General Discussion Triathlon Talk » Painful knees from cycling? Rss Feed  
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2016-03-09 3:59 PM


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Subject: Painful knees from cycling?
Hi
Has anyone ver had pain in their knees from cycling? I have done my first 2 long rides (50mile) for the last 2 Sundays , both times towards the end I get knee pain, then over the next 2 days the pain is worse, right under middle of knee caps. I'm worried about causing damage as during my run today they felt bad enough for me to wonder if I should be running...but I'm training for half iron man distance so I have to be able to do a long ride and then run. I'm really worried about this,


2016-03-09 4:21 PM
in reply to: loops

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Subject: RE: Painful knees from cycling?

Could be your bike fit.

2016-03-09 4:30 PM
in reply to: Left Brain

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Subject: RE: Painful knees from cycling?
Originally posted by Left Brain

Could be your bike fit.




I had knee pain when my saddle was too low. Once I had it higher, the pain went away.
2016-03-09 5:28 PM
in reply to: loops

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Subject: RE: Painful knees from cycling?

Make sure your cleats offer enough float.  I haven't purchased pedals in a while, but I recall some that had a minimalist float setup, which you probably want to avoid.  Also, make sure the cleats are positioned appropriately on your shoes.  Assuming you are riding with cleats.

2016-03-09 5:39 PM
in reply to: loops

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Subject: RE: Painful knees from cycling?
probably a bit too much for the riding you've been doing. Patella pain is a common problem with cycling.

It typically hits me during long races, pushing too hard on the bike. in your case, pushing harder than your legs are used to.

should go away pretty quickly.

as others said, check the bike fit and cleat position, but probably it's more of a overstress / overuse problem (if it normally hasn't been happening).

check out exercises you can do to help reduce this from happening...

http://www.active.com/cycling/articles/4-ways-to-fix-anterior-knee-...
2016-03-09 6:46 PM
in reply to: loops


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Subject: RE: Painful knees from cycling?
I feel a little discomfort on the backside of my right knee on occasion. I thought about saddle position, cleats etc.., but it only happens on the right knee and never on the left knee. Overuse or to tight of muscles maybe since my right leg is dominant side.

This is usually on harder or longer rides btw.


2016-03-10 2:19 AM
in reply to: loops


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Subject: RE: Painful knees from cycling?
Hi,

I have had something similar before. As other posters have said, I found that raising the saddle height will hopefully help. I did it very gradually over a number of rides.

I also went to a physio about my knees. I was worried about pain in them and it turned out it was because of tension in my quads. A methodical stretching regime after long rides helped a lot.

2016-03-10 6:49 AM
in reply to: loops

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Subject: RE: Painful knees from cycling?
In addition to what others said, have you been pushing too big a gear up hills or perhaps stressing knees after stopping, such as stop sign. Sometimes low cadence/hard mashing may be a factor.

Good luck
2016-03-10 8:19 AM
in reply to: tallytom

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Subject: RE: Painful knees from cycling?
It's all been said but I'll compile these thoughts into one tidy post.
1) your saddle might be too high
2) your saddle might be too low
3) your foot alignment might be off.
4) if all of these things are good then you are likely pushing too hard of a gear. Try spinning (90+rpm) and see if you still get knee pain.
2016-03-10 9:01 AM
in reply to: pwoolson

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Subject: RE: Painful knees from cycling?
Where is the pain?

The front of the knee could mean your seat is too low.
Back of the knee could mean the seat is too high.
foot alignment causes problems


Take a marker on your next ride; when your knee starts to hurt mark the spot it hurts(yes write on your knee-use a sparpie). Then go to your LBS and talk to the guy who fit you.

Seat height can be very critical- a difference of 1/16" is very noticeable.
2016-03-10 9:40 AM
in reply to: loops

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Subject: RE: Painful knees from cycling?
Same as the posters above; it happened to me when I had my seat too low. I raised it and it went away (but took a couple of weeks to heal completely)


2016-03-10 9:44 AM
in reply to: loops

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Subject: RE: Painful knees from cycling?
That doesn't sound like much fun.

Here's what I think I know that I can share. When you ride your bike your knee should go up and down straight with hips level and not bouncing. While I don't recommend taking your eyes off the road while you're outside if you have a trainer it's pretty easy to see.

If your knee isn't going straight up and down - it goes side to side or I guess even front to back - there can be a variety of problems from an improper bike fit to simple muscle weakness and instability. A lot of those reasons were mentioned by others.

So a follow up question is - did you have a bike fit recently - or have you changed or added new equipment like shoes/cleats/aerobars?

Good luck and hopefully you'll figure it out and be riding pain free soon.

Amy
2016-03-10 9:56 AM
in reply to: pwoolson

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Subject: RE: Painful knees from cycling?
Originally posted by pwoolson

It's all been said but I'll compile these thoughts into one tidy post.
1) your saddle might be too high
2) your saddle might be too low
3) your foot alignment might be off.
4) if all of these things are good then you are likely pushing too hard of a gear. Try spinning (90+rpm) and see if you still get knee pain.
Good summary, here is another one to add:
5) you could also be putting in too many bike miles too fast.

By the way, if your knees hurt while you run, STOP. Let your knees fully recover from this biking issue, and get 100% pain free before you resume running. It won't take long for your knees to recover if you do this.

But if you keep on running while ignoring pain, then you will indeed get yourself a serious (and long-term) injury, and you'll be laid up for a lot longer.
2016-03-11 6:12 PM
in reply to: DarkSpeedWorks

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Subject: RE: Painful knees from cycling?

Just went through exactly the same thing, ramping up miles and knee pain for the first time.  Straight to my bike fitter and he rapidly zeroed in on what appeared to me to be a minor amount of cleat slippage from the last alignment and tightened up the pedal clip tension a bit.  Problem solved.  Get thee to the fitter - and don't try to muscle through it, as pointed out above that will only lead to greater and longer term injury.

2016-03-14 9:28 AM
in reply to: loops


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Subject: RE: Painful knees from cycling?
I think the amount of float and cleat positioning has a lot to do with knee pain. A cyclist friend of mine had consistent knee pain on longer riders. She changed her pedals to the speedplay pedals which allow significant more float than most clipless pedals, and poof, no more knee pain.
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