Knee discomfort

Allan <[email hidden]> wrote:
: Far be it from me to ask people in this group to perform desktop diagnosis, but I've been having a
: little disomfort in my knees - the left one in particular after riding. This discomfort is really
: apparent when I'm climbing or descending stairs. This concerns me as I have never felt this in the
: 12 years I've been commuting by bike. I'm thinking a little discomfort (or maybe a lot) comes with
: age. I'm 48 but I'm pretty good health and want to keep cycling and commuting for years to come
: without the discomfort, or worse, pain. I usually ride a road bike with SPD clipless pedals that
: have alot of float, and I keep them pretty loose. I try to spin in the lower gears in the 75 to 95
: rpm range so as not to stress out my knees by mashing bigger gears.

: I know this may have been discussed before, but what have some in this group discovered about knee
: pain problems and remedies relative to cycling? I remember reading somewhere that cycling
: generally does not damage the knees. If someone could reaffirm this with some authoritative
: backup, I would appreciate it.

You might try lowering your seat one quarter of an inch. This helped me once when I was getting
knee pain.

--------------------------------
Bob Masse' [email hidden]
--------------------------------

bob Masse replied to allan:

<< You might try lowering your seat one quarter of an inch. This helped me once when I was getting
knee pain.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Seat too low will cause knee pain as well. If you have been riding the same exact seat height with
no prior problems then it is probably not the culprit. But seat height can change sneakily with
changes in shoes or pedals. Buying a new seat will also change the effective distance between
pedal and seat.

I have had episodes of knee pain which seemed to be related to excessively worn out cleats, which
allowed my foot to roll over just a bit.

Could also be simple overuse. If you are doing a ton of hard riding and not getting quite enough
sleep/nourishment your body will start to get [censored]. I don't know your riding habits but you
might just need to back off for a few days, let your knees catch up.

good luck, Robert

"Allan" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Far be it from me to ask people in this group to perform desktop diagnosis, but I've been having a
little disomfort in my knees - the left one in particular after riding. This discomfort is really
apparent when I'm climbing or descending stairs. This concerns me as I have never felt this in the
12 years I've been commuting by bike. I'm thinking a little discomfort (or maybe a lot) comes with
age. I'm 48 but I'm pretty good health and want to keep cycling and commuting for years to come
without the discomfort, or worse, pain. I usually ride a road bike with SPD clipless pedals that
have alot of float, and I keep them pretty loose. I try to spin in the lower gears in the 75 to 95
rpm range so as not to stress out my knees by mashing bigger gears.

I know this may have been discussed before, but what have some in this group discovered about knee
pain problems and remedies relative to cycling? I remember reading somewhere that cycling
generally does not damage the knees. If someone could reaffirm this with some authoritative
backup, I would appreciate it.

The only thing I have found to be really critical is the rotational (toe-in/out) angle of the cleat.
You may want to try tweaking that a little (even after 12 years, it may not be optimal). Your knee
problem might be of the common type of "patella tracking" problems, where the kneecap wanders as the
knee flexes, and winds up irritating the underlying tendon (this is actually tendonitis, rather than
a joint problem per se). There are simple exercises you can do to improve patella tracking.

Don't know the answer. All I know is when I get knee pain from tennis or soccer a nice long bike
ride will clear it right up. What a bummer to find biking could cause knee pain....

"Allan" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Far be it from me to ask people in this group to perform desktop

diagnosis,

Quoted message said:

but I've been having a little disomfort in my knees - the left one in particular after riding.
This discomfort is really apparent when I'm climbing or descending stairs. This concerns me as I
have never felt this in the 12 years I've been commuting by bike. I'm thinking a little discomfort
(or maybe a lot) comes with age. I'm 48 but I'm pretty good health and want to keep cycling and
commuting for years to come without

the

Quoted message said:

discomfort, or worse, pain. I usually ride a road bike with SPD clipless pedals that have alot of
float, and I keep them pretty loose. I try to

spin

Quoted message said:

in the lower gears in the 75 to 95 rpm range so as not to stress out my knees by mashing
bigger gears.

I know this may have been discussed before, but what have some in this

group

Quoted message said:

discovered about knee pain problems and remedies relative to cycling? I remember reading somewhere
that cycling generally does not damage the

knees.

Quoted message said:

If someone could reaffirm this with some authoritative backup, I would appreciate it.

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Newsgroup Service in the World! -----== Over 100,000 Newsgroups - 19 Different Servers! =-----

Allan said:

Far be it from me to ask people in this group to perform desktop diagnosis, but I've been having a
little disomfort in my knees - the left one in particular after riding. This discomfort is really
apparent when I'm climbing or descending stairs. This concerns me as I have never felt this in the
12 years I've been commuting by bike. I'm thinking a little discomfort (or maybe a lot) comes with
age. I'm 48 but I'm pretty good health and want to keep cycling and commuting for years to come
without the discomfort, or worse, pain. I usually ride a road bike with SPD clipless pedals that
have alot of float, and I keep them pretty loose. I try to spin in the lower gears in the 75 to 95
rpm range so as not to stress out my knees by mashing bigger gears.

