Knee pain - Charity ride in danger

ModusOps

I've been signed up for over a year to do a long ride (longest ever for me of 115miles) in the south of France at the end of the month. I've only ridden over 50 miles on 4 occasions.

In the last two weeks, as ive increased the mileage, I've developed pain in the tendon on my left knee, on the inside of the leg, near the patella. I think it may be slight tendonitis but not sure.

Thing is, I need to do the ride, but I'm worried about the knee.

Should I rest it from now or work through the pain.?
Should I Ice or Heat?
I'm stuck between wanting/needing to train, but not wanting to ruin my knee forever....
Anyone got any advice on what I should do between now and the 31st July.?

Thanks.

Buckled_Rims

With so little time available I'd probably say stop training on the bike and rest. 115 miles on a bike is just about doable with little training.

I would never train through pain, your body is telling you something. Freeze sprays/ibuprofen/aspirin also mask the pain so might make it even worse.

Also, what is your body position like on the bike? You could ask a good LBS for quick advice.

bigal.

Ice and Ibuprofen gel rubbed onto my knee worked well when I was half way through a LEJOG cycle.

As Buckled Rims has said, I would also check your bike set up/position on the bike.

ModusOps

Thanks guys.

I did wonder about my bike set up but I've been regularly riding 60 miles (30mile sat, 30 mil sun) for about 18months now on the same set up. And I get no pain in any other part of my body...especially no pain in right knee.
I also did a 60 miler laast year on same set up with no problems.
So I can't think that the set up is too blame, although I will check the left cleat position again to confirm whether my legs twisting at all through the motion...

I think I may have tweaked a muscle pushing a big gear up a hill and therefore weakened the tendon its attached too.

I'm trying deep heat, and ibuprofen gels and rest....I also got a support that I'm wearing duing the day so I don't tweak it further.

My plan now is to not do anything strenuous until I feel 100%, or the day arrives, whichever is closer...

Oh, and whats a LEJOG?

stonehouse

I woudn't recommend heat on the tendon, if it is swollen you want to ice it.

I managed 6 months of riding with a poor bike fit before I triggered my knee issues, so saying that your fit must be ok doesn't always follow. The problem with tendon's is once they have been damaged, even when they have recovered they are tougher and less able to cope, so re-injury is often the result. A programme of knee exercises, stretching and bike fit would be the best way forward but that's going to take longer than you have (isn't always the case?). Also from what I've read it takes tendons 3 times longer to increase in strength in comparison to muscles, therefore the increase in bike ride time needs to be very gradual (10% additional mileage a week is the benchmark often quoted).

So, first bike fit, get it done soon as (The Bike Whisperer is great), eccentric exercises to use the muscles in the knee that don't get used in the cycle motion and a gradual increase in activity (starting at say no more than 10 miles) leaving at least a day in between bike time or knee exercises. Don't go throwing big hills into the equation until you are well on the mend and keep the cadence high otherwise it will all flare up again and you get to start over (been there, done that got the T shirt and medal).

If the fit is right and you don't have any other injury you should get over it, but be patient.

Good luck.

teulk

ModusOps wrote:

Oh, and whats a LEJOG?

LEJOG = Lands End to John O'Groats, ie cycling from one end of the the country to the other.
JOGLE = John O'Groats to Lands End, youve guessed it - going the other way

Cleat Eastwood

Knee pain tends to point to saddle position,ie having to use too much pressure at odd angle to push down.

Or your knee coudl be f#cked.

Anyway look on the bright side, you could always ride for a Sore Knee Charity and pocket any money you raise.

vorsprung

I am not a physiotherapist and even if I was I haven't seen your knee..

That said if I was you given that you have a couple of weeks until the event, this is what I'd do

1) have at least 3 days off all riding or until the pain goes away
2) do a very gentle ride, not very long, maybe up to an hour. Avoid hills and don't use the big chainring. If it really starts to hurt cut the ride short. Following this ride I would

-stretch by holding your foot near your backside, while standing on one leg for 20 seconds
-stick an ice pack on your knee for 10 minutes
-lie down so that your knee is elevated

The aim of the gentle ride is not to "train" but to encourage your knee to heal itself. But even mild riding like this may help your CV fitness to not deteriorate so much over the 2 weeks until the event

If you feel your knee is recovering then do not go and try and do a hard ride. Stick with the small chainring

ut_och_cykla

If you're cycling in France you may find that you need lower gears than you could imagine - and this will be even more important if your knee is giving you trouble

ModusOps

Cleat - I'm going to analyse my saddle position...
I happily rode on the original saddle for months. Got a fancy white one and changed it....didnt like it so have switched back recently (about the same time my knee gave me jip.), so there is a potential issue there as I may not have put it back in exactly the same position.

