Bad Knee

Velo Serg said:

How do you deal with knee pain? Do you ride some while healing or wait completely?

Wait for it to heal completely or else your cycling days are over.

You need to get at the cause of the knee pain. I had a knee injury myself some weeks ago and discovered the reason was my technique. I had been climbing a lot while seated when I discovered recently that it's far healthier to stand up when you ascend.
First of all you need to rest the knee for a few days or try pain-free cycling in lower gears. If there's any pain when you are riding stop the activity till you can ride without discomfort.
You also need to check your seat height. On the downstroke you need to be just a little short of full extension to avoid over-stretching. The system I use myself now for climbing is very knee-friendly. I stand up and grip the handlebars around the area of the brakes and gear shifters instead of being in the drops. This allows me to pedal from a height and drive only from the hip. There is far less strain involved.

Velo Serg said:

How do you deal with knee pain? Do you ride some while healing or wait completely?

Carrera said:

You need to get at the cause of the knee pain. I had a knee injury myself some weeks ago and discovered the reason was my technique. I had been climbing a lot while seated when I discovered recently that it's far healthier to stand up when you ascend.
First of all you need to rest the knee for a few days or try pain-free cycling in lower gears. If there's any pain when you are riding stop the activity till you can ride without discomfort.
You also need to check your seat height. On the downstroke you need to be just a little short of full extension to avoid over-stretching. The system I use myself now for climbing is very knee-friendly. I stand up and grip the handlebars around the area of the brakes and gear shifters instead of being in the drops. This allows me to pedal from a height and drive only from the hip. There is far less strain involved.

My seat is the right height, but I think the length of the frame is too short for me. When I stand to climb hills I have to stay bunched up so as not to fall over the front of the bar. Whatever the issue, I know climbing while out of the saddle does not feel comfortable after a long ride. It is as if I am off balance, so maybe I am using my legs to balance more than I need to, hence the knee pain.

Carrera said:

...I had a knee injury myself some weeks ago and discovered the reason was my technique. I had been climbing a lot while seated when I discovered recently that it's far healthier to stand up when you ascend.
First of all you need to rest the knee for a few days or try pain-free cycling in lower gears. If there's any pain when you are riding stop the activity till you can ride without discomfort.
You also need to check your seat height. On the downstroke you need to be just a little short of full extension to avoid over-stretching. The system I use myself now for climbing is very knee-friendly. I stand up and grip the handlebars around the area of the brakes and gear shifters instead of being in the drops. This allows me to pedal from a height and drive only from the hip. There is far less strain involved.

Carrera, the reason why you might have a knee injury is that you might not be properly fitted on your bike. I dont believe that being seated all the time while climbing can cause injury to the knees. I done a lot of climbing while seated and standing, but it didnt give me one bit of knee pain. Some readers here might get the wrong impression.

I recently acquired an in-depth sports/medical book on the knee and it was claimed that cycling uphill while seated is tough on the knee joint. It was recommended you should always get out of the seat. However, I know lots of cyclists do cycle uphill while still in the seat (Jan Ullrich for one).
I put it to the test over the last few weeks and have been experimenting with knee-friendly cycling. I found the most effective way for me to cycle uphill (with least stress) is to place my hands over the gear shifters and stand out of the seat, pedaling from a high position. I thought I'd invented this method till I noticed one or two of the tour de France competitors doing the same thing. I noticed the majority were in the drops during an ascent but a couple had their hands on the shifters and were right out of the seat. I also found I could go uphill at about 17 mph this way as opposed to my 10 mph in the drops. Less knee stress and more speed. This way you push right from the hip and the knee takes hardly any stress at all.
I also concluded that it takes a lot of practice to get gears right. I think using the gears in the right way can take huge stresses off the knee.
You're right my bike could be fitted out better. My guess is the handlebars are too low down in relation to the height of the seat. However, as I now keep my hands permanently on the top bars I feel far more comfortable while riding.
I've already had one knee injury and the last thing I want is another one - hence the experimentation.

tanggoman said:

Carrera, the reason why you might have a knee injury is that you might not be properly fitted on your bike. I dont believe that being seated all the time while climbing can cause injury to the knees. I done a lot of climbing while seated and standing, but it didnt give me one bit of knee pain. Some readers here might get the wrong impression.