My Knees......

Ichiro

Hello,

I recently bought a road bike and have gone on a few cycles up to wicklow and back all cycles have been around 70 - 100 K.
About 3 weeks ago I finished a tough 80k Sally gap etc.
Since then my knees have been killing me, I have become a Nurofen addict!
My brother tells me its my Cleats, I wasnt in tight enough.

Can anyone pls pass me on some advice as I am in serious pain and now after 3 weeks off the bike am Quite worried.

Thanks

jman0

Instead of the problem being your cleats not tight enough, it's more likely a problem that by wearing cleats you are forcing your feet and joints into a restrictive path, and they are complaining.
I suppose your options are either to mess with the angle your cleats are pitched at, and experiment. Or you could put on a pair of ordinary pedals and go without cleats and see how your knees feel.
I'm presuming you've been fitted to the bike, so that your leg is doing a proper extension.

copacetic

or are your cleats fixed or do they have a bit of float?
your knees being sore usually indicates they have been
working at a funny angle, if your cleats have float (eg red look)
then you have 10 degrees or so of side to side movement available..

Einstein

whereabouts are you experiencing the knee pain?
Top, bottom, back, side or middle?
The reason I ask is that even though the pain might be in the knee it may be a quads or hamstring tendon issue and nothing to do with the knee. Especially with cycling, the angle you're at puts lots of pressure on the Hip flexors and quads.

Ichiro

The Pain is right behind the Knee Cap,
Though I have been told it could be the muscles in the Leg

Dutchboy

Have you got tight illotibial bands by any chance?
The IT bands are thick bands of tissue which link the hips to the knee.
They may have become too tight, that pulls on the kneecap and puts the tracking of the patella off.
IT Band Picture=www.physicaltherapy.ca/ ortho/ITBS1.html
I thought i had this problem, but it turned out to be weak glutes f**king up my knees! :mad:
www.rice.edu/~jenky/sports/itband.html
This website shows some stretches for it, try it and see if it feels good!
As some of the other guys were saying, cycling puts alot of strain on the quads, so another possible reason could be an imbalance with outer quads and adductors (inner)

Most importantly, go to a proper sports physio! Dont put it off ! Try the O'Neill sports clinic in UCD, they have some excellent people there, are know much more about injuries in a sporting sense than the regular physios!

Ooops, just saw your location! Check out yer nearest sports physio! lol

cianc

I second the suggestion to get yourself to a physio.
It's unlikely to be ITB related as this causes pain on the outiside of the knee and mostly affects runners.
Best of luck in recovery!
Cian