StoneHouse - firstly, finger spasms.....I applied Deep Freeze but I had a brain freeze at the time of typing!
I was gently increasing the miles by 10 each week
my knee joint has never given my jip (I'm 29) and I play basketball which is terrible for knee injuries and I never had one, so I assume that my knees are relatviely strong.
I will get my bike properly fitted by an expert (although Ealing is a bit far for me to travel!) and I will focus on strenghtening the knee after the ride when I've got more time. Your advice will prove useful. Thanks.

teulk - cheers

vorsprung - thanks for that, it sounds pretty reasonable. I kinda needed a step by step plan as I'm getting more and more worried about the day approaching...
I will take you advice on board and cross my fingers...
only issue I have......in West Yorkshire there are no rides I can do 'with no hills'!! I live on the top of a hill!!!......

ut_och_cykla - I'm not sure I get what you're driving at matey....

Cheers Guys.
Your replies are much appreciated.

stonehouse

StoneHouse - firstly, finger spasms.....I applied Deep Freeze but I had a brain freeze at the time of typing!
I was gently increasing the miles by 10 each week
my knee joint has never given my jip (I'm 29) and I play basketball which is terrible for knee injuries and I never had one, so I assume that my knees are relatviely strong.
I will get my bike properly fitted by an expert (although Ealing is a bit far for me to travel!) and I will focus on strenghtening the knee after the ride when I've got more time. Your advice will prove useful. Thanks.

hehe, no problem. I tried Deep Freeze, I didn't find that it was cold enough. Boot's do a hot/cold pack that works pretty well.

If you play basketball I'd think that your knees would be pretty strong. But experience with the physio has shown me that it doesn't take much of an issue to cause a problem.

There are other bike fit experts, just like BW as he has a really good feel for the process, so perhaps look out someone local, it really is money well spent.

Generally our bodies cope with the stresses we put on them on a daily basis, up to the point where we for some reason exceed the ability for repair. If this is brought about by a poor fit (which can be really difficult to see yourself) no end of gradual increase of miles will help, once the threshold is breached problems occur.

With regards to gearing, I went to Italy at Easter carrying a knee issue, I invested in a compact gearset and a 13-29 cassette, saved my holiday, I was able to cope with the hills by keeping the cadence high (90+) if you have any climbs to deal with I'd advise the same, grinding out at a low cadence is bound to have a negative impact on your knees.

All the best

ModusOps

So I'm flying out to France tomorrow and my knee feels good......although vie not done a minute of exercise in nearly three weeks! It's been he'll doing nothing!
I hope to have a quick spin when I arrive but other than I'm going all out for the big ride.....next stop pain. It will all be worth it though!
Thanks for advice.
If anyone is interested in sponsoring pleas visit this site.....
Www.giro-ratalia.co.uk
Cheers!
JTB

milese

http://www.bikeradar.com/forum/viewtopi ... =#16087856

This might help. Whilst not perfect, my knee is now a lot better.

Bobbinogs

So, ModusOps, how did you get on? Finish the ride OK?? Knee hold out?

KieranHardman

A couple of years ago i did the JOGLE ride and ended up with acute pain in my right knee in the same place you described, after the first day. I have a fairly long and substantial family history of knee injuries and knee problems so I had a pretty good idea of what I had done to myself. But with 800 miles to go I didnt really have the choice of giving up either.

I wouldnt recommend doing what I did but I put up with the pain and took copious amounts of Ibuprofen and applied Ibuprofen gel to the knee every so often. I found that it was very sore and hurt like hell for the first 15 to 20 miles of the day. after that the pain died away so long as i didnt stop cycling. It is possible, if you know what that pain means, as in you know what you have injured, to carry on cycling through the pain and come out the otherside with no lasting damage.

In essence, know your pain. That said, just because I did it doesnt mean anyone else should or that it is fine to do.