Knee Problem

Easyriding

Hi,

I'm looking for some sound advice.

I rode a charity ride over the weekend from Bournemouth to Brighton, 140 miles over two days. I'm sure I did enough training, having ridden it last year I knew what to expect, I also feel that I took on enough fluids and food during the ride and I'm sure my bike is set up properly.

I suffered with a niggling pain in my right knee about 25 miles in on the second day and by 50 miles could hardly move my leg without excrutiating pain.

I've been told by an A&E nurse that I've torn a ligament in my knee and cannot ride for at least a couple of weeks.

My question is, when I'm back on the bike what should I be doing to recover and prevent a reoccurence of this? I love cycling but don't want to cause any permanent injury. I'm 52, weigh 9.5 stone and have a reasonable level of fitness. I also use Shimano SPD 'mountain' cleats, which I think I've set up properly and have not caused problems before. Would it be worth considering going back to 'ordinary' pedals for more freedom of movement?

Thank you for taking the trouble to read this and I would appreciate any advice you can give.

apreading

Really sad for you mate. I was on the ride too! There were quite a few people with strapped up knees by the end.

I think the first thing to look at on the bike is prevention, rather than recovery - better if the problem doesnt re-occur.

Bike setup and technique can make a huge difference. I was having aching quads after long training rides in the build up, and the tendons down the side of my kneecap on my left leg were hurting. Raised my saddle and moved it back a bit and this made things alot better. Also realised that I was trying to throw in as many hills as possible, to simulate the south downs terrain - but I was pushing hard up them in a high gear. Change of technique to low gear, fast rotation of the peddles means so much less load going through your legs and knees in particular.

The combination of poor technique and to low/far forward saddle had caused problems I didnt need to suffer.

The tendons in my knee were still sore at the end of each day, but that it because the event and training for it has not allowed me to rest them properly to recover. I am going to take it V easy for a couple of weeks to try and give it some rest.

Of course, it may be that you did all of this and were just unlucky.

Did you finish, or were you taken off to A&E mid-ride? I wasnt aware anyone dropped out?

Easyriding

Hi apreading,

Many thanks for your response. I just about made it to the end, with a lot of support from complete strangers, the asthmauk team and the first-aid ladies. I got to the stage where I couldn't pedal or put weight on my leg so my lovely family egged me on over the line at the finish. My wife carted me off to our local A&E later.

sungod

rice - rest, ice, compression, elevation

if this was in the last day or so, ice the injury, it can reduce swelling/inflamation and help recovery (on older injuries, say 4+ days icing makes less difference)

there're loads of webpages on this type of thing, have a browse, one is....

http://www.livestrong.com/article/51441 ... ligaments/

you don't mention where the injury is - inside/outside/front/rear/above/below, knees are complicated

as above, there may well be a reason why you got injured, set up and/or technique, try to find out why *before* getting back on the bike, and get it corrected before cycling again

correct the problem, then don't rush things, once you are able to restart riding, go easy and build up slowly, it may take many weeks - if you go too hard too soon you risk putting back recovery even further (yes, personal experience talking here)

giropaul

The questions I'd ask are:
Have you altered your position at all?
You say "return to normal cleats" - if you changed the cleats recently and haven't done such a long ride since I'd suggest that this is your answer.
Has your cleat moved? (do you mark it so that you would know?)
Is the pedal new?
Is the pedal spindle bent?
Have you knocked or twisted your knee at all in the last week or so?

Cleat Eastwood

if the seat is a tad too high it can affect the tendons -the leg over stretches- you may have been doing it for some time but only noticed it after the long ride - try lowering the seat height.

If you do go back to normal pedals you are effectively highering the seat causing the leg to stretch more so be a bit careful.

apreading

If in doubt, it might be worth paying for a proper bike-fit.

Easyriding

Hi,

Thank you for your thoughts - it's all very helpful. The pain is on the outside of my right knee. I'll check to see if the cleats have changed position, I haven't changed anything else except the saddle and I adjusted the position of this when I fitted it - in small increments (to a Brooks B17 narrow). I think perhaps the answer lies with the cleat position and I will check this carefully before riding again.

Once again, many thanks for your advice.

sungod

outside of knee is 'lateral'

have a gander here...

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

...for some ideas on what can cause lateral knee pain

as you pedal, do your knees track up/down in line - i.e. do knees move on a plane parallel to the frame of the bike - if not, and you can see one/both knees moving sideways at any point, that may mean you'd benefit from extra arch support and/or wedges/shims to alter foot angle - you may think "well, i've never needed that in the past", but maybe you've been lucky in the past, but in reality have been subjecting your knee(s) to stress that has finally resulted in an injury (again, been there, done that)

Easyriding

Hi sungod,

My knees do seem to track parallel to the frame but that's another idea worth thinking about...