New Cyclist with knee pain

[matthew81]

Hello,

I'm relatively new cycling and absolutely love it. To be honest with you during the past couple years I've been very inactive and have just started picking up the sport.

It seems that after I come back and sometimes during I have slight knee pain on the inside of my knees, mostly my right knee. My questions are:

• How high should be seat be adjusted? I feel that I might not have the proper alignment which could be wearing on my knees.
• How should my seat be positioned?
• I don't have clips or straps on my pedals, so should I be pushing with more of the ball, arch or heel. I just want to have proper pedal positioning.
• How many rotations should I be doing on average in a minute on a semi flat surface? I also want to make sure I'm riding the proper gear for my terrain.
• Lastly, what type of stretches should I be doing before and after riding to loosen up?

Sorry about all the questions, I'm kinda new at this but really want to learn.

Matt

 

[Yojimbo_]

Let me have a go at responding.

For saddle height, a good starting point is to adjust it so when you put your heels on the pedals and turn the crank your legs go fully straight at maximum extension while your hips remain straight (i.e., no wiggling from side to side to maintain pedal contact). After that, you can make small adjustments up or down as you like.

For saddle fore and aft, another rule of thumb is to put you pedal at the three o'clock position and drop a plumbline from just below your kneecap. The plumbline should intersect the pedal spindle. After that, you can again make small adjustments as you like. Also note that your saddle should be level and not tilted downwards.

For foot positioning on the pedal, you want the ball of your foot over the pedal spindle.

For cadence, 80 - 90 RPM is about right, but after you ride for awhile you'll get a feel for what works for you. It might be difficult to spin at this rate for a newbie. Cadence will necessarily drop on steep hills, but you should use your gears to keep your cadence constant as best you can.

For stretching, I don't do very much but when I do it's a calf stretch and a hamstring stretch. I rarely stretch before a ride - in fact, I've seem some articles that say stretching should be done after a workout instead of before.

One more thing - be careful not to overdo it at first else you can injure yourself. Your body needs time to adapt to the rigours of riding, especially if you're going hard and / or going far.

So good luck.

 

[matthew81]

Thank you so much!!

I adjusted the seat higher than I had it and it felt a little better, I'm going to try it out again tomorrow.

I am curious about the stretching advice. I've always stretched before doing any type of sport or work out. I'm curious to the reasoning not to stretch. But I'll give it a try and see if it helps at all.

I do have the tendency to jump in and start overdoing it, so I'm trying to stay to a 3 - 4 time a week schedule. Nothing crazy, but I don't want to hurt myself and start over.

Thank you again for you quick post. Still curious about the stretching though.

 

[jump_at_the_sun]

Welcome back to cycling! Way to go! Yojimbo has great advice for setup, so I'll mention something different.

Since you said you have been inactive for a while, try doing some other activities while you get into biking, so you're developing good stabilizing muscles in your joints. Pain was the first sign of overdoing it when I got back into cycling too, and I ended up tearing a patellar tendon (which started as a feeling of pressure within the knee).

Repetitive motions like cycling put a lot of stress on tendons/ligaments which is where a good warm up comes in. Even walking to increase circulation before you get in the saddle is good. Pain in the joints is usually a sign of an inflamed tendon, so either take an NSAID or apply ice when you're having pain and stop the activity (I know I know, it's hard to get off the bike).

Another possibility is poorly tracking knees. I think you'd have to go see a specialist of some sort to get this checked out but if your kneecap isn't moving properly along the joint, that can cause pain with use. Same thing with arthritis.

I'm still recovering from the tendon tear but find I can stay happy and pain-free if I just shift into a lower gear if something's feeling funny. It means I go slower but the memory of that intense pain and not being able to bike for so long keeps me in check.

 

[matthew81]

Another possibility is poorly tracking knees. I think you'd have to go see a specialist of some sort to get this checked out but if your kneecap isn't moving properly along the joint, that can cause pain with use. Same thing with arthritis.

Thank you so much for your post!! I've been told by a chiropractor that I have a tracking issue with my knees. He said that this was due to weak vastus medialis and quadricep muscles. I also have very tight hamstrings which I think are contributing to the knee pain.

Do you recommend any particular stretches or strengthening exercises for knee tracking?

Matt

 

[GT Fanatic]

For knee pain, are you keeping your knee straight when you are pedaling, or is it bowing out to the outside or inside? Your knees should be facing straight ahead. Before you get in a habit of poor riding technique, focus on this. Soon, it will become 2nd nature. It's a lot harder to break a bad habit than to try to adapt to a correct one.

For seat-height, your knees should be very slightly bent. While sitting on the seat, the tips of your toes should be all that is touching the cement. Obviously you're going to want to do this on a flat surface to insure the correct height.

 

[jump_at_the_sun]

Thank you so much for your post!! I've been told by a chiropractor that I have a tracking issue with my knees. He said that this was due to weak vastus medialis and quadricep muscles. I also have very tight hamstrings which I think are contributing to the knee pain.

Do you recommend any particular stretches or strengthening exercises for knee tracking?

Matt

Exercises? Yes! Hold something like a small throw-pillow or tennis ball between your thighs and do quarter squats (if butt on the floor is full & half is with knees bent 90 degrees).

You could also visit an orthopaedic specialist about a knee brace. They make special braces that gently keep your knee cap in place instead of mal-tracking. I didn't find them too intrusive although my knees track fine.

You might want to pay a few visits to a physiotherapist about getting some good exercises and stretches!