Knee pain

Aguila

OK before anyone moans, yes this has been asked before and I've looked but the threads dont really answer my question.

So..

I'm very fed up with my left knee which has been sore ever since doing my first 100 mile sportive in October. The ride itself went well but was very cold and absolutely poured with rain all the way round. Knee was fine at the finish line, well both were a little stiff but only as much as you might expect at the end of such an event. Ever since I have had pain which is always at the front of the knee, mostly on the inner edge of my kneecap. Like all bad patients I stupidly continued to ride on it to work for a couple of weeks after, making it worse.

From my admittedly amateur assessment my differential diagnosis is:

1 Patellofemoral dysfunction.
2 Chondromalacia
or extensor tendonitis.

I stuck to a programe of rest and then gradual reintroduction of riding but it is flaring up after a couple of days commuting every time I restart (only 20 mile round trip).

It is driving me nuts having to come in in the car and I will be very depressed if I dont get to do any distance events this summer.

My bike setup is definitely not the issue, had been riding for years with same cleats/saddle height etc which I had previously fine tuned.

I'm sure the main cause was a lack of adequate training for the initial ride but really need a solution. I'm a bit of a physio sceptic but am going to see one tomorrow with an open mind. Really do not want to go anywhere near an orthopaedic surgeon.

Would be very interested to hear from anyone who has experienced a similar problem especially if you found a solution!

asprilla

I had knee pain around my kneecap when running. Took several physios and other professionals to identify that I had a cyst on my patella tendon (caused my me walking into my own car when drunk).

I also found out that I'm generally pretty badly put together and have all manner of skeleto-muscular problems that are only becoming apparent as I do more and more sport. Went to the SCR show at the weekend and spend a good hour with a biomechanic going over me in detail and making some recommendations.

UndercoverElephant

Sounds like patella tendonitis.

essex-commuter

I was diagnosed with patella tendonitis 3 weeks ago by my physio, basically he's described it as an overuse injury.

I took a week off from running and cycling, I've had regular physio with ultrasound, I've been applying ice and heat every day without fail and I've been following a tendon strengthening exercise programme.

I've also taken to wearing a patella strap, today was the first day back on the bike and although my knee is not right, it does feel a lot better.

d87heaven

Could be oh so many things. The knee has loads of bits to go wrong. Medial knee there isn't so much that can go wrong. Maltracking knee cap, muscle imbalance , plica(horrible things) debri floating about. Most common is maltracking knee cap and/or muscle imbalance. A weak VMO muscle commonly causes the patella to mis track or very tight quads.

Aguila

Thanks for the replies.

The sudden onset suggests to me something other than patella maltracking or muscle imbalances. I can't see how they could come on overnight. I had initially assumed this meant more likely some sort of structural injury like a tendon/muscle strain or even a meniscus/ligament injury. However the location doesn't seem to be right for those and it doesn't seem plausible for tendonitis to last for getting on 5 months.

Hopefully the physio will have something useful to contribute.

d87heaven

Difficult to diagnose without seeing it but, so many attachments/insertions, fat pad and bursa around that area. Good luck and let us know how it goes.

Rushie

I also have rubbish knees and therefore pain. I have started to go to a physio who has diagnosed collpased arches (putting strain on the knees) and tight ITBs (ditto). So the cause of the pain is nothing to do with the knees per se. So my recommendation would be to go and see a good physio as the diagnosis might be something other than what you're expecting.

Good luck.

steve

Aguila

Rushie wrote:

I also have rubbish knees and therefore pain. I have started to go to a physio who has diagnosed collpased arches (putting strain on the knees) and tight ITBs (ditto). So the cause of the pain is nothing to do with the knees per se. So my recommendation would be to go and see a good physio as the diagnosis might be something other than what you're expecting.

Good luck.

steve

The fact that after 5 months of self diagnosis and treatment I'm not better may mean you are right there!!