On cycle tours, at about the 500-mile-plus mark, I sometimes get sharp stabbing pains in the knees, somewhere behind the kneecap. The immediate remedy seems to be to raise the saddle so the knee bends less. But that's limited because if I raise it too high I get Achilles tendon problems. I decided the solution to this dilemma was to fit shorter cranks, so the knee wouldn't have to bend so much without stretching the ankle either.
BUT, someone has told me they think the long-term reason for problems in the knee is not bending it enough - they claim you need to flex it quite a lot to get the right muscles in operation. In that case the solution is to fit longer cranks which of course also reduces the forces (they say it works for them and their knees are 30 years older than mine!)
Any views on the right way to go? Although it's a bit academic at the moment as the advent of a family limits the 500-mile-tour options for other reasons....
Pain in the knees
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mbadmin
Re:Pain in the knees
Hi JS,
Do you do any leg stretching exercises ??
The knee is a rather complicated joint . . . many things can go wrong . . . but it may just be that certain muscles have become lazy leading to patellar tracking problems.
I got my leg stretches from this book *The Knee: Problems and Prevention - A Self-help Guide. by: Vivian Grisogono*
That sorted me out, but your problem may differ.
. . .a stretching convert
Do you do any leg stretching exercises ??
The knee is a rather complicated joint . . . many things can go wrong . . . but it may just be that certain muscles have become lazy leading to patellar tracking problems.
I got my leg stretches from this book *The Knee: Problems and Prevention - A Self-help Guide. by: Vivian Grisogono*
That sorted me out, but your problem may differ.
. . .a stretching convert
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clips
Re:Pain in the knees
Hi! JS just a thought, I had a pain in the same place and it turned out to be a bent pedal axle . I hope you get it sorted ttfn clive
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CJ
Re:Pain in the knees
Fitting longer cranks is dangerous advice. That older guy likely has longer legs than you and/or was born with better knees!
Sounds like you have the classic cyclists knee overuse injury, which is mostly caused by the straightening of an acutely bent knee. Putting your saddle up reduces the maximum amount of bend in your knee, which is why it gives some relief. Longer cranks will increase the amount of bend at the top of the stroke and more likely make things worse. Shorter cranks, on the other hand, will give the same relief as raising the saddle but without any over-stretching at the bottom of the stroke. But that isn't to say you need shorter cranks.
I had the same problem and fitted one shortened crank temporarily as an aid to rehabilitation. It worked. I was eventually able to put the original crank back and ride with my saddle at a sensible height.
But I think that stretching exercises have been the most important factor in restoring that knee. Whenever I get knee twinges nowadays it's when I've been neglecting the stretching exercises.
Sounds like you have the classic cyclists knee overuse injury, which is mostly caused by the straightening of an acutely bent knee. Putting your saddle up reduces the maximum amount of bend in your knee, which is why it gives some relief. Longer cranks will increase the amount of bend at the top of the stroke and more likely make things worse. Shorter cranks, on the other hand, will give the same relief as raising the saddle but without any over-stretching at the bottom of the stroke. But that isn't to say you need shorter cranks.
I had the same problem and fitted one shortened crank temporarily as an aid to rehabilitation. It worked. I was eventually able to put the original crank back and ride with my saddle at a sensible height.
But I think that stretching exercises have been the most important factor in restoring that knee. Whenever I get knee twinges nowadays it's when I've been neglecting the stretching exercises.
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axel_knutt
Re:Pain in the knees
I've had the same problem walking, cycling and swimming on and off for the last 25 years. I've recently discovered that it's due to eating too little. If you've never looked into how much you burn and how much you eat you mught be as surprised as I was. Don't assume that your appetite will tell you how much to eat, overexercise suppresses the appetite.
(www.polar.fi has some useful info on calorie consumption)
(www.polar.fi has some useful info on calorie consumption)
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JS
Re:Pain in the knees
Thanks everyone for the advice. Actually it turns out your advice is consistent with the advice from the older cyclist I quoted, I'd just misunderstood his reasoning. Like you, he agrees the problem is that cycling doesn't develop all the quadriceps, one of the parts of the quadriceps (vastus medialis) is developed only by exercises that get the knee nearly straight, and if you ride a lot with unevenly developed quads the knee cap gets pulled sideways and causes pain. Hence the stretching exercises you all recommend, which develop the remaining part of the quads. His reasoning over crank length was that a longer crank allows you straighten the knee more at the bottom of the stroke without having to raise the saddle further and become unable to get a foot on the ground; whereas at the top of the stroke, where the longer cranks bend the knee more, you don't tend to push so hard anyway. So everyone is nicely agreed the key things are (a) appropriate stretching exercises and (b) a straight leg at the bottom of the pedalling stroke. Thanks again.