Pain in Back of Knee & Top of Calf

chill123

Over the last week i've been riding for about an hour most days. As this is a bit more regularly than usual i've been careful not to go mad on the intensity front. Just steady endurance paced rides.

The last two days i've experienced some pain when I started riding in two areas:

1) Right in the back of my right knee. It feels like it is emanating from deep in the center of my knee joint.

2) At the very top and inside of my right calf

All these rides this week have been either on the turbo or a watt bike in the gym.

While there might be a touch of overuse that is partially responsible i'm not convinced that riding for 1hr on 6 out of the last 7 days is the real cause. I've not been doing high intensity stuff...always averaging 80%MHR or under.

I suspect there is another cause to do with the fit of the wattbike/turbo bike.

Has anyone experienced such pain and can point me to a diagnosis and likely cause?

brownbosh

May be core and fit related.
Are you wearing more clothing than you were? If you have inadvertently raised your effective saddle height with extra layers of clothing it can cause these pains. One side does suggest some kind of imbalance though. Final idea depending on cleat type - check the wear. Look types worn on one side can lead to leg angle changing.

chill123

brownbosh wrote:

May be core and fit related.
Are you wearing more clothing than you were? If you have inadvertently raised your effective saddle height with extra layers of clothing it can cause these pains. One side does suggest some kind of imbalance though. Final idea depending on cleat type - check the wear. Look types worn on one side can lead to leg angle changing.

no extra clothing...same old cycling shorts i always use for indoor work.

cleats - on the wattbike i always wear trainers and toe straps. on the turbo spd's with plenty of play.

Big_Ring_Rider

Sounds like your saddle could be too high, try drop the post a mm or 2

dw300

I get that when I'm trying to 'pedal circles' for a prolonged period of time and am engaging my posterior muscles more than normal. It's just overuse in my case and has not got any worse. In fact its got less over the years.

Interestingly, I get it worse when my power output is low rather than high.

ut_och_cykla

As far as I remember teh hamstring muscles fix into lower leg behind calf. It could be the hamstring tendon causing discomfort - which feels not to bad once you're warm but is worse when starting off and later when relatively cold? Which possibly suggests a combination of tight hamstrings/ gluteus muscles and poor position - together with tired quads - teh hamstrings take over teh work a bit when you're tired??
Just an idea... rest and chill for a few days, then warm up gently & start a stretching programme? Check bike set up too.

chill123

thanks all. will try the folowing...

1. coupla days rest
2. double check fit of turbo bike
3. stretches

will report back n a week or so with the results

caadybrompton

ut_och_cykla wrote:

As far as I remember teh hamstring muscles fix into lower leg behind calf. It could be the hamstring tendon causing discomfort - which feels not to bad once you're warm but is worse when starting off and later when relatively cold? Which possibly suggests a combination of tight hamstrings/ gluteus muscles and poor position - together with tired quads - teh hamstrings take over teh work a bit when you're tired??
Just an idea... rest and chill for a few days, then warm up gently & start a stretching programme? Check bike set up too.

Good advice.
I had a similar problem this summer after coming back from a running injury and spent a lot of time in the gym on the spin bike. The set up of those bikes are not great , so saddle height,bar height etc was not accurate . This would cause me some knee probs now and again. Especially when I done longer sessions.
Hammy,Calf and Glute stretches may also help to ease off any tension that could be going into the knee.

chill123

well after a couple of days rest i managed to get out on the fixie on sunday and was prepared to head back home if there was any pain. the fixie fits me well and the saddle is certainly not too high...if anything it's too low slightly but I can't adjust it as it's been drilled into place!

anyway, i managed steady 100km ride with seemingly no ill effect. felt the slightest of niggles a coupe of times but i kept the intensity low and avoided the hills where possible.

cheers for the advice all - will watch my setup on the gym bikes in the future....