Sore Knees; Any advice.

dolan_driver

I am hoping someone can offer a little advice in relation to a persistent problem of sore knees. I had previously raced until I was 25 and did a little cycling on and off since then with no problems. I'm 39 now. I got back on the bike two years ago and have been cycling regularly up until I hit problems in May this year. I started to get a slight discomfort in both knees and the final straw was a 4.5 hour spin over hilly terrain. The final hour and a half were not much fun with pain in both knees. I rested up a little and did some sessions at a physiotherapist. She recommended 6 weeks rest and a few sessions in the gym building up muscle around the knees.

I did both but the problems persist and after an hour on the bike, the discomfort returns. I am now waiting for my GP to organise a visit to a specialist which should be soon. I am told that my problems may be as a result of the way I pedal. I am 6 ft tall and fairly thin. On the downward portion of each pedal stroke, the inside of my knee is very close to the crossbar. Almost rubbing the bar, in fact. The best example I can find to explain the way my legs move through each pedal stroke is to watch Johan Bruyneel in this video. Go to 21:18.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSyc3BItb0A

The physio reckons the problem is my "knees-in" style of pedalling and that problems were inevitable as I get older.

1. Does anyone here pedal in this manner, have experienced pain and overcome their problems?

A year ago I got a new bike and changed up from 170mm to 172.5mm cranks. They felt long at first but I got used to them. I think I am turning slightly higher gears as a result of these longer cranks, though.

2. Is the fact that both knees have given trouble at the same time indicative of a problem provoked by the longer cranks?

Any advice would be gratefully appreciated.

Thanks.

Dolan Driver.

rnath

Any knee trouble I've ever had has been the result of bad saddle position (typically too high). Have you had a proper bike fit? If not, a couple of hundred quid on this may save you a small fortune in physios.

dolan_driver

Rnath, thanks for that. I'll give it a go, certainly can't do any harm. I should have thought of that myself!

Dolan Driver.

ut_och_cykla

You returned to cycling and cycled discomfort free until May this year. My question would be - what did you do in the weeks prior to the first discomfort? Suddenly up your weekly mileage? Fit a new sadel, shoes, clips, stem?
Knees in in itself shouldn't cause too many problems - David Millar appears to cycle a bit knees in http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-ohlWflkQY.

Could be muscle imbalance tho' I would have thought the physio would have spotted this.

Rnath might be onto to something - longer cranks give you teh effect of a too high sadel.

Hope the doc referral gets to the bottom of things.

rdt

I have a similar-sounding style - knees close to the bar, esp. the right knee which can easily touch it. When I started cycling, I had pains in both knees, but after 6 months of tweaking cleat positions, was able to confine the pain to just my right knee - longer rides and less recovery between rides made it worse, and my cycling revolved around managing the soreness in that knee.

A bike fit last year seems to have pretty much resolved this problem. The fit involved various changes (seat height & fore/aft, cleat position, lever position), but possibly the most important was the introduction of custom footbeds plus a 1.5mm varus shim for the right shoe. The alignment that the shim promotes seems to help me - removing the shim can result in the beginnings of the knee soreness I used to regularly experience.

While this may not be the solution for you, a close look at bike fit may be worthwhile.

roddixon

rdt wrote:

I have a similar-sounding style - knees close to the bar, esp. the right knee which can easily touch it. When I started cycling, I had pains in both knees, but after 6 months of tweaking cleat positions, was able to confine the pain to just my right knee - longer rides and less recovery between rides made it worse, and my cycling revolved around managing the soreness in that knee.

A bike fit last year seems to have pretty much resolved this problem. The fit involved various changes (seat height & fore/aft, cleat position, lever position), but possibly the most important was the introduction of custom footbeds plus a 1.5mm varus shim for the right shoe. The alignment that the shim promotes seems to help me - removing the shim can result in the beginnings of the knee soreness I used to regularly experience.

While this may not be the solution for you, a close look at bike fit may be worthwhile.

+1

dolan_driver

ut_och_cykla wrote:

You returned to cycling and cycled discomfort free until May this year. My question would be - what did you do in the weeks prior to the first discomfort? Suddenly up your weekly mileage? Fit a new sadel, shoes, clips, stem?.

Yea, there was an increase in mileage in the few weeks before the problems made themselves known.

My new bike was set up taking measurements from my old bike and then fine tuning by "feel". Hopefully the combination of the knee specialist and a proper bike fit might sort things out. I think my left leg might be fractionally shorter than the right one. Thanks for all the help. I'll report back when and if things are sorted out. I'd hate to have to give up the bike altogether.

Dolan Driver.

dolan_driver

Here is an update on my progress in relation to my sore knees. About six weeks ago, I went to a physio who specialises in bike fitting. He had a look at my position and did a video analysis. He made some adjustments to my saddle position and also to the cleats on my shoes. The saddle was raised a little and brought forward by about an inch. It seems I was sitting to far back and this was doing something bad to my hamstrings which in turn were passing the problem on into both knees. I bit the bullet and did a week of five 1-hour spins. There was an immediate improvement in the condition of my knees. The discomfort is now gone and I think I am back to where I was before the knee pain started. It is amazing that the cause of the problem wasn't eliminated until I got out on the proper-fitting bike and starting working the legs again. Sometimes rest isn't the cure! Thanks for the advice offered. It certainley helped. I would advise anyone to get a proper bike-fitting done, even if you aren't experiencing any injury problems. I would imagine that it would contribute to a position that is healthier in general for the body. Now, if only I could find a saddle that wasn't designed to inflict pain, I'd be set!

Dolan Driver.

ut_och_cykla

Great - thanks for the update!

kim10

Dolan Driver - thanks for the update.

Since getting on my new winter bike I have started to experience similar problems myself and think I might be over streched and could also be saddel height.

Just out of interest, who did your bike fit and where are they based?

dolan_driver

I live in Ireland so I got it done at Irishfit in Carrickmines in Dublin. Sorry if I didn't point out where I live. Hopefully this information will be useful to someone.

http://www.irishfit.eu/shop/about-us

Dolan Driver.