Left knee pain

Rodders30

After a while it feels like my knee cap wants to pop out. Today at about 55 miles it was quite painful on the downward push up hills. Basic bike fit hasnt helped. So not sure whats causing it. Dodgy cartlidge? Been over weight for many years so this hasnt helped. Right knee is perfect.

Dunno what to do, go to doctors, wear a support, suck it up?

Any advice appreciated.

dee4life2005

If you've got knee pain then I wouldn't just push through. Knee pain shouldn't be ignored.
Could just be overuse - have you upped your mileage recently? Or changed anything with the setup of your bike e.g. saddle height?

Personally, I would take a few days to a week off the bike. If that doesn't help then I'd think about seeing a physio.

I had knee pain last year after completing my first 100 mile ride last year, had a to take a break from the bike for a few weeks to help clear it up, and then it was a case of gradually building up the miles again.

michael_roadie

Ride with higher cadence?

supermurph09

I get a little bit of knee pain sometimes, always on the left. I think it's due to unclip ping on that side.

16mm

Check out t'interweb for tight IT bands. This is a band that goes from hip to knee.

Knee pain can be caused by tight hips, pulling the IT band, or the band itself.

Also look for foam rollers & IT bands for some DIY manipulation.

Tight IT bands are very common with cyclists and runners.
If you're IT band seem OK, see a physio.

Rodders30

I ride with a high cadence all the time.

Yes ive upped millage. But i only did a 30 before the 75 today and had a 5 days off inbetween.

It actually really hurt walking the other weekend. I was pushing a double pushchair. But every step i could feel something in the knee that didnt feel right, after about 1 hour.

Ive changed saddle height and fore/aft to where it should be to try and help. But its the same. Hmm i do always unclip that side. Could be agrevating it.

Will check out IT band, cheers, and see physio if required.

Rodders30

Dont you love wifes....missus just said...."oh one of my old school friends is a sports physio, why dont you message him on facebook?".....thanks darling.....lol

philclubman

Have a read of Steve Hogg's article. Lowering the seat height by 4 or 5mm helped me.

http://www.stevehoggbikefitting.com/blog/2011/11/knee-pain/

Monty Dog

Going from 30 miles to 75 miles won't have helped as you need to progressively build-up mileage to ensure that your ligaments and tendons strengthen as well as your muscles. Sounds like muscle imbalance / ITB on your left side - a physio should be able to help with a diagnosis and give some exercises to help alleviate the problem.

Tb2121

It's not your ITB, unfortunately a lot of physios diagnose this as an issue, but the ITB had the tensile strength of steel, it has no contractile elements, and had been shown to play no role in knee pain. In my clinic the majority of cyclists or runners with any knee pain have a history of suddenly increasing load or distance. Subsequently the gluteals- especially glut med, fatigue leading to overload of the patella femoral joint. The best thing to do is progress your cycling distances over a 4-6 month period, and do plenty of core and gluts work. But stretching ITB won't do anything- you need to strengthen.

HenryTheHoover

I am no expert but am currently having physio to sort out what was initially basicaly pain in my left knee including quite a loud noise coming from it walking up the stairs. My physio has dealt with many high level sports people and the advice she has given me and the methods to deal with it ( so far ) echo pretty much perfectly what Tb2121 has said just above.

I have only had two sessions so far but it is mostly based around increasing mobility within the hip socket, rotating the leg in the hip socket to stop my knees dropping inwards and building core strength. There is virtually no stretching whatsoever. Its all strengthening work.

Having read about ITB issues / streatching on here I mentioned it to her on my first appointment and was told exactly again what was said above that it cannot stretch whatsoever and that I needed to build muscle elsewhere to correct my issues.

Rodders30

I tried strecthing, but did nothing. Makes sense now.
Well i have a week off now, so will rest knee and try a 30 miler after.

Tb2121

Mate don't just rest, strengthen the gluts, it won't load the knee and you'll feel better when you go up in mileage.

mmacavity

Andy Pruitt on knee pain:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bR5iMj4TofQ

http://velopress.com/wp-content/uploads ... e_APMG.pdf

LOOK CX7 pedals offer variable stance width.

