Knee pain

N

nayto

Likes Bikes
Hey fellas just got back from a quick ride, with a lot of climbing in it. Was in the saddle for an 1 hr 20mins and again, i get this pain in my right knee.
It feels as if its behind the knee cap.More of a dull ache than a sharp pain. Does anyone have a similar thing happen to them, or an idea what could be causing it, maybe cleat adjustment or something?
 
akashra

akashra

Eats Squid
Could be any number of things, from bad bike set-up to poor flexibility. Plenty often people will just go "okay, pain in this area, do this", but as I've come to discover it's just not as simple as they think it is. See a decent bike fitter and physio.
 
Staunch

Staunch

Eats Squid
Hey mate
I have the same prob in both knees, it just tends to be that the muscle in your shins are very tight.
If it's your right knee try massaging the muscle on the outside of your shin (right hand side) starting at the knee and work your way down to about 2/3s of the way down. If you do it for a couple of days it should loosen up and be just fine :)
 
Quintin

Quintin

Eats Squid
i had a similar thing, but the pain developed into something sharp behind the kneecap. anyhow went to a physio and it turns out that my quads were tight and i had poor flexibility as mentioned above.

the explanation was that 2 parts of the quad pull the kneecap up and down this little slippery channel in the knee. when one part of the quad fucks out the other pulls the kneecap harder and it pulls it on a slight angle. this can create a friction and pain if the kneecap isnt pulled straight.

sports massage at the physio and some heavy stretching fixed it up. that cant hurt can it?

oviously i dont know if yours is the same thing. but the physio pretty much had it diaged in 2 seconds as apparently its fairly common.
 
B

BMCFatboy

Likes Bikes
Seat Height

nayto said:
Hey fellas just got back from a quick ride, with a lot of climbing in it. Was in the saddle for an 1 hr 20mins and again, i get this pain in my right knee.
It feels as if its behind the knee cap.More of a dull ache than a sharp pain. Does anyone have a similar thing happen to them, or an idea what could be causing it, maybe cleat adjustment or something?
Click to expand...
Most likely wrong seat height. Go to your LBS and get fitted properly.
 
Bjorn

Bjorn

Likes Dirt
nayto said:
Hey fellas just got back from a quick ride, with a lot of climbing in it. Was in the saddle for an 1 hr 20mins and again, i get this pain in my right knee.
It feels as if its behind the knee cap.More of a dull ache than a sharp pain. Does anyone have a similar thing happen to them, or an idea what could be causing it, maybe cleat adjustment or something?
Click to expand...
Nayto,
It could be something as simple as pushing hard without a decent amount of warmup time.
If you are pushing harder than usual on the climbs, the stresses can show up as knee pain, the way they do for me.
I wouldn't start to stress unless it is a re-occurring issue.
People often forget, cycling hurts.
 
D

dresch

Likes Bikes
I recently suffered some scary knee issues when I'd go back in the gym after a long layoff. Foolishly diving into a LOT of stair runs I was building excess muscle in my outside quad muscles.

After stressing out of my head for 2 weeks thinking I'd done some damage to cartilage or similar I went to the physician. Turns out I had patellofemoralmaltracking syndrome and all I needed to do was do some simple exercises to strengthen other parts of my thighs.

Tough it out, if it persists go see your doctor. And if you haven't been fitted properly, do it - even if it doesn't solve your knee problem it will make you ride faster than any ever before.
 
macboy

macboy

Likes Dirt
nayto said:
Hey fellas just got back from a quick ride, with a lot of climbing in it. Was in the saddle for an 1 hr 20mins and again, i get this pain in my right knee.
It feels as if its behind the knee cap.More of a dull ache than a sharp pain. Does anyone have a similar thing happen to them, or an idea what could be causing it, maybe cleat adjustment or something?
Click to expand...
I was getting the same problem. I went to see Emma Colson, a physio and bike fit specialist. End result for me was that my seat was too low, my hamstrings were too tight and my VMO(the quad that runs to the inner side of you knee cap) was under developed. So we raised my seat about an inch (it was way too low, a habit from the old bmx days), I now stretch my hammies and she gave me exercises to help me learn to use my VMO and glutes. It all worked great for me.

Go see someone. Although we all have advise on here to try and help, without the proper diognosis we could be giving you wrong advise too.
 
N

nayto

Likes Bikes
Thanks heaps for the replies fellas, sounds like it could be a number of things. It could well be that i didnt warm up enough like was said. Because the ride i did starts out with a massive unclimbable hill 100m into the ride. It has happened before, most big rides will bring the pain in just that knee, but it seems a little worse this time.
In regards to bike fit, does anyone know of a place that does it close to newcastle? Im in Singleton and i know noone does it around here but close by would be good?
 
MTB_KAT

MTB_KAT

Likes Dirt
akashra said:
Could be any number of things, from bad bike set-up to poor flexibility. Plenty often people will just go "okay, pain in this area, do this", but as I've come to discover it's just not as simple as they think it is. See a decent bike fitter and physio.
Click to expand...
As Tim said, see a physio and get a decent bike fit, I had knee problems for months until I had it properly diagnosed, its easy for all of here to say, I have this problem and it's this or that, unless you see a professional you are wasting your time and possibly doing further damage to your knee. A good physio will diagnose you pretty quickly, I can recommend a great one at OPSMC in Melbourne, I spent a fortune at a cheaper one and he kept making me go back to him each fortnight, cost me a fortune, saw the guy at OPSMC, 2 seconds and he knew what was wrong and gave me the exercises I needed to do to fix it, I had a follow up appointment and that was it, the knee is fine after 2 visits to him (and sticking to my strengthening program and stretching)
 
D

dresch

Likes Bikes
Hud said:
Anyone know where to buy a foam roller for a reasonable price? (For the ITB stretches).
Click to expand...
Freeze a sizeable water bottle and wrap it in a towel was the advice from my physio...

PS: I never did the exercises and over time with a more balanced exercise the pain eventually started to go away.
 
N

nayto

Likes Bikes
So doe anyone know of a place in the newcastle area who do physio specific to cycling? A google search shows no-one that deal in that specifically....Or even any other pyhsios that u can recommend
 
chumbox

chumbox

Likes Bikes
OP: Here's something worth checking. I had bad knee pain which is why I went to the physio. Turns out it is from bad arches in my shoes putting pressure on my hips and glutes so all that was left to support my leg was my knee joint which is why it hurt. There was actually nothing wrong with my knee, it was just taking all the load for another problem which was ITBS.

ITB and glute stretching before and after riding have changed my life.
 
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