Knee trouble

iain_j

I asked this a few weeks back in the roadie section but got no response, so I'll try again with you helpful people

Been having some trouble with my right knee this year. It's not within my knee joint so much but just above and to the right of my kneecap - I don't know the anatomy of a knee but it feels like it's right and the base of my thigh muscle, where it attaches above the knee?

I get the pain on the pedal downstroke, and mainly when the bike's loaded - so I get it mostly on the commute but very little when I'm out riding for the day, although after yesterday's 88-miler it was a bit sore last night and today. It feels like my leg isn't aligned properly and my knee's twisting/tilting, but then I've ridden this bike for over 2 years in its current set-up with no trouble?

When I started looking into it a short while ago I discovered that, by the LeMond measurement (bottom bracket to saddle top = 88.3% of inseam length), my saddle was way too low (I'd suspected as such) so I started raising it by about 5mm per week/fortnight, but it only made the trouble worse. Then I discovered by the shoes-off, heels-on-pedals method it was way too high, so I lowered the saddle again and the pain *mostly* went away but not completely - had some twinges yesterday and it's a bit sore today.

I've got a sports physio locally who I've seen before about non-cycing troubles but he charges £30 a pop, so I thought I'd try you lot first :P

jonginge

Hmmm, the location of the discomfort suggests tight IT bands. If so, there are stretches that you can do to alleviate symptoms (google is your friend). However, the cause of tightness is probably due to less than optimum bike fit. I would have said that a 5mm change in seat height from one your body has adapted to is pretty big. Slow changes and muchos stretching...

Obviously, if the pain persists or gets worse you should get it seen to.

FeynmanC

If it's come on after a couple of years and you have changed nothing in your setup you could have picked up a small injury and just need to rest it.

I know - not nice, but i'm off the bike for a few weeks to rest mine in the hopes that it wont hurt when i get back on again.

ride_whenever

It does sound like an ITB issue, try working out any tension in it using a 2ltr coke bottle 2/3 full of water.

Lie on your side, raise your hips of the floor and supporting yourself with the upper leg and slide the bottle under the lower leg. Roll the bottle up and down the outside of your thigh working on any painful spots.

iain_j

Thanks for the replies.

Hmm IT band ... I've read up on this, is the trouble always on the outer side of the knee? Sorry should have explained it a bit clearer - I'm getting it on the inner side, on the right as you look at it from in front.

When it flared up a short while back I did give it a rest, stayed off the bike for a week, and it subsided but it's coming back again. It's not getting any worse as such, but it keeps reminding me it's there from time to time.

iain_j

As for a small injury - all I can think of is I hit my knee at that spot, getting on a bus (started driving off before I'd sat down - hate it when they do that), but that was ages ago - must be about 2 years now, and it's only fairly recently I've been getting this pain.

Aguila

I had similar pain a while ago. Raising my saddle helped but the final solution was adjusting the position of my cleats properly. There's an article on this on the Bikeradar home page today as luck would have it Worth re-checking if you haven't already.

iain_j

Thanks Aguila, I'll have a read of that.

Just gone back to the saddle height, had another go at the heels-on-pedals method and by that measure it's still a bit too high so I've lowered it by just a few mm's and will see how it goes. I'm wary of adjusting the cleats as they've been fine for the last 2 years :?

Just thought I'd add, while I was previously raising the saddle, I ended up getting the same pain in my left knee. It went away when I lowered it again. Apart from that I've had no bother with my left knee.