I know this may have been discussed before, but what have some in this group discovered about knee
pain problems and remedies relative to cycling? I remember reading somewhere that cycling
generally does not damage the knees. If someone could reaffirm this with some authoritative
backup, I would appreciate it.

Eating a lot of bananas may help for certain types of joint pain, apparently something in them acts
as a joint lubricant. This was recommended to me once for knee pain (not caused by cycling) and
seemed to help. Not bad for you otherwise, either.

Adam

Quoted message said:

Allan <[email hidden]> wrote:
: Far be it from me to ask people in this group to perform desktop diagnosis, but I've been having
: a little disomfort in my knees - the left one in particular after riding. This discomfort is
: really apparent when I'm climbing or descending stairs. This concerns me as I have never felt
: this in the 12 years I've been commuting by bike. I'm thinking a little discomfort (or maybe a
: lot) comes with age. I'm 48 but I'm pretty good health and want to keep cycling and commuting
: for years to come without the discomfort, or worse, pain. I usually ride a road bike with SPD
: clipless pedals that have alot of float, and I keep them pretty loose. I try to spin in the
: lower gears in the 75 to 95 rpm range so as not to stress out my knees by mashing bigger gears.

: I know this may have been discussed before, but what have some in this group discovered about
: knee pain problems and remedies relative to cycling? I remember reading somewhere that cycling
: generally does not damage the knees. If someone could reaffirm this with some authoritative
: backup, I would appreciate it.

You might try lowering your seat one quarter of an inch. This helped me once when I was getting
knee pain.

--------------------------------
Bob Masse' [email hidden]
--------------------------------

Allan:

I had the same symptoms you described summer of 2002. The pain was only in my right knee, and I
only experienced it on the stairs. During a slowdown in riding during the winter, it seemed to
heal itself.

I have put on a lot of miles lately, and don't seem to have a problem with the knee. Keep in mind I
have done nothing to change the bike setup. I would be very cautious about changing seat position as
this is usually done to address knee pain while ON the bike.

Kerry

I have had problems with my right knee for years. About 6 months ago I started doing Yoga type
stretches for the quads, and it seems to have helped a lot. If you go this route, start very slowly,
or you can hurt yourself.

Mann

It’s probably a patella tracking condition aka chondromalacia which
is very common with cyclists. I’m also 48 (it can probably occur in any age
group if you do enough riding) and 1 mo. ago my left knee began experiencing the same problems. I started strengthening my quadriceps to help stabilize both kneecaps (leg lifts using an old, heavy pair of backpacking boots). After 1-2 weeks symptoms gradually disappeared and I was back to climbing and descending stairs and hills like a champ again. I also compensated slightly for a shorter right leg (broken at age 5)
by making and placing a shim inside the shoe (I still use toe clips). So far it’s been pain free.

Keep in mind any exercise should be accompanied by a stretching program. I stretch both the hamstrings and quads. My hamstrings turn into rebar after a ride and stretching them seems to alleviate any low back pain I may have. For more on chondromalacia and other useful information check out the following link: http://www.cptips.com/toc.htm

p55mac

Allan,

I anguished over the same thing last year. I only started biking in August of last year. After
having bought a nice bike, I find my knees hurt. At age 42, I was more concerned about not hurting
myself than pursuing this sport. The bottom line for me was cleat adjustment, rotated in or out
enough. The bike shop owner wasn't really able to help me with this. I had to do trial and error for
myself. In fact, even after I have it dialed in, I've tried to see if moving the cleats a little
more one way or the other would make my comfort even better. Surprisingly, a slight move caused my
pain to come back. So, yes, there is an optimum cleat position. And, like others have noted, you
should start off slow, not pushing big gears. Now, one year later I have no knee pain. I enjoy the
sport and have learned not to worry. I hope this helps.

David

"Allan" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Far be it from me to ask people in this group to perform desktop

diagnosis,

Quoted message said:

but I've been having a little disomfort in my knees - the left one in particular after riding.
This discomfort is really apparent when I'm climbing or descending stairs. This concerns me as I
have never felt this in the 12 years I've been commuting by bike. I'm thinking a little discomfort
(or maybe a lot) comes with age. I'm 48 but I'm pretty good health and want to keep cycling and
commuting for years to come without

the

Quoted message said:

discomfort, or worse, pain. I usually ride a road bike with SPD clipless pedals that have alot of
float, and I keep them pretty loose. I try to

spin

Quoted message said:

in the lower gears in the 75 to 95 rpm range so as not to stress out my knees by mashing
bigger gears.

I know this may have been discussed before, but what have some in this

group

Quoted message said:

discovered about knee pain problems and remedies relative to cycling? I remember reading somewhere
that cycling generally does not damage the

knees.

Quoted message said:

If someone could reaffirm this with some authoritative backup, I would appreciate it.

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Thanks for the link below. There's alot there about this issue and possible remedies for knee pain
that I'm going to pursue.

Quoted message said:

For more on chondromalacia and other useful information check out the following link:
cptips.comtoc.htmOpen ↗

p55mac

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Quoted message said:

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