Known cycling injury??

lukepeters

Hi there,

Over the last three months I've ramped up the regularity of my cycle to work (10 miles each way - at least four days a week), which is great and I now get tetchy when I don't. Anyway, recently I've started to get chronic pains on the inside of my quads/thighs most times I walk up and down stairs. It's like a burning pain that starts inside and works its way to the knee. I'm totally fine cycling and I wasn't unfit before, far from it, so it's a mystery.

I've probably pulled something or over-exerted but I wanted to ask you seasoned guys whether this was a known cycling phenomenon.

Many thanks

Luke

ps. Like a total boy, I haven't been to the doctor's or physio yet.

ride_whenever

Doesn't sound good, knees are fragile.

Go and see a decent sports physio which some experience of cycling.

ugo.santalucia

Welcome to the painful world of cycling...

Normal, my legs hurt proportionally to my average mileage. Best advice i can give you is to use small gears, always. Forget about the 11-14 sprockets, you're not Merckx. If in doubt, go down one gear and rev higher. Most people I see getting into cycling use too big gears... they get into time trialling without having built the muscolar structure for that, which takes years and tens of thousands of miles.

Eddie Smirks

I've had a problem with my knee which sounds similar (although I'm not suggesting they're at all the same thing). I think I over exerted myself on a single speed with too big a gear and tweaked something which now means I can't put any real pressure on the knee when pedalling.

Anyway, went to the doctor and had a 60 second consultation. He suggested that as the knee wasn't swollen I hadn't done any massive damage and prescribed some anti-inflammatories (spelling..?) and told me to take it easy (how many years at medical school....). I followed that up a couple of days later with a trip to a physio (out of my own pocket) who concluded that there was an imbalance in the muscles on either side of my leg (probably brought about by a bit of damage using too big a gear) this resulted in the knee cap pulling out of alignment and slightly gliding out of the groove in the knee. Hence the pain. Not a major worry but I've been given some stretches and excercises to correct this and i've given up the bike completely for at least a fortnight.

Point is, don't expect it to magically disappear. It's only November and if you get it seen to ASAP you can be back on the bike ASAP. The doc will probably only give you some pills and tell you to take it easy. The key is Physio which can be pricey if you've no insurance(about £50 for an initial session) but at least you know where you stand. Chances are the physio will give you enough advice to get you on the road to recovery and follow up sessions may not be required. It'll also put your mind at rest.

Get well soon