ooooh me knee!!!!

boybiker

My right knee is definiety clicking this morning, not painful when I ride but tender when I press it.
Wondering if Ive done something to it with slightly odd position with my clipless pedals.

keef66

is the clicking coming from the kneecap or is it inside the knee joint itself? Any sign of swelling?

boybiker

It's hard to say where it's coming from, my best guess is from the kneecap itself,no swelling but there is slight discoloration at the side of the knee which makes me think it might be a muscular/connective tissue type injury.

keef66

Sounds like it may be something pulling the kneecap slightly to one side so it no longer slides smoothly. Cleat misalignment can do this. Current issue of C+ has an article about knee problems and how to avoid them. Worth a read.
I've suddenly become obsessed with them following knee surgery; this weekend i'm going to have my first go on the bike in 6 weeks. Can't believe how much muscle I've lost.

robmanic1

keef66 wrote:

Sounds like it may be something pulling the kneecap slightly to one side so it no longer slides smoothly. Cleat misalignment can do this. Current issue of C+ has an article about knee problems and how to avoid them. Worth a read.
I've suddenly become obsessed with them following knee surgery; this weekend i'm going to have my first go on the bike in 6 weeks. Can't believe how much muscle I've lost.

keef, I have a riding buddy just returning from knee surgery, he's doing ok but pushed a little too hard too early and has now backed of a bit. Just take it steady and remember to spin lightly and stop if it hurts! Good luck with the recovery.

keef66

Robmanic1,

I was goin to risk a run out last nite while wife was at dog training, but I think I overdid my physio exercises and the knee was aching like buggery so I bottled out. Off to Corfu for a week on Tuesday; hopefully the warmth and a bit of swimming will help it along and I'll be riding when I get back.

gkerr4

keef66 wrote:

Sounds like it may be something pulling the kneecap slightly to one side so it no longer slides smoothly. Cleat misalignment can do this. Current issue of C+ has an article about knee problems and how to avoid them. Worth a read.
I've suddenly become obsessed with them following knee surgery; this weekend i'm going to have my first go on the bike in 6 weeks. Can't believe how much muscle I've lost.

6 weeks! - crap!

I'm sat here feet up as I had a meniscal arthroscopy yesterday

my knee is swollen, I can't put weight on it - the bike seems a million miles away

:-(

graham_g

To add to the miserable tone of posting here - I'm currently in plaster after fracturing my ankle. Two weeks down and another two and a half weeks to go until it's off. On the plus side I have a custom frame on the way so at least it hasn't arrived yet to taunt me!

neeb

It's hard to say where it's coming from, my best guess is from the kneecap itself,no swelling but there is slight discoloration at the side of the knee which makes me think it might be a muscular/connective tissue type injury.

What side of the kneecap is it? Outside or inside? This sounds like it might be similar to a problem I had for months that was solved by cleat re-alignment.

In my case the knee predictably became sore after a certain distance and took about 2 or 3 days to recover. The pain could be felt on bending the knee but was not really associated with load-bearing or pushing large gears. I also sometimes had slight bruising at a certain spot to the inside (left side) of the right kneecap. The problem was that my cleats had too much float and allowed my ankle to drift outwards (away from the crank), thus straining a ligament or tendon on the inside of the knee. Finding the correct cleat alignment (with the ankle facing slightly inwards in my case) and nearly eliminating float solved the problem.

Jazza1969

neeb wrote:

It's hard to say where it's coming from, my best guess is from the kneecap itself,no swelling but there is slight discoloration at the side of the knee which makes me think it might be a muscular/connective tissue type injury.

What side of the kneecap is it? Outside or inside? This sounds like it might be similar to a problem I had for months that was solved by cleat re-alignment.

In my case the knee predictably became sore after a certain distance and took about 2 or 3 days to recover. The pain could be felt on bending the knee but was not really associated with load-bearing or pushing large gears. I also sometimes had slight bruising at a certain spot to the inside (left side) of the right kneecap. The problem was that my cleats had too much float and allowed my ankle to drift outwards (away from the crank), thus straining a ligament or tendon on the inside of the knee. Finding the correct cleat alignment (with the ankle facing slightly inwards in my case) and nearly eliminating float solved the problem.

Absolutely the same issue for me, only on my left knee. The same adjustment, resulting in a slightly toe-out, ankle-in foot position seems to have cured the problem. I made the initial mistake of trying to match the settings on both feet. However, noone is symmetrical and thus the pedal settings need to be looked at independently for each foot.

It always took about 10-15 miles to start hurting, and about 3 days to recover. There was bruising on the inside edge of the knee cap. The twisting to disengage the pedal was also painful and probably aggravated the whole thing.

Anyway problem solved until I banged the same knee off the car when lifting bike off the rack last week. Hurting like buggery again but at least it's not a pedal problem now!

neeb

Does sound like you probably had exactly the same problem, Jazza1969. Did you ever get a proper diagnosis? I was never 100% sure if mine was inflammation of the medial patelllar femoral ligament, more general irritation caused by the patella slightly mis-tracking due to the foot moving out, or plica syndrome. I think the first one (MPF ligament) fitted the symptoms best though. It bugged me for months before I found the solution. I think cold weather made it worse too, and stretching helped (particularly holding the knee fully bent).

boybiker

I had a guy at the cycling club have a look at realigning my cleats and it seems to have fixed the problem,at least so far, just finished a time trail with no knee pain,everything else hurts but not my knees

Jazza1969

Never went to the GP with it - on the basis that the pain always went away quite quickly. However I did discuss it with a pal who is a medic and the ligament being strained was suggested as the likely culprit. I now take a neoprene stretch bandage with me just in case. That's not a cure of course, and no subsitute for stopping when it starts to hurt. Funnily enough that's so obvious a remedy, it never seems to occur to me at the time.

