knee pain...SOLVED!

[Stu Merckx Man]

i got to the bottom of my knee pain, without any expensive fitting, physios or massages (although that would have been nice).

first off looked at saddle height- fine

how far back/forward is the saddle- fine

cleets in correct position no

they had, slowly, over the summer turned inwards, probably because they wernt done up tight enough.

so last night i moved them round a bit and today no problems at all

cheers for all the ideas and adivce guys.

stu

[-Adam-]

School boy error!

[mrP(Boonen)VT]

Tut tut, should have come along to maintenance class


Glad it's solved.

[Sylv]

I've had inexplicable knee pain in my left knee (never had a problem with it before) in the last few days. Pain is below the patella.

I say inexplicable as it's happened on two different bikes, with different pedals and cleats, and which settings I haven't changed for months.

First time was 10 miles into a commuting ride Thursday, very sudden and became almost unbearable. Was almost home thankfully. Nothing on the following ride so forgot all about it.

Clubrun Saturday, 40 miles in, same pain, except I was a long way from home. It didn't get much worse, then got better and was gone by the end of the ride.

Today went for a long easy ride (mtb on road), fine until 65 miles in! Same again, got a bit better but not completely by the end of the 80 miles.

I hadn't touched my seat position for ages, but just had a look and on the mtb the distance top of saddle-to- bb axle is 68cm (175mm cranks), and 69 on road bike (170mm).

I've always seemed to have had it at 70 to 70.5cm though, I don't know when that has changed as the saddle doesn't seem to have slipped on either bike (had some marking tape on one). But I've raised them to 70 and am now keeping my fingers crossed this will do the trick, as a too-low saddle is symptomatic of this type of pain below the kneecap.

[huw williams]

Am i right in thinking you just had a week off the bike as you were away Sylv

If so, were you doing any other sport? Ski-ing or anything

If you haven't changed position on either bike, it's almost certainly nothing to do with that

[Sylv]

No I've commuted Tuesday to Friday this week, haven't done any skiing this year yet. Have been running once or twice a week 35 min since the last few weeks.

Like you say Huw, I'm not sure the problem could come from saddle position. I'm gonna see how it goes now with saddle raised a bit, but if it persists, not too sure what to do - there is no pain from prodding, so I don't know how a physio for instance could help.

[Andrew G]

[quote="Sylv Frischknecht"]I hadn't touched my seat position for ages, but just had a look and on the mtb the distance top of saddle-to- bb axle is 68cm (175mm cranks), and 69 on road bike (170mm).

I've always seemed to have had it at 70 to 70.5cm though, I don't know when that has changed as the saddle doesn't seem to have slipped on either bike (had some marking tape on one). But I've raised them to 70 and am now keeping my fingers crossed this will do the trick, as a too-low saddle is symptomatic of this type of pain below the kneecap.

[huw williams]

Problems associated with saddle height are usually chronic ie you notice them over a long period of time and they don't just suddenly start unless you alter something

If there's no pain to the touch its unlikely to be a strain or tear either

Sometimes, when there's no pain one moment but pain the next for no seemingly obvious reason, it can be down to a bit of 'shrapnel' like a dislodged piece of cartilage moving around - depending on where it is depends on whether you feel pain or not

I've had several ops on my left knee and a couple on my right for that reason (which is why I had to give up running in the first place - wrecked cartilage from running too many marathons when I was a pup)
I think they got all the destroyed cartilage out in the end cos I haven't had any problems for a few years now

Knees are tricky though and it could be any number of other things.

To be on the safe side I'd seriously consider not running at all until you're sure its not serious

[Sylv]

Thanks Huw, will ease off the running.

Were your problems something that could be seen on x-ray? If not, how did it get diagnosed?

[huw williams]

X-Ray initially - cos it was in the dark days of the '80s. Then you had to have a full blown 'open her up' knee operation. Recovery took months

Now however things are much improved - they use arthroscopy - keyhole surgery which involves sticking a tiny camera inside the joint and having a snoop around. Normally they can correct minor problems of floating cartilidge at the same time they're in there.

Although its invasive this is a highly desireable technique - the last time I had one (in 2000 I think) I went to hospital in the morning and walked out without crutches or a stick only a few hours later. I was riding the bike again within a week.

[Sylv]

Is that Mr Wolf marco?

[Sylv]

I'd forgotten you'd had knee probs marco. Thanks

Gonna try some of this exercise: http://onemillionruns.blogspot.com/2006 ... ecial.html

[Paul H]

Sylv

Ive got knee trouble at the moment and mine is due to the kneecap not tracking properly which is probably due to muscle imbalances. I tend to get this every year when I get back into training.

I get over it by taping the knee using leukotape which allows me to carry on cycling as much as I want without any pain.

[Sylv]

Thanks Paul, I did wonder if a band or taping might help.

The funny thing is that I've had this muscle imbalance thing diagnosed by a physio in the past, but always in my right knee (and I can see it not tracking properly as the knee almost touches the top tube of the bike when pedalling - I think it could possibly be due initially to an accident years ago when I went over the bonnet of a car), never had a single problem with the left though.

[Paul H]

Mine is always the left knee.