. Correct forward/backward positioning of cleats on shoes. 2. Using a lower gear - I go faster than before now nearly all the time (except rare 30 mph+ moments - rare around central London), my legs are as strong, and my joints stopped hurting - 72 inches.

i'm only at around 69, plus my thighs are huge

I think i'm going to also just generally lower my pace and go for more consistent speed that getting there quickly

good call drew87..
get your saddle height and level checked
ensure you have the right crank length
and cleat alignment

when i go for a long ride in winter i have a quick warm up run outside in trainers then stretch my hamstrings in indoors a bit of a faff really. i ride with speedplay pedals with plenty of free float.

i wear three quarter bib shorts descente and old assos cycle shorts over when its this cold.
i have had plenty of injuries from running marathons.. medial collateral ligament damage mostly, hence the warm up and stretch bit.

more spinning to maintain good heart rate and body temp if its really cold..
vary where i put weight or pressure on the pedals during long rides,
rather than keeping the same distribution on constantly..

no idea if any of this is correct but it works for me,
subtle variety of my pedalling style keeps my old body guessing..
keeping knees warm helps too.

^nice poem.

yeah.. you suppose to sing it to the sound of jimi hendrix's 'hey joe'

Yes. VeeVee has been on at me to do some yoga/stretching.

http://www.lfgss.com/thread31438.html

Rebecca's now also running a class at De Ver cycles, which is closer to your neck of the woods. Good luck with sorting it out.

I spent 4 weeks off the bike over Christmas whilst out of the country and my knee pain disappeared. One round trip commute (22 miles) was all it took for it to come back as bad as before.

So I have done the sensible thing and went to GP who has referred me to a surgeon so they can decide what needs to be done.

Thankfully GP made no mention of cutting back on cycling - would have ignored him anyway, but he did not seem to think continuing to commute would make much difference.

He did ask a couple of possibly interesting questions: what type of bike - ie. does it have suspension?

Made me think that this might be caused more by running tyres at 120psi and perhaps extension of knee joint due to saddle height could be a factor? Maybe even frame material - as I mainly commute on aluminium.

Justification for a new bike if there ever was!

"....a new mercian will save my knees....."

jallaphanti

if recovering from an injury its best to slowly build up, rather than lurch back into what has been causing the problem all over again.

bike fit could well address some of it. rehab and strengthening and stretching could also be beneficial.

tyre pressure is not likely to be causing knee pain

I've started taking a supplement that a friend recommended too.

MSM (Methylsulfonylmethane) She said it did her dog wonders so I thought it could be worth a try, plus it is vegetarian if that makes any difference to anyone.

Thinking of adding glucosamine and chondroitin as well (which I believe aren't vegetarian) but my ex's parents gave glucosamine to their old border collie and it made a a really noticeable difference

Not the best evidence I know, but if it works for a dog that doesn't know its getting it, it must be doing something rather than it being in your head

^ where do you buy that?

I've started to eat cod oil, and it seemed to help when it was really cold outside.

If the supplements has no side effects I can't see any harm in using it, be it placebo effect or not

I got the MSM from wholefoods, I think it was slightly cheaper there than Planet organic, I'be only been taking it a week, but haven't had any problems

I had been taking Seven Seas Joint Pro with Cod Liver Oil, Chondroitin & Glucosamine and that helped, then I ran out have been a bit lazing about buying more, but I never had any trouble with that either.

I guess the best thing is to take it slow with these things, don't take loads at once and give them a chance to build up in your system

I was kneeling down sat on my heels for about 10 minutes last night, got up, after about 10 paces bang! shooting pain inside the left knee, almost went out from under me. Really sharp pain. This morning it's just a dull ache but still sore. Although not prone to hypochondria a quick google search would suggest some kind of mild medial cartilage meniscus tear. It's not really bad but fucking annoying, enough to stop me going out on my bike today.

A sitting down injury. FUCK! I'm getting old :(

RICE

see how it feels after a couple of days

Thanks Doogie.

(can't. stop. eating. frozen. peas. from. bag. on. knee)

frozen peas are good

you may just have a scrap of detritus in your knee, sometimes they will go of their own accord

is it swollen at all?

try to avoid non steroidal anti inflammatories for a day, as they can interfere with early healing

when I tore the cartilage in my knee it then jammed in between the bones in my knee and the patella, I could not straighten my leg until it was operated on - it also swelled up so badly that my knee was as large as my upper thigh

it's just a tweak I think, i'll live. God in His wisdom gave me two.

Dan, I know there's probably no need for me to say this, but I make a habit of it: Do have it looked at by a professional--don't just let it rest, then resume, etc. Good luck.