That said, repeated injuries in the same place should not be ignored as scar tissue can build up, requiring physio and possibly even an op. So many sports folk do terrible damage playing on when injured, so we cyclists should perhaps take a bit of care about the pedal and shoes issues. It should be relatively low impact- so if it hurts, something's wrong.

keef66

Back from Corfu. The knee survived:-
1) a day at a water park being ejected at speed from various diameter pipes into shallow pools full of Germans, and then sprinting up the steps for another go.
2) a day's boat trip involving hurling myself over the side / off the diving board / down the slide
3) being strapped to an inner-tube and towed by a speed boat at 60 km/h round the bay.

Knee feels nearly normal now; reckon it's time for a go on the bike.

(If you're my orthopeadic consultant reading this, I did none of the above. I'm just pottering about and doing the physio as instructed.)

il_principe

keef66 wrote:

Robmanic1,

I was goin to risk a run out last nite while wife was at dog training, but I think I overdid my physio exercises and the knee was aching like buggery so I bottled out. Off to Corfu for a week on Tuesday; hopefully the warmth and a bit of swimming will help it along and I'll be riding when I get back.

Must resist joke.... :twisted: [/i]

il_principe

keef66 wrote:

Robmanic1,

I was goin to risk a run out last nite while wife was at dog training, but I think I overdid my physio exercises and the knee was aching like buggery so I bottled out. Off to Corfu for a week on Tuesday; hopefully the warmth and a bit of swimming will help it along and I'll be riding when I get back.

Must resist joke.... :twisted:

gkerr4

keef66 wrote:

Back from Corfu. The knee survived:-
1) a day at a water park being ejected at speed from various diameter pipes into shallow pools full of Germans, and then sprinting up the steps for another go.
2) a day's boat trip involving hurling myself over the side / off the diving board / down the slide
3) being strapped to an inner-tube and towed by a speed boat at 60 km/h round the bay.

Knee feels nearly normal now; reckon it's time for a go on the bike.

(If you're my orthopeadic consultant reading this, I did none of the above. I'm just pottering about and doing the physio as instructed.)

How long is that off the bike then Keef? about 8 weeks??

am sat in the garden - two weeks to the day after my arthroscopy where they 'had to do more work than they thought" - it's swolled like a bloody melon at the moment - not hurting as such, but very limited range of movement.

My bike is on the turbo trainer calling to me but I daren't touch the bloody thing - looks like it is going to be sitting there for a litle while longer then :-(

It's getting me down a bit to be honest - i'm sat here feeling like a cripple - I can't see the light at the end of the tunnel and then I have getting the other one done to look forward to

:-(

keef66

Just checked back in the diary.

Injured it on 25th May, operation 4 and a bit weeks later, and I have now done 4 weeks of recuperation, so yes, just over 8 weeks. Knee feels ready for the bike now.

My op involved removal of more cartilage than I was expecting, and some shaving of the joint surfaces.

Much more painful than when I had cartilage tidied up in both knees at once 15 years ago.

Maximum discomfort is when the leg is locked absolutely straight and bearing weight, which shouldn't happen on the bike anyway, so I'm quite confident.



And to jashburnham, I am glad you resisted the opportunity. To clarify, my wife takes our dog to the training class.

gkerr4

keef66 wrote:

Just checked back in the diary.

Injured it on 25th May, operation 4 and a bit weeks later, and I have now done 4 weeks of recuperation, so yes, just over 8 weeks. Knee feels ready for the bike now.

My op involved removal of more cartilage than I was expecting, and some shaving of the joint surfaces.

Much more painful than when I had cartilage tidied up in both knees at once 15 years ago.

Maximum discomfort is when the leg is locked absolutely straight and bearing weight, which shouldn't happen on the bike anyway, so I'm quite confident.



And to jashburnham, I am glad you resisted the opportunity. To clarify, my wife takes our dog to the training class.

Ah right - so four weeks post op recovery and you are good to go you think?
That is better news. I think I will have a go on the turbo next weekend - so that will be 3 and abit weeks on. The physio said that might be an acceptable timescale.

They had to remove a fair bit more material in mine too and it was at the back/centre of the knee which is apparently awkward. they also found an old bakers cyst which they "decompressed and removed".

It gets better every day but I am still struggling with range of motion. I'm at the doctors tonight actually to see if should go back to work tomorrow or not. I hate being off work, but everything in my body is telling me I should hold off on this instance.

Thanks - cheered me up a bit this afternoon!
Graham

keef66

yesterday I was using a foot pump on the car tyre with the afflicted limb, and this morning I came up the stairs at work two at a time, so I think I have nothing to fear from the bike.

Good luck with your recovery.

keef66

took the afternoon off as it's sunny and the weekend looks possibly damp. just managed an 18 mile loop without any adverse effects on the knee. After 8 weeks off the bike my bum's a bit tender though!