Slight Knee Pain

Adrian1977

I'm hoping someone may be able to provide a little advice. I am new to road cycling having bought a bike just 10 days ago. I'm pleased to say I am really enjoying it and gradually building up the miles as certain parts get accustomed to the saddle. However the key issue is that I am getting a little pain just below my right knee. It's not something I notice when I am actually on the bike it's usually a couple of hours after I've stopped cycling and then lasts for about 24 hours. I wouldn't even say it's pain just a discomfort. I'm assuming it might be a slightly misaligned cleat but haven't ruled out the fact that it may just be me getting used to cycling after many years.

I've gradually built up the mileage to 20+ miles now and am looking forward to building it up a bit further this weekend but wonder whether I could do with some cleat tweaks!! Does anyone have any advice as to what might be causing the discomfort and if i need a cleat tweak how should I go about doing it?

I use Look pedals and my feet when unweighted hang a little bit toe out. On this basis should the front of the cleat be facing slightly towards the big toe so the foot is allowed to sit in its natural position? I'm assuming this is the case but would welcome some advice before I make a novice mistake which I imight well regret.

Thanks in advance

sungod

could be many things, there's advice here...

http://www.cptips.com/knee.htm

http://www.bikeradar.com/fitness/articl ... ight-14608

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/article/s ... eats-24284

don't take fitting systems based on measuring and arithmetic too literally, the best way is to be on the bike and really look at position, how your limbs are moving and what works best

if you are planing on geting serious about cycling then get a professional fitting, then you'll reduce the chance of injury and have the data you need to set up a bike to fit you in future

tbh i'd suspect cadence too low, or saddle too low before looking at cleats, in general you want your joints in-line as you pedal, otherwise there will be lateral/twisting forces

as you develop, you'll be able to put down much more power and the strain caused by poor fit increases, so it's worth starting out right

forward_loop

oohh - knee issues - so difficult to comment on individual cases like this. your broadly right in your assumption - but also be aware that the cleat setup may be different for each foot - dont necessarily go for the same each foot.

Also check that the marks on the sides of your cleats correspond with a point about 8mm back from the ball of your foot.

If your comfortable with the above and confident with your cleats - perhaps try the saddle fore/aft position, try moving it forward a couple of mm

I'm assuming saddle height is correct (a saddle too low can also cause knee pain at the front of the knee)

So much of this is trial an error - but try and get it fixed before you add on the mileage if you get the pain after 20 miles - it may be doubly bad after 40 !!

paul.k

how long have you been cycling ,did you do any other sports or not ,basically if you jump on a bike and havent rode or done any sports in a while you cannot expect to go out and ride a marathon bike ride , it takes time to get used to the bike and also used to excersize
i started last year and went from being a couch potato to 40 mile rides in 3 months
at the expense of knee trouble ,and 6 months of fustration .
the physio said that my knee injury from last october was a result of pushing too hard too soon damaged the soft tissue that bonds to the knee cap strange thing was that i could ride ok ,go to the gym and leg press ect fine but after going i would get a pain after 2-3 days till i rode again (it felt like paper tearing on my knee ,not very painful but you knew it was there .
,started again in january and have 18 rides under my belt this year all of them below 30 miles mostly between 10 and 20 mile rides
if you are having knee pain take this as a warning and review ,it could be ..

1 your not used to the bike/ riding position ,i found about 10 rides to get used to it
easy shortish rides def no more than 20 miles

2 bike set up review and make sure every thing is set up ok, perhaps get a set up done .

3 dont push too hard and avoid big hills at least till you get used to the bike and the pain is gone ,then gradually increase but no more than 10 miles a month good luck

Adrian1977

Thanks for all the advice. I'm not exactly a "couch potato" but then I'm not exactly superfit either. Strange thing is I have had knee pain in the past whilst fell walking (same position - inside and just below the knee) but never have a problem when skiing and I've skied a hell of a lot in the past.

I am pretty sure it's probably a combo of overdoing it slightly due to over enthusiasm and an element of set up. The problem is as a newbie it's difficult to know what to alter first and by how much - I don't want to make the problem any worse.

I think I am probably going to go for a custom fitting and see if that can make the difference. I used to custom fit ski boots and ski set up and have seen the huge difference this can make to a skier so I am sure the same results can be achieved from a custom bike fit. Has anyone had any experience of Bike Dynamics in Leamington Spa? The website looks excellent but if anyone can offer some feedback it would be much appreciated

sungod

if you've had knee pain in other activities then certainly footbeds and/or shoe shims could help

unsupported my feet pronate a lot, sometimes i used to get pain when waliking/running, then got custom footbeds and no more trouble

for cycling as i developed higher power i picked up an inside knee pain, again seems to be linked to the pronation, i've found shims made a big dfference

huuregeil

adrian

Sounds very much like mild patellar tendonitis, as per paul.k. This is generally caused by either your quads being too tight, or not strong enough (or some of your quad muscles being stronger than others). Get the pain down with ice, stretch your quads lots (e.g. daily), get some sports massage if you can afford it, work on some basic strengthening exercises off the bike (free standing squats is all you need - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOdwETDQXCw ignore the fast stuff!), and get your bike position right through a fitting session. Do all of this and you should sort the problem pretty fast.

ilm_zero7

Forward loop
knee pain issues - very appropriate following a first round the block outing on a new bike, but it has shown the importance of the right seat height - being very aware of the over-tightening of seat post horror stories and cracking carbon fibre I decided to err on the cautious side when tighening my new bike's seat post

disaster - after 5m (without a tool kit) It sank to the stops and my new carbon flying machine resembled a funny bike from the circus _ I could not have had worse ride had the last 18m been on a 12 yr old's BMX, and my knees - hurt for days