Tight quads? Patellar tracking....

alihisgreat

I've got patellar tracking problems in my right knee, almost certainly as a result of tight quads from sitting at a desk all day and not taking proper care of my body (not doing much cycling either).

Knee strength I can work on fine, got a routine for that.. but how do i best address muscle tightness?

Foam roller? Stretching? Yoga?

and how long is it going to take before I can cycle more than 20 miles?!

diy

The inner muscles respond better to lower weight higher rep exercises so body weight squats etc.. Rollering is good to release the tightness in muscles that have been worked, but its no substitute for development or maintenance stretches.

So in order...

1. Higher rep/low weight strength training - squats n lunges are good.
2. stretch properly - ideally development stretches not maintenance stretches - (i.e. a minute on each area rather than 10-15 seconds).
3. roller out the tight muscles.

On 2. I'd do a whole body stretch (My mate did one on utube link in my sig). The problem might be in your lower back, which is causing you to walk funny and screw the knee up. Its a bit like trying to find the source of a squeak - its often not where the noise is coming from.

ai_1

I agree with both oxoman and diy. My knee problems were helped significantly by strengthening and stretching including squats and lunges but the root of the problem seems to have been poor pelvis posture due to a minor lower back problem. My pelvis had a tendency to tilt back a little causing my legs to rotate slightly toe-out which influenced knee mechanics. Improved core strength has helped.

BrandonA

Have you thought about trying to fix the root cause of the problem? If you think the issue is due to your position at work then why not change it by altering the chair height or get getting a foot rest?

Also, why not walk around more at work? I find getting lots of water good for this, and the extra loo breaks. It also makes sure I'm well hydrated for my evening rides.

ai_1

BrandonA wrote:

Have you thought about trying to fix the root cause of the problem? If you think the issue is due to your position at work then why not change it by altering the chair height or get getting a foot rest?

Also, why not walk around more at work? I find getting lots of water good for this, and the extra loo breaks. It also makes sure I'm well hydrated for my evening rides.

There's lots of water and there's too much water!
More is not always better...

I agree with you though about getting up and walking around regularly but it's not always possible to do so as often as one might like and it's only a very partial cure for a sedentary job unfortunately.

alihisgreat

The root of the problem is a bit beyond fixing since I stop working there next Friday.. and don't start my new job until Sept/Oct! (hopefully plenty of time to sort myself out?!)

I undoubtedly have poor posture and I'm working on it by addressing my core strength (yoga + routines from Tom Danielson's Core Advantage) as well as doing plenty of bodyweight squats, lunges, etc.

My main problem is with addressing tightness, don't really know what I'm doing! And it seems that things can get quite complex... lets say you've got a knee problem from unbalanced muscles (e.g outer is tighter and stronger than inner), if you end up doing too much inner focused stretching then you'll end up exacerbating the problem, when really you should be focusing solely on loosening up the outer?

ai_1

I'd suggest a visit to the physio. That's what they're for.