knee pain...

[Stu Merckx Man]

after saturdays club run and during it, i noticed a little pain, not very bad, but it was there, on the top of my right knee cap (top as in further up my leg).
could this have been because it was a little bit chilly?
or could it be something worse?
any one else get this sort of thing?
should i go and see a physio?

cheers
stu

[Matt Robbins]

Do you know if your feet 'over pronate' i.e. roll inwards? This can result in poor tracking of the patella (kneecap) and hence some pain in that area. However I would have thought with the amount of miles you do you would have noticed this a lot earlier as it is more of a structural issue.

If in doubt a trip to the physio is probably advisable...there are many good ones, the one opposite Mayday is supposed to be good, then there's Crystal Palace or I use Back on Track in Catford as they treat many UK athletes (but perhaps that no such a good advert!!!).

Hopefully it will just clear up and you can put it down to a 'niggle'!

[Kasper]

Stu, I'm afraid my diagnosis is not good. Apparently you have been over in Belgium ripping the legs off those "continental" lightweights. As a result my only advice, on behalf of myself and the addiscombe club as a whole is:

SLOW DOWN

[carl f]

Stu,if you have tightness in the IT Band, ,that can cause a pain in the knee,which usually only means a massage in the legs to release it
Probably too far for you but i know a very good sports massage in East Dulwich.Let me know if you need his details
Carl

[George]

Hey don't worry about it Stu

Remember no pain no gain

[Kasper]

Yeah listening to some of the more "technical" replies to your dillemma Stu has reminded me of the wedges you can get to counteract the natural incline or roll of the foot which works it way back up your leg resulting, possibly, in the pain in your knee.

I think i read about these on London Cycle SPort as there's a place up in town near Covent Garden, one of those stores, is it Cycle Fit that offers the "service" of measuring your feet professionally ans seeing if you need any countering wedges inserted in your shoes.

Definately worth a look anyway,

I thinkl they are called Lemond Wedges due to his input in their development.

Check out the Cycle FIt website is my advice,

[mrP(Boonen)VT]

I think Chris Colford did that and he said it made quite a difference, but didn't sort out his problem

[sid_day]

Do something about it NOW before it starts to keep you off your bike.

I started suffering with knee pain after ramping my miles up and competing again in my late 20s.

The breakthroughs for me came with:

1. A visit to a sports physio. (at Crystal palace)
2. A shoe and pedal set up (At cyclefit)

FYI my problem is an over tight Ilio-tibial band which mis-aligns my patella.

There are so many factors to take into account both of the above will help you learn about your own body.

[Stu Merckx Man]

cheers for all the input people!

marco- the pain when i was pushing the big gears was a different one that went away when i went back to normal.

i guess my best bet is to go to a physio by the sounds of it.

so where abouts is this physio in crystal palace you all talk about?

cheers
stu

[Marek]

It is likely to be the bike set up. You have got a new bike, the set up is probably slightly different to what you were riding before. I would go and see someone about the fit, but I would not recommend cyclefit, you should be able to do this at a good bike shop for about £50 or so. Ask in Cycles Dauphin on box hill next time you are up that way.

If you are in North London then you could always pop into Mosquito Bikes, they have a rig in there and they would sort out all your measurements as well.

In my opinion GBs where you bought your bike should have given you a proper fitting, but I think the only thing they are good at is fitting people up with dodge ball bikes.

Cheers

Marek.....

[Tony]

If it persists or is any way bad - it's definitely worth getting it checked out with a decent physio. They should be able to identify the root cause of the pain and what you need to do avoid it.

Do you ever do any stretching? How flexible are you in general? Bike riding can cause various tendons in the legs to tighten which in turn can lead to knee pain. A physio or a decent book on stretching could help here.

Cleat position can also be very important. Have you replaced your shoes or cleats recently or even changed pedal systems?

I wouldn't unduly worry about bike fitting yet - you simply need to know why you are getting the pain. A small adjustment to your riding position may or may not be part of the solution - but you need to understand the root cause first.

[sid_day]

[url]http://www.cpsic.co.uk/[/url]
Jubilee Stand,
Crystal Palace, National Sports Centre
London
SE19 2BB
Telephone: 0208 778 9050
Fax 0208 659 1501
Email: enquiries@cpsic.co.uk

They are relatively close to me so convenient. I'm sure there are others in London but they do deal with cyclists there.

Neither fitting nor physio are a panacea but they do help you find the solution yourself.

IMO get a very thorough fitting done (you can take or leave what they say) any information you can get is useful.

[Stu Merckx Man]

ive got my plan of action-

my dad has a friend thats a physio and will do me for free
so im going to see her later on this week, or early next week. then depending what she says i will look into the fittings services massage centres etc etc on offer people have mentioned.

thanks for all the ideas and help guys.

cheers
stu