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I can't believe how much my knees hurt! I changed the position of my cleats and I think that caused the strain which was compounded by continued use, cold, fatigue and, much as i hate to admit it, drunken dancing. So they got injured and have taken abuse. I got them checked at the docs after the pain became alarming (at first it was a dull numb sensation then some pain) and she checked for obvious signs of serious things like septic arthritis. I rested them and took ibuprofen and then went to a physio who checked me out, was equally reassuring but said it'd be five weeks til they are better and to get help setting up my bike.
But I am sitting here at work in good posture and still resting as much as I can, and they hurt so much more than I was prepared for. It's like having broken ribs or worse, way worse than a twisted ankle or the usual pulled muscle, so I came on here so you could call me a wuss(but maybe share your experience too). Youchie!
Play around with cleat position and float as it really makes a difference. I had float free TT cleats on my road bike for a while and it was horrible.
Try flats for a bit and try to figure out best position. If you're feet can move freely around (as on flats) then it'll allow them to get in a more natural position. Try setting the cleats up neutral with loads of float if you're not going to try flats.
And keep you knees warm and insulated as there's no muscle on them to keep the ligaments and tendons warm and supple. Pads or knee warmers are a must.
Chck out a physio or look online for stretches ans exercises as well
Tom KP
I've been skiing(work) for 5 weeks and mine are wrecked....hopefully rest and the bike will help
Some questions!
What's your bike set-up? (Picture would be good).
Do you honk or spin?
Have you checked your knee/pedal axle alignment?
Do your knees hurt after a ride, during or both?
Where in the knee is the pain(front...behind...lower...upper)?
Thanks for your interest/concern manga.
But it's beyond fiddling with my bike at the moment, it hurts all the frickin time, i'm not going on my bike for a month at least.
I had moved my cleats forward and this seems to be what did for me. Previously, aka my whole riding life, things seemed to be OK. What I am less sure about is how straight they were before and after when I did myself the injury.
I try to spin fluidly, my bike set up is a cx bike set up for commuting/road duties not exactly slammed but nearly slammed, long and with traditional geometry not a massive 'sportive' type headtube. After mal-adjusting my cleats I had noticed that I was inclined to stand up more, then one day it all just flared up. Actually swelling has been minimal but the pain is awful.
The knee hurts almost all over the front, but I have had pain in my calves, ankles and thighs in the course of the last two weeks since going to the docs.
have been avoiding bike so can't answer the penultimate Q
no point having your cleats in the right place if your saddle isn't. In the long run some professional advice would be cost effective if you want to keep riding
The knee hurts almost all over the front,
[url= http://www.patient.co.uk/health/Patellofemoral-Pain.htm ]Could be this..[/url]
Certainly sounds like it to me.
I went through a period of knee pain which always occurred after 2 hours of riding.
Luckily, work pays for physio!
I ended up doing 30 minutes of leg exercises every day, simple things like 1/4 squats on one leg. All just to build leg muscles and condition better. A lot of this was done at my desk at work!
6 weeks later, doing 4+hr rides with no issues!
Do you notice that when you have to put the power down to get over something the pain goes. This happens to me and i think its because the big muscles take over. when in spinning it gets numb.
I pulled my cleats as far back as possible and adjusted my saddle so that when my cranks are horizontal my chins are nearly vertical.
Finally i ensure that i stretch before a ride. If your muscles are shortened or tight because of extended period in a poor ride position its going to pull on your knee far greater resulting in mrleboski's link.
Building you leg strength with squats will help. Also, if it dont hurt your knees its a good indication that your bike setup needs to be looked at.
Get a sports masseur to work on your legs, especially the quads. Chronic tension in the quads means the patella is always held tightly onto the surface below, and after a time it will hurt.
That said the massage will hurt at the time...
Slammed...not a term I'm familiar with regarding bike set-up!
Okay, well, a lot of us have been riding a long time on here, and a fair proportion will have experience of knee pain, either from poor cycling techniques, poor bike set-up or just from the way our joints work.
If you haven't looked into properly setting-up your bike, then here are the main areas to look at:
[b]Saddle height[/b]: When sat on the bike, wearing your riding shoes, place your heel on the pedal. Your leg should be straight (but not 'locked-out'). With your foot clipped-in, you should have a slight bend at the knee. This is the basic starting posture for the leg. You can take the saddle down a little to increase the knee-bend and fine tune your riding posture.
[b]Knee/Axle drop[/b]: Sitting on the bike with your cranks at their horizontal angle, drop a plumb-line down from the bottom of the knee (there's a slight knobbly bone there!). Ideally, the line should drop through the centre of the pedal axle. You can adjust cleats and saddle position to achieve this, but if you have to use extreme positioning, then your frame may be too big or small for you.
[b]Crank length[/b]: There are many theories about the correct crank length. In mountain biking, 175mm is the default setting regardless of rider size because it is deemed to offer greater leverage for off-road riding. Shorter crank lengths offer no less real-world performance off-road however, and have the advantage of letting the rider spin their cranks more easily. Companies like Middleburn cater for shorter crank set-ups.
[b]Spinning technique[/b]: Probably the most important factor in cycling knee-pain. Tour De France riders often spin at the 90rpm level, and they try to maintain that up, down and on the flat. You'll struggle to reach that sort of figure off-road, but you should [i]try[/i] to spin at at least 60rpm in all circumstances to reduce strain on the knee cartilage. If you're straining to push the wheels around, then you're probably developing micro tears inside your knee.
[b]Rapid leg muscle development[/b]: This is often overlooked, but rapid muscle development of the leg muscles can pull the knee out of alignment. Massaging the outside of the thigh helps to reduce this pulling action by relaxing the muscle.
thanks everyone, it hurts boo!
Meh - fire some ice on your knees - 10 minutes every two hours if you can. You've probably done various low grade injuries to the structures in and around your knees, they'll settle down reasonably quickly.
As above - get your bike position sorted out and it'll be fine.
Tom,
YGM