Posterior Knee Pain?

I'm having posterior knee pain right now. Posterior, lateral to be exact. It happened after I took off too fast out of my driveway when I was just starting out on a ride. I'm curious about what it is, too. I have the feelng it's tendons/cartilege that are causing the pain, since it's probably not muscle or bone. I took today off, will take tomorrow off, and see how it does after that. I'm hoping it doesn't require any more time off or any doctor's visits. The reason I'm not going to see the doc yet is because I don't think they'd be able to tell me anything, since I'm pretty it wouldn't show up on a scan. Could be a slight cartilege/tendon tear... that's my best geuss for you and I, since they sound about the same. Let me know what you find out, and good luck. Ice always helps, too.

AmpedCycle said:

I'm having posterior knee pain right now. Posterior, lateral to be exact. It happened after I took off too fast out of my driveway when I was just starting out on a ride. I'm curious about what it is, too. I have the feelng it's tendons/cartilege that are causing the pain, since it's probably not muscle or bone. I took today off, will take tomorrow off, and see how it does after that. I'm hoping it doesn't require any more time off or any doctor's visits. The reason I'm not going to see the doc yet is because I don't think they'd be able to tell me anything, since I'm pretty it wouldn't show up on a scan. Could be a slight cartilege/tendon tear... that's my best geuss for you and I, since they sound about the same. Let me know what you find out, and good luck. Ice always helps, too.

As a general rule most patience I see just have an over use injury. You overwork or overstress the ligaments and tendons that hold the knee together. First you have to make sure you are fitted corectly. Next thing you may have done is done a bit to many climbs to fast. once the muscle become fatigued the joint tissue has to provide stability and that is when you can get a sprain stain injury. There are many variations so see someone asap that has some sports backround and get back on the bike. Worst case I have seen a few medial meniscus tears as well as bakers cysist that are present but get symptomatic with cycling. Lastly I have had someone with similar issuse that had a tear in the popliteus muscle.

well, with rest, my knee has fixed itself, though now i'm trying to recover from flying over the handle bars onto the street... i'm pretty sure that my knee pain was from an over stressed ligament... it's not cartilege pain or bone pain

Doesn't sound like overuse to me at all. Sounds like underuse, lack of stretching, improper training periodization and too-much-too-soon-disease. Try lowering the saddle just for the hell of it, too.

tumbleweed77 said:

Hi all... I've been doing a lot of riding in the last 5 months (my entire cycling lifespan) and have been climbing hills at increasing speeds. The last climb i did was quite steep for over about a 5 mile distance and everything felt fine except that i could feel a tightness in my upper calf, just below my knee. on the way home from that trip w/ all the climbing i stood up to pedal off a light and felt a sharp pain directly behind my knee... after a few pedal strokes the sharp pain went away into a mild soreness... 3 days later I can walk and spin fine but going up stairs fast or twisting my knee towards the inside will spark some pain... has anyone ever experienced this? I normally give mild injuries a week b4 i see the doctor, it's just that the pain is in such an odd place... not looking for a diagnosis.. just wanting to see if someone new what it COULD be. thanks!

Hmm... I just had a problem very similar to this. I was getting a lot of pain in that area of the knee, and couldn't figure out how to fix the problem. But my outer, back calf muscle [gastrocnemius?] felt very tight, and I found a way to stretch it out [by sitting in chair, knee bent at 90 degrees as normal, toes on the floor, and then raising my knee].

Following a few minutes of intense stretching, the pain in my knee almost completely went away. What followed was an intense soreness in that calf area, which has lasted a few days, but has almost finished healing.

I'm not sure what you did to aggrevate your issue, but I think mine was related to weight training.

Anyway, if it arises again, you might try some stretching and rest.

-Eric

Bullseye_blam said:

Hmm... I just had a problem very similar to this. I was getting a lot of pain in that area of the knee, and couldn't figure out how to fix the problem. But my outer, back calf muscle [gastrocnemius?] felt very tight, and I found a way to stretch it out [by sitting in chair, knee bent at 90 degrees as normal, toes on the floor, and then raising my knee].

Following a few minutes of intense stretching, the pain in my knee almost completely went away. What followed was an intense soreness in that calf area, which has lasted a few days, but has almost finished healing.

I'm not sure what you did to aggrevate your issue, but I think mine was related to weight training.

Anyway, if it arises again, you might try some stretching and rest.

-Eric

Eric you weren't stretching, you were doing seated calf raises with no weight. Muscles have to lengthen in order to stretch. But by "raising your knee" in the seated position, your foot plantarflexed, and you contracted your calf to do it. If your knee was bent and you had been stretching, you would have stretched the soleus, not the gastrocnemius. For the gastrocnemius, your knee has to be straight, not bent.