Clipless Pedal knee Pain. Help!

Codehero

Good afternoon,

Sorry for the length of the post but I have a problem that really troubles me, I hope someone can help me I bought my first road bike in early Jan this year, it came with toe clip pedals which I used for about a month. I liked them and had no issues at all. The elitists where I work scoffed and insisted I should buy clipless pedals if I was serious about road riding. I bought & fitted a pair of Shimano M520 Pedals and shoes with cleats.

Almost immediately I began to get pain on the outside of my right knee. At first it was quite mild and barely noticeable so I ignored it and put it down to my body adapting to the new kit. Pretty soon the pain began to get worse. I was riding twelve miles a day in total. When I got off the bike the pain stopped.

One day when my enthusiasm for my new sport got the better of my common sense and caution I went on a ride with my local bike club. I did just less than forty miles in one day. By the end my knee was hurting so much I couldn't ride and had to limp home for the last few miles. That time the pain didn't stop when I got off the bike and continued to hurt for a few weeks.

I went to a bike shop who were very good, they fiddled with the bike seat and a few other bits, informed me the other bike shop I got the pedals from had sold me mountain bike pedals :? and sold me some wedges. That was two weeks ago, the pain is less but I know if I did anymore than a few miles it would come back. The bike shop have told me to return soon and they can have another look and do some more fiddling.

My real question is this: Instead of spending weeks and lots of £ trying to get rid of my knee pain with clipless pedals would it sort the issue if I just swapped back to using toe clip pedals which never gave me any issues at all :?:

I'd really appreciate any advice you can offer!

goonz

This is a common occurence.

Top tip, do some research on things you buy before splashing out in future. You bought SPD pedals which are mainly MTB pedals but a lot of cyclists use them on their road bikes too like myself.

They are good bombproof pedals but they do have a tendency to cause knee pain which I am suffering from at the moment too. I believe more road inclined pedals such as SPD-SL or Time, Look, Speedplay would help better with the knee pain.

It sounds like an IT band issue, others may confirm what I say but this is what it sounds like to me. You may need to have the cleats realigned on your shoes as this may be causing it. Perhaps go for a professional bike fit and a fit at your LBS is not a professional fit unless they offer that service.

danlikesbikes

Clipped pedals do/can take a while to get used to if its your first time using them.

Would suggest that you make sure they are on the loosest setting possible to give your ankles the most wriggle room and your knees should suffer less until you are a bit more used to them

Codehero

Thanks very much for your responses

@Goonz I have paid for a bike fit and it was during this that the wedges were sold to me and he adjusted my cleats but I obviously need further wedges as the problem has improved but not disappeared

@Danlikesbikes I'm not convinced the problem will just ease with experience. I think if I just ignore the issue it will definitely get worse. I do have the pedals on the loosest setting already :?

Neither of you gents have answered my question re toe clips, do you think it might help the problem to revert back to using them, considering I never had any pain issue when using toe clips?

danlikesbikes

Don't know as never used toe clips but is simple to swap them over.

Just admit I have similar model of Shim pedals on my MTB & really struggle to get used to them after riding my road bike with Look pedals on.

Have you had bike shop do a fit for you? Only reason I ask is it could be the bike set up or possibly & more likely your cleat set up?

Codehero

Dan,

I don't want to fork out for road clipless pedals only to find the problem is the same. I have had a bike fit. They have ID'd the problem and say it's 'trial and error' but if swapping back to toe clips would get rid of the pain i'd happily do it. I don't care at all what kind of pedals I have, I only cycle for fun, as long as they don't cause pain

danlikesbikes

Codehero wrote:

Dan,

I don't want to fork out for road clipless pedals only to find the problem is the same. I have had a bike fit. They have ID'd the problem and say it's 'trial and error' but if swapping back to toe clips would get rid of the pain i'd happily do it. I don't care at all what kind of pedals I have, I only cycle for fun, as long as they don't cause pain

Easy tiger I was trying to help & not suggesting that you do in fact change your current pedals just trying to work through the options that you may or may not gone through

Codehero

The shop themselves have suggested I change to road pedals. I haven't though.

djm501

Well if you're happy to ride with clipped in feet then why not. If you had no problems before then of course it will go away if the cleats are the problem.

It sounds like the shop should actually finish the job of fitting you though - if the fit that they did and you payed for is causing injury then they haven't completed the job.

