Guys , need your advice regarding bit of knee pain

Raffles

Ive done all the usual set up stuff and the plum line is bisecting the pedal spindle. Im right footed and only recently ive been aware of discomfort at the front of my right knee on its inside. After a ride I find myself sitting with a bag of frozen sweetcorn on that part of that knee, my left knee is totally unaffected. What should I look into to rectify this ? My pedals are the mountain bike type that you can flip over and use on any side when you clip in, not sure if this is in any way relevant.

explosifpete

A few thoughts for you,
Your cleat could be at the wrong angle causing you to pedal with you foot in an unnatural position.
You don't stretch, most cyclist don't also if like me you just cycle you will get an unbalance in your leg muscles

ALaPlage

explosifpete wrote:

A few thoughts for you,
Your cleat could be at the wrong angle causing you to pedal with you foot in an unnatural position.
You don't stretch, most cyclist don't also if like me you just cycle you will get an unbalance in your leg muscles

It's the cliched +1 for me too. I'd suggest cleat position is twisting your knee ever so slightly from its natural position and causing the build up of pain. If you sit on a bar stool or high chair where you can let your feet dangle (off the floor) your feet will fall to their natural position. You can then use this to work out the cleat position so that your feet sit in their natural position on the pedal.

ShutUpLegs

Raffles wrote:

Ive done all the usual set up stuff and the plum line is bisecting the pedal spindle. Im right footed and only recently ive been aware of discomfort at the front of my right knee on its inside. After a ride I find myself sitting with a bag of frozen sweetcorn on that part of that knee, my left knee is totally unaffected. What should I look into to rectify this ? My pedals are the mountain bike type that you can flip over and use on any side when you clip in, not sure if this is in any way relevant.

Frozen peas are better for moulding around the pain area

alidaf

Is your saddle pointing directly ahead? I know - silly question but it does sound like an imbalance. Your pedals sound like spd's, which have a decent amount of float but I find I get occasional pain. I spent a long time micro-adjusting various things - saddle fore-aft position and height, cleat position (I found that I was cycling with my toes down) etc and rarely get sore now. For the pain afterwards, try some woodlock. You can buy it at Chinese herbalists. I buy from my Sifu and have been giving the stuff away as presents. Its awesome stuff.

Evil Laugh

If the pain is central behind the kneecap look at saddle height (prob too low) and cleat fore/aft. You might have one foot further forward on the pedals. Check your saddle is straight.

If you meant the pain is on the inside of your right knee to one side of the kneecap ie the side nearest the bike as you are sat on it,then look at cleat rotation on that foot. You would likely benefit from moving the heel in so rotate the cleat that way a bit.

TheEnglishman

I've just had something very similar and it was down to cleat setup and foot 'slope'. I find i need to cycle with my toes pointing slightly out - if they're pointing in then I get knee pain

Raffles

I am indeed using spd pedals, I adjusted them so I can engage my foot and easy twist it back out, I dont see that you can do an awful lot more............or can you ?

ShutUpLegs

Raffles wrote:

I am indeed using spd pedals, I adjusted them so I can engage my foot and easy twist it back out, I dont see that you can do an awful lot more............or can you ?

Cleat angle/ position on the shoe...

snoopsmydogg

Raffles wrote:

I am indeed using spd pedals, I adjusted them so I can engage my foot and easy twist it back out, I dont see that you can do an awful lot more............or can you ?

used to get knee pain on the mtb but after moving the cleats further back (towards the heel) it helped massively.

Mikey23

spd pedals here too. i think my knee pain was caused by the fact that when i run, i have pretty poor posture and not very good style. my heels tended to flick up and outwards and it is worse on one side because i lean. Being cleated in means that i cant do any of that, pretty much have to adopt proper posture and my knees and legs have been objecting, mainly on one side and as you describe. that is largely going now after several weeks and conditioning and gradually learning how to ride properly and efficiently. oh and trying to push too hard in a higher gear rather than relying on high cadence

velohutts

+1 on the higher gear pushing , I did all the bike set up which was very worthwhile , there are many different opinions on this but I found it well worth it , admittedly a basic one.

I had the future MRSVH do my cleat positioning , though she wasn't far off a couple of quid at a bike shop with a packet of biscuits thrown in would be IMHO money well spent as I discovered I have one leg marginally shorter that the other and slightly offset due to an old footballing faux pas.

I have done a few 'club' runs and rides where I have been pushing a big gear to keep up with some of the quicker riders and come back to find that ache as you describe.

I now look for a higher cadence to try and keep up or I go out the back a bit sooner on the quick rides , this probably has as much to do with my fitness as cadence so training through the summer and winter to set me up for reduced knee pain and quicker rides ( fingers crossed ).

apreading

Either side of the patella (knee cap) are tendons. When I started proper road cycling and got a new bike, I found I was getting pain in both of these tendons on my left leg - excruciating pain if I pushed too hard in the first 5 miles but went away after that but slightly painful afterwards at rest. Not pushing too hard too early in a ride helped avoid the severe pain but didnt solve the issue. I looked at both my technique and bike fit. Moved the saddle up a bit and found I was pushing too hard in lower gears up steep hills, which was a big part of the strain on my legs in general. But the knee pain was not really resolved until I put the saddle up again and moved it pack a substantial amount. Now seems totally sorted.

It seems that if the saddle is too far forward or too low then you are putting maximum load through the knee while your leg is at more acute angle, i.e. when the tendons are stretched already and this is what causes that particular pain. Of course the higher the load is (pushing hard in high gear) then the worse you make it.

Of course it may not be the tendons at all in your case!

Raffles

Last night I had my saddle position checked as far as knee over spindle and it is absolutely spot on. The height is bang on too. The pain is in right leg only on the inside of the kneecap whilst the left leg is totally unaffected :? to tell the truth Im baffled by all this as Ive never had it before. Got a club ride on sunday morning and hope this niggle doesnt rear its head again.

apreading

If its only one side, my guess would be more likely to be cleats/foot angle as saddle position would probably affect both sides unless one side has got injured. You may find that even when you fix bikefit, it will take a while for the problem to heal/inflamation to go down/damage to repair itelself or whatever and the pain to subside. So maybe just give it some time. The knee alignment rule for positioning is not a perfect one-size-fits-all for everyone though - some people may need to break the rule to suit their personal body as we are all bespoke.

TheEnglishman

Raffles wrote:

I am indeed using spd pedals, I adjusted them so I can engage my foot and easy twist it back out, I dont see that you can do an awful lot more............or can you ?

You'd be amazed at what a small amount of change can do. I guess I'm starting to go on about this a bit too much, but really go and see someone who knows about these things - quite a lot of places do bike fittings now. For £40 I promise you'll be thankful!

wishitwasallflat

I've made a few adjustments based upon this table and always found it spot on:

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