knee/thigh pain

mamoo

Hi all

Anyone suffered similar and have any gems of advice please?

I've developed pain right at the top of both knee caps, lower thigh/knee insertion areas and my right upper-outer quad muscle and the occasional crack when I bend my knee. :?

I'm training for a century in October but haven't upped the milage considerably and did one back in May and have been doing at least a 40mile ride a week since. I've also had a bike fit at the start of the year so pretty sure the road bike is not the issue. 99% sure it's caused by the MTB as I have just started using it again once a week for the last 3 weeks. On one of the rides my thighs were blown and I headed home to discover my seatpost had slipped down about 20mm, didn't notice as it all felt odd after the road bike. The pain raised it's head a day after an MTB ride as I was out doing some road hills and I headed back. Had a few days off and went on a gentle 40 mile spin. Pain back.

I've since had a week off the bike and been RICEing, The knee pain's all but gone but I still feel an ache in the right thigh, mainly when driving. I'm having difficulty finding a stretch that targets the outside upper thigh? I'm Planning on getting out for a really gentle 10mile spin on Monday to see what happens. Also started taking cod liver oil in desperation!

Anyone experienced this and how long did it take to shake?
Starting to worry I'll be in a support role for my buddys for the century!

Thanks all.

Cleat Eastwood

A low saddle does cause pain in teh from the knee.

I've also had a thigh pain - and i've narrowed it down to the angle of teh cleats. The left foot I can set the cleat in any position - the right cleat I have to have at an angle.

I also found I have a slight leg disrepancy - the easiest way I found this was to do a ride round the block in just traineys, so both feet were flat on the pedals. I noticed thatthe right was stretching more than the left. So I put a shim on the right shoe - its really made a difference.

Try the cleat position first and see if that eases the pain.

If you do find a leg discrepancy I read that its good practice to have the cleat on the shortened leg slighly infront of the normal 'ball of the foot position'

StorckSpeed

Knee pain is a very common topic on bike radar and you'll get all kinds of advice about how to fix it. The truth is there are hundreds of different things that can go wrong with your knee and what works for one person may make it worse for another, depending on exactly the injury. I know, I had problems with my knee and listened to a friends advice, which only made it worse. Everyone always says the pain suddenly started when I...???? but in all probability the injury has been a prolonged one, you've then adapted your cycling style to suit until twang, your knee/muscles can take no more.
Go see a physio and get a proper diagnosis, it'll cost around £40-60 for a 1 hour session. Do the exercises they prescribe and within 2 weeks you'll notice the difference.