Recovering from a dodgy knee

TheCornishMong

Good evening all,

In May I took part in a Lands End to John O'Groats ride, however about 500 miles in and after half a day in a minor injuries clinic i was on my way home with my knee in some considerable discomfort (the pain is under the kneecap, towards the inside of my leg). I saw a doctor on my return and they told me to rest it and see if it improved. It did...sort of. Now it is perfectly fine until I get on my bike, where after a short distance the pain is back.

Has anyone else had a similar problem? And any tips for recovery and getting back into cycling?

dee4life2005

I had something similar after completing my first 100 mile ride about 8 weeks ago. Pain on the top-inside behind the kneecap on my right knee - the stonger leg. I had previously done 85 mile rides with no issue, but this one was slightly hillier (extra 1500ft of climbing), so the extra effort for all the extra climbing might have triggered it.

I would generally be fine after a couple of days, when walking about, going up stairs etc. but even after 4 miles gentle riding (12mph, on the flat) it would be back just as before. This gradually improved over the next three weeks, but I was also having an Ibuprofen before starting to try and head off any inflammation related caused before they happened. That didn't make an awful lot of difference.

In the end I just bit the bullet and had a full week off the bike, and then started with "recovery" type rides until I was back up to about 20-30 miles without any pain. I still get the odd niggle now and again when really going for it, but it's almost back to normal now.

I found gentle stretching seemed to help it, but I don't know if this is recommended or not.

TheCornishMong

That sounds like exactly the same as mine. The proscribed ibuprufin did pretty much nothing for me too. I think the problem was confounded by trying to 'man-up' and keep going.

I'm going to give the stretching a go and see if that helps, thanks for the tip.

dee4life2005

As you seem to suggest you've already found out, choosing to the man-up and continue on just makes the problem worse and puts you back to square one. I'm certainly never ignoring any pain from the knee area again that's for sure.

unixnerd

This is often down to a bad bike fit, getting a professional fit may help.

I had a similar problem this year, a combination of business and bad weather meant I did very few miles over a three week period and it sorted itself out. I did my first 100 yesterday and whilst my legs know all about it I don't have the sort of knee pain that's dogged me in the past. In my case it was due to the saddle being slightly too low.

TheCornishMong

Definitely will be looking for a proper fitting. Anyone know where's best to get one down Cornwall way?

dee4life2005

unixnerd wrote:

This is often down to a bad bike fit, getting a professional fit may help.

... In my case it was due to the saddle being slightly too low.

Interesting you say that, as when I got my knee pain I checked my bike over and noticed the saddle had dropped between 5 and 10 mm, presumably during or just before the 100 mile that triggered my pain.

HasselHough

If you're getting pain I'd recommend you see a decent physio as well, you may have issues that don't really show up after 30 miles but after 100 miles you're feeling discomfort. It could be your ITB, maltracking of the knee, alsorts really.

A good bike fit will help but if you have muscular issues a fit wont be the cure all, you may have to do some work off the bike. Have a search for Steve Hogg and read some of his blogs, you won't be disappointed.

Knees are quite hard to injure, but once injured take a very long time to recover.

Hope you get sorted.