Bar Shaker

Sit on the edge of a table and let your feet dangle. If they are turned in or out, especially one more than the other, your cleats may need to rotate to suit the foot rotation. This has cured the knee pains of two friends who have suffered for many years.

themekon

I had a painful knee problem a few years ago. Tried all the normal things, turned out to be a Calcium spur that had built up . Small operation to get rid and no problems since.

unixnerd

I had left knee pain this year, bike setup was identical to last year. I increased my cadence a bit and that helped. But in the end I had to adjust the angle of my left cleat slightly and it seems to have sorted it (fingers crossed).

One thing I would say is that a week or two off the bike might be needed.

djsoftware

I had exactly the same issue earlier this year and followed the same advice that Bar Shaker gave above, this showed me that I needed to move my left cleat very slightly and now I can safely say that I have no issues. I only moved the cleat by a few mms but it worked.

Rodders30

My cleats have 5degree movement on them.

WILL check my feet sitting on a table and check cleat position

mmacavity

https://www.stevehoggbikefitting.com/bl ... -are-best/

cerv50

I too have (did have) bad pain in my left knee. Mine came from riding a massive amount over Easter. It came to a point some days where I could barely walk!

I took a week or so off from cycling and things improved but not enough to say it was OK. I did loads of online research to see if I could self diagnose the problem and I came up with some form of quadriceps tendinitis. I got invited to join a ride to Box Hill one day and went, the whole journey from home and back was nearly 85 miles, knee hurt but not too bad.

I got in touch with the chap that did my Retul bike fit and he said it is an overuse injury.

Since then I have been to a recommended physio who has diagnosed a damage section on my vastus medialis muscle where it joins its tendon so I was close with my on line searching! I am now having a course of treatment which includes regular stretching and strengthening of my left side and also a course of acupuncture as the damage is too deep to repair with hot/cold treatments. He also found my left hip has barely any rotation in it and this is being addressed too.

Must confess since seeing him the knee has improved but for now I am only going out on small 5 to 10 mile rides to get it used to the repetitive pedalling movement again. I will up my mileage by 10% a week until it is fully recovered.

Rodders30

Off to physio tomorrow to see what happens.... hope i dont have to cut down too much

rowlers

I cured my knee pain by switching to speedplay pedals.. (was on look before)
all ok now

cerv50

Rodders30 wrote:

Off to physio tomorrow to see what happens.... hope i dont have to cut down too much

Hope all goes well mate, let us know how you get on.

After my appointment last night I have been told the damage is repairing nicely and in his words is not all stringy now, small bit of gristle in there so in went 5 more needles! I have also been told I can get out on my bike but not to go too mad, that makes me a happy chappy as not being able to ride is driving me insane!

Rodders30

rowlers wrote:

I cured my knee pain by switching to speedplay pedals.. (was on look before)
all ok now

I have look pedals....

Yes not being on the bike is going to be very annoying if it comes to that

Rodders30

No ligament or damage to knee. My patella doesn't go up and down vertically like it should because of my biomechanics. There's a side to side motion, which is then causing the pain. Need a proper bike fit and then if that doesn't sort it, innersoles (he did say a professional word) for my feet to get them at the correct angle.

My leg muscles are also imbalanced, so I have some exercises/stretches to do to help that.

cerv50

Pleased you have not done any damage

Rodders30

Yea it was good news. Glad i dont have to take time off cycling.

Rodders30

Went out for a 30 miler. Left knee was pretty good. What ever work he did helped. Only thing was, my right knee played up. Grrrr. Will let physio know on friday. Maybe the pain of the left knee masked the right knee?

Rodders30

Just been out for 33 miles after a full retul bike fit at Vankru. My knees felt great. I noticed a very tiny bit of pain in my right knee, but that was a bit on/off. Even on climbs knees felt good. I'd say a 95% improvement.

Only thing was, when I finished the ride and walked into the house, my left knee hurt. Guess were he wedged my shoe on the bike, its ok on there, but no wedges/in soles in my normal shoes = pain after ride.

Will speak to physio about that.

Things are looking up. Think I will stick to the look pedals for a while before splashing out 100 notes on speedplays.

cerv50

Pleased its all working out for you. I too had some good s news last night at physio session. Knee is on the mend and the dull aches I am feeling is where the body is (in his words) breaking down the damaged tissue and re building with stronger fibres.

Apparently my issues have not been caused by cycling but have shown up because of it. My left hip pretty much has no flexibility in it and I have loads of stretches to do. Been doing them for a week now and my hip and lower spine are starting to loosen up... Happy days