Do your knee's ache or your thigh's?

Gav888

Hi,

Bit of a daft question, but when im riding fast and pushing alot my legs ache around the knee area, its not a painful ache but the sort of ache when you know you are using your muscles at almost there limit... if that makes sense? If I back off a bit the aching goes, its only when im pushing.

I know the old saying no pain no gain but im wondering if my position is ok on the bike as I was under the impression you use your thigh muscles more than your knee area when pushing hard, but my thigh muscles never ache when im pushing. The last thing I want is knee problems because im not riding the bike properly!!

Do you find that when you are pushing your knee area aches or your thighs???

vorsprung

I did a long ride a couple of weekends ago and although everything ached afterwards it was the knees that were most noticable.

I would guess that in normal cycling most of the work is done by the big thigh muscles. But as these get exhausted the other parts of the leg compensate. So you end up using muscles you don't normally

Neil Holland

I started cyling to work about a month ago (after years of cycling inactivity) and have expected a bit of leg ache as I've got into it.

Have also noticed knee discomfort at times (as well as the thighs) and am not sure if this is just because I'm new to it or whether my running overpronation problems are coming into play.

For running (up to marathon distance) I have not required custom othorses but have used Asics support shoes.

Will wait and see what happens over the next month or so with the knees!!

Gav888

Done a bit of research in my lunch break and it sounds like my seat height is incorrect or my fore / aft is incorrect. From the websites ive looked at ache on the front of the knee is the seat is too low, ache on back is seat is too high. Not sure about fore / aft symptoms but its measures correctly with a plumb line.

Going to make a 1cm height increase tonight and see how it goes. Also cadence is important. Didnt really think about it but ive been doing alot of big gear intervals and hill climbs recently with lower cadences than normal. I normally ride 90rpm + but ive been lower. Guess that is part of the problem aswell.

Bike fit is also important as well as stretching every day. I might have to invest in a proper bike fit. This post is interesting though - http://www.bikeradar.com/forum/viewtopi ... highlight=

Gav

Garz

Quads afterwards, sometimes calves during. After rest day back to normal.

lastwords

Sometimes after a hard training ride or during a ride usually when not completely warm up i will get them aching a little but it soon goes.

If it was persistant i would look at saddle position or cleat position

dennisn

I'm 60. Everything aches.
Sorry, couldn't resist.

phil s

My 'knee is' and my 'thigh is' are ache-free

Ljaydee

My knees get painful after riding my fixed bike for a while, dont get this problem on the other freewheel bikes, s/s and geared.

dickydulux

Think it's alot to do with seat height etc. On my hardtail never got knee ache but now with a full sus started getting it. Maybe need to fine tune the set up.

vorsprung

Gav888 wrote:

ache on the front of the knee is the seat is too low

Yes that is my experience

Ache at the back of the knee is too high. Or in my case usually terrible achillies trouble indictates it is too high

I'd recommend a 1/2 a cm change at a time, then a ride of a reasonable length then another change. Use a tape measure and write down what measurements you are using.

Gav888

vorsprung wrote:

Gav888 wrote:

ache on the front of the knee is the seat is too low

Yes that is my experience

Ache at the back of the knee is too high. Or in my case usually terrible achillies trouble indictates it is too high

I'd recommend a 1/2 a cm change at a time, then a ride of a reasonable length then another change. Use a tape measure and write down what measurements you are using.

Cheers all for the replies. I didnt get chance last night but I will give it a go at 1/2 a cm instead of a full cm and see how its goes. Ive got a faily long ride planned for the weekend so that should test it ok

red dragon

I had a bikefit today - after suffering very badly from knee pain last year. So much so I reverted to SPD from SL`s. After fit came home and had a thirty mile blast great. It would appear that apart from using a corrected pedal action I feel great and once it all settles down it will be good. So go for it sooner rather than later.

Gav888

Out of interest how much was the bike fit, and what did they check / adjust?

red dragon

Bikefit cost £75 took about two hours, and completed in a highly professional manner by someone who knew what he was on about . Fit done by Racscene in Barnsley, the difference it has made to me has been great. Out again today for a ride which I really enjoyed and felt I was getting somewhere with my training at last.

Gav2000

Gav888 wrote:

Done a bit of research in my lunch break and it sounds like my seat height is incorrect or my fore / aft is incorrect. From the websites ive looked at ache on the front of the knee is the seat is too low, ache on back is seat is too high. Not sure about fore / aft symptoms but its measures correctly with a plumb line.

Going to make a 1cm height increase tonight and see how it goes. Also cadence is important. Didnt really think about it but ive been doing alot of big gear intervals and hill climbs recently with lower cadences than normal. I normally ride 90rpm + but ive been lower. Guess that is part of the problem aswell.

Bike fit is also important as well as stretching every day. I might have to invest in a proper bike fit. This post is interesting though - http://www.bikeradar.com/forum/viewtopi ... highlight=

Gav

Gav,

I had a bad knee earlier in the year but found that it was resolved by repositioning the cleats on the new shoes I got last Christmas. Once I'd more accurately replicated the position I had on my old shoes I was fine.

Gav.

Gav888

Had a play with the seat height yesterday, raised it 1cm just to see what it was like... way to high and my hips were rocking, so lowered it by half, felt more comfortable but still a bit high so lowered it again. Now its about 2mm above my original position and feels good but my knee's still ache a bit.

I will have a look at my cleat position next as I havent checked them for months, may have come loose a bit and moved?

kingrollo

It could be an overuse problem ? to much to soon ? - Try and concentrate on pedalling style , pulling up on the pedals and keep it smooth, cadence easy and high.

The only time my knees ache, is if ride without clipless and tend to 'mash down' on the pedals.

carrock

do you have a pair of slipper's?? :shock:

bigflangesmallsprocket

If you really are sitting too low, then altering the saddle height is only part of the answer. If stretching isn't a major part of your routine then your muscles will have adapted to this position and protest at even the smallest change. You're right to change seat height in very small increments, but you should also include some meaningful stretching sessions after your ride to lengthen your muscles. Exercise tightens your muscles so the stretching is important for flexibility, especially as the cycling motion is such a small, exceedingly repetitive exercise. You'll definitely notice a difference with the stretching, sometimes it's immediate, sometimes it will take time for you to notice any effect.

Another possible cause of knee pain may be cleat misalignment. This will force your knees (and ankles) to move in unnatural archs causing strain to both muscles and joints.

There's more..I have leg length discrepancy... but the above are the most obvious situations.

I started riding again with fixed, but with my knees have changed to singlespeed. Fixed is okay as long as you can keep up with the cadence changes easy, but at very high revs I've found this causes knee discomfort that can last a fair while after a ride. Even concentrating on smooth pedaling you can still get dragged round the ring at high speed, with muscles being wrenched. Alternatively, high speed revs on singlespeed freewheel I've found to be much easier. The single gear still encourages you to think about your style, but natural rythmn is dictating and much more pleasant for my knees!

Gav888

kingrollo wrote:

It could be an overuse problem ? to much to soon ? - Try and concentrate on pedalling style , pulling up on the pedals and keep it smooth, cadence easy and high.

The only time my knees ache, is if ride without clipless and tend to 'mash down' on the pedals.

Im trying to work on my pedalling technique, but its not easy remembering to pull up.....

And bigflangesmallsprocket I really need to start stretching, its not something I do!!

kingrollo

I don't think many people pull up - just get a smooth pedalling style going - it will come, practising this -IMO is better than thrasing down on pedals