knee stability

kevin69
kevin69 Posts: 87
edited December 2012 in Training, fitness and health
Hi,

pedalling at a fairly low cadence (70rpm) on the trainer i can see my knee
follow a figure eight pattern rather than track up and down.
The right knee (which is the slightly shorter leg) is a big more wobbly than the left.

I don't have pain in either knee.
I'm not sure if my knees move more linearly with higer cadences, or its just that
i can't see it with the faster movement. I can't see the wobble on the road, but
this is probably due to watching the road more than my knees.

A) is this something that i should try and 'correct'?
B) if so, how?

thanks

Comments

  • danowat
    danowat Posts: 2,877
    kevin69 wrote:

    A) is this something that i should try and 'correct'? Depends
    B) if so, how? Cleat shims worked for me

    thanks
  • forward_loop
    forward_loop Posts: 314
    mechanically thats pretty inefficient - and if hasn't caused problems yet perhaps its age/miles etc. First port of call would be to address you difference in leg length - then take it from there.
    you may need to go through cleats fore/aft/float/wedges/q factor/saddle fore/aft/height possibly crank length etc plenty of info around - look at your overall position on the bike and take it from there.

    (ps - perhaps you are trying to push too many watts at 70rpm - which may be just causing instability if you are unfit)
  • Maglia
    Maglia Posts: 24
    If you want to find out if your knee's moving around at higher cadences just ask someone to ride behind you, it's easy to spot.

    I know some excellent cyclists who exhibit this trait and don't have any knee problems but I suffer on and off with knee pain and assumed that looping over the top of the pedal stroke doesn't help. Shims and a number of specific exercises to strengthen my vastus medials and other one's to encourage my glute to do some work has helped straighten things up.
  • alihisgreat
    alihisgreat Posts: 3,872
    Shims are only really for more extreme cases, and you should be able to address it with leg strengthening exercises:

    My physio told me to do one leg squats onto a chair, then stand up with one leg. There are plenty of other exercises out there.
  • jgsi
    jgsi Posts: 5,062
    ALIHISGREAT wrote:
    Shims are only really for more extreme cases, and you should be able to address it with leg strengthening exercises:

    My physio told me to do one leg squats onto a chair, then stand up with one leg. There are plenty of other exercises out there.

    With you on the shims... only after professional advice..
    Not with you on the physio leg stength advice however.. OP can stand up? then he can pedal.
    My best advice is to take yourself well away from all this and forums and spend the next 12 months learning how to ride that bike in peace and tranquility so that in the end you can pedal straight.... grasshopper.
  • alihisgreat
    alihisgreat Posts: 3,872
    JGSI wrote:
    ALIHISGREAT wrote:
    Shims are only really for more extreme cases, and you should be able to address it with leg strengthening exercises:

    My physio told me to do one leg squats onto a chair, then stand up with one leg. There are plenty of other exercises out there.

    With you on the shims... only after professional advice..
    Not with you on the physio leg stength advice however.. OP can stand up? then he can pedal.
    My best advice is to take yourself well away from all this and forums and spend the next 12 months learning how to ride that bike in peace and tranquility so that in the end you can pedal straight.... grasshopper.

    The point of the weird squat/stand thing (which is an exercise.. not an all day thing!) is to strengthen the whole leg as a unit.

    You can do the grasshopper but as soon as you start trying to put out a decent amount of power your knee is going to go floppy again.
  • kevin69
    kevin69 Posts: 87
    @forward loop: pushing too many watts at low rpm?
    Maybe: i was following a trainerroad workout which involved some high force/low cadence intervals
    when i really noticed how much my knees wobbled.

    @alihisgreat: i tried your chair squats, and my knees wobble a lot while doing them.
    So i think that those exercises should work for me, too.

    thanks all.

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