Even small issues with cleats can cause big problems. I got injured recently in my knee and just put it down to overtraining. But when it flared up again someone suggested I look at my cleat position. I was sceptical as I'd never had problems before but upon checking the cleats I discovered one of the bolts keeping the cleat in place was missing and the cleat had slipped all the way to the back of its possible positions. Since I put a new bolt in and realigned the cleat the problem has gone away.
I'm sure getting the alignment right will sort it out but that is a process you (or the shop) will have to experiment with until it's right.

Cleats do give a big advantage when it comes to climbing and power transmission but I'm not sure it's that huge over the old toe-clips. Disengaging is much easier of course.

In the end it's up to you - if you are happy using toe clips then use them. I'd be giving the shop hell though - a professional fitting is surely supposed to prevent RSI's not cause them!

danlikesbikes

Codehero wrote:

The shop themselves have suggested I change to road pedals. I haven't though.

You have however changed from toe clips which are basically as loose as flats in terms of knee tracking unless you have arms of steel & tighten them up so you loose blood to your toes.

Any clipped in pedal/cleat combo will give you knee issues if your not used to them. MTB style ones even more so as they have wider side to side & front to rear movement than a a set of similar road pedals.

If you google Shim MTD pedals & knee issues they are pretty common amongst new users to them but most (myself included) do get more used to them over time, however as with anything bike related they are not the be all and end all & there are other options to them.

If you chose to stick with your SPD's would refer to you my previous comments Re cleat position as I personally found this made a massive difference in these pedals & know a few other people that have also suffered. If you have them set to the most loose setting you can get to then IMHO the cleats are your only other option to be moved if your going to stay with them as your pedals of choice

paul2718

Now you have an injury it is quite possible that you will still get pain with the original pedals, until it properly heals.

There is no reason why 'road' pedals will be less injurious than 'mtb'. What matters is getting your foot into a position on the pedal where the joints of your leg are not taken outside their natural movement. With the 'clips' and presumably relatively soft soled shoes your foot and leg naturally aligned comfortably, with the SPDs they couldn't.

If you, or your LBS, can get your feet into the right position then you will be fine. I had a very similar problem when I started riding (with SPDs too, although now I use a road pedal), with a bit of trial and error I was able to get the cleats aligned and the right number of wedges fitted. You need to figure out if your feet point in or out, and whether they roll to the inside or outside. Dangling your legs off a bench and examining the wear pattern on some old shoes might help.

Clipless are so much more convenient than clips that, IMO, it's worth persisting.

Paul

Jon_1976

Codehero wrote:

Good afternoon,

Sorry for the length of the post but I have a problem that really troubles me, I hope someone can help me I bought my first road bike in early Jan this year, it came with toe clip pedals which I used for about a month. I liked them and had no issues at all. The elitists where I work scoffed and insisted I should buy clipless pedals if I was serious about road riding. I bought & fitted a pair of Shimano M520 Pedals and shoes with cleats.

Almost immediately I began to get pain on the outside of my right knee. At first it was quite mild and barely noticeable so I ignored it and put it down to my body adapting to the new kit. Pretty soon the pain began to get worse. I was riding twelve miles a day in total. When I got off the bike the pain stopped.

One day when my enthusiasm for my new sport got the better of my common sense and caution I went on a ride with my local bike club. I did just less than forty miles in one day. By the end my knee was hurting so much I couldn't ride and had to limp home for the last few miles. That time the pain didn't stop when I got off the bike and continued to hurt for a few weeks.

I went to a bike shop who were very good, they fiddled with the bike seat and a few other bits, informed me the other bike shop I got the pedals from had sold me mountain bike pedals :? and sold me some wedges. That was two weeks ago, the pain is less but I know if I did anymore than a few miles it would come back. The bike shop have told me to return soon and they can have another look and do some more fiddling.

My real question is this: Instead of spending weeks and lots of £ trying to get rid of my knee pain with clipless pedals would it sort the issue if I just swapped back to using toe clip pedals which never gave me any issues at all :?:

I'd really appreciate any advice you can offer!

If its just on the outside of your knee, try adjusting your cleats so your feet are slightly more away from the bottom bracket, a larger q-factor. Pain on the outside is something I've never suffered from, I did (and still do occasionally) get pain on the inside (medial). After reading, I made my q-factor as small as my shoes would allow and that helped a bit. I raised my saddle a bit, helped more to be honest.
Nothing beats a bike fit, seems to the usual recommendation.