Runner's Knee and Cycling

Running Bear wrote:
:: A LRS person told me that my runner's knees are caused by imbalance
:: in strength between two upper-leg muscle groups, namely, quadricep
:: and hamstring.
::
:: If I complement my running with cycling, will it help?

It depends on which muscle is weak. I'd guess the likely weak muscle is
your ham, and if that's the case, cycling my not help. You might try doing
some weight lifting movements to increase hamstring strenght. Straight
legged deadlifts, leg presses and crunches would be the ones.

In general, cycling is good for the knees provided you fit your bike
correctly.

::
:: Also, one burns about 100 cal per running mile. In cycling, is there
:: a similar ballpark caloric estimate (or chart of variables) per
:: cycling mile?

Generally, given the same level of intensity as measured by heart rate, one
hour of running will burn about the same calories as one hour of cycling.
You'll just go further on the bike.

In article <[email hidden]>,

(Running Bear) said:

A LRS person told me that my runner's knees are caused by imbalance in
strength between two upper-leg muscle groups, namely, quadricep and
hamstring.

If I complement my running with cycling, will it help?

Yes, I am recovering from patellar tendonitis and a little bit of
runner's knee. Strenghening the quads will help. I have been rehabing
on an excerise bike and it has helped a lot. I tried body-weight
squats, but cycling seemed to help me more + it aids cardio during your
layoff.

In fact, I think I am going to swtich to road riding to save my knees.

For what it's worth, I developed runner's knee myself. After about 4 weeks
of doing nothing and only a slight pain in the knee I got out my 18 year old
10 speed and started biking. The knee feels good and I'm in the market for a
decent bike. I understand that if you have a tendency to over pronate, which
I do and absolutely had to use Brooks the Beast running shoes, that can also
cause the runner's knee. Since I'm getting older and the running injuries
seem to be increasing, I'm going to commit to biking and see how it goes.
Ray

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

Quoted message said:

A LRS person told me that my runner's knees are caused by imbalance in
strength between two upper-leg muscle groups, namely, quadricep and
hamstring.

If I complement my running with cycling, will it help?

Also, one burns about 100 cal per running mile. In cycling, is there
a similar ballpark caloric estimate (or chart of variables) per
cycling mile?

Thanks for your pointers!

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

Quoted message said:

For what it's worth, I developed runner's knee myself. After about 4 weeks
of doing nothing and only a slight pain in the knee I got out my 18 year

old

Quoted message said:

10 speed and started biking. The knee feels good and I'm in the market for

a

Quoted message said:

decent bike. I understand that if you have a tendency to over pronate,

which

Quoted message said:

I do and absolutely had to use Brooks the Beast running shoes, that can

also

Quoted message said:

cause the runner's knee. Since I'm getting older and the running injuries
seem to be increasing, I'm going to commit to biking and see how it goes.
Ray

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

Quoted message said:

A LRS person told me that my runner's knees are caused by imbalance in
strength between two upper-leg muscle groups, namely, quadricep and
hamstring.

If I complement my running with cycling, will it help?

Also, one burns about 100 cal per running mile. In cycling, is there
a similar ballpark caloric estimate (or chart of variables) per
cycling mile?

Thanks for your pointers!

FYI
Years ago I had developed knee problems from cycling (mostly) and running
and the pain could be quite sever when hiking or running downhill. I went to
a Physical Therapist who showed me how the patella works and how an
imbalance between the leg muscle groups could cause a tracking problem (the
patella is more 3 dimensional than most people think and it follows up and
down in a groove in the knee tissue). When the patella was tracking off to
the side because of a weak VMO (vastus medialus-one of the quadriceps). My
solution was PT-doing exercises to strengthen the VMO like skiers squats
(wall squats), regular squats, leg extensions, leg lifts etc. Doing these
exercises regularly over a long period of time has helped tremendously!
IM if your problem is needing to strengthen the quads cycling probably wont
help too much.
alan

dreaded wrote:
:: "Ray" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
:: news:[email hidden]...
::: For what it's worth, I developed runner's knee myself. After about
::: 4 weeks of doing nothing and only a slight pain in the knee I got
::: out my 18 year old 10 speed and started biking. The knee feels good
::: and I'm in the market for a decent bike. I understand that if you
::: have a tendency to over pronate, which I do and absolutely had to
::: use Brooks the Beast running shoes, that can also cause the
::: runner's knee. Since I'm getting older and the running injuries
::: seem to be increasing, I'm going to commit to biking and see how it
::: goes. Ray
:::
:::
::: "Running Bear" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
::: news:[email hidden]...
:::: A LRS person told me that my runner's knees are caused by
:::: imbalance in strength between two upper-leg muscle groups, namely,
:::: quadricep and hamstring.
::::
:::: If I complement my running with cycling, will it help?
::::
:::: Also, one burns about 100 cal per running mile. In cycling, is
:::: there a similar ballpark caloric estimate (or chart of variables)
:::: per cycling mile?
::::
:::: Thanks for your pointers!
:::
:::
::
:: FYI
:: Years ago I had developed knee problems from cycling (mostly) and
:: running and the pain could be quite sever when hiking or running
:: downhill. I went to a Physical Therapist who showed me how the
:: patella works and how an imbalance between the leg muscle groups
:: could cause a tracking problem (the patella is more 3 dimensional
:: than most people think and it follows up and down in a groove in the
:: knee tissue). When the patella was tracking off to the side because
:: of a weak VMO (vastus medialus-one of the quadriceps). My solution
:: was PT-doing exercises to strengthen the VMO like skiers squats
:: (wall squats), regular squats, leg extensions, leg lifts etc. Doing
:: these exercises regularly over a long period of time has helped
:: tremendously!
:: IM if your problem is needing to strengthen the quads cycling
:: probably wont help too much.
:: alan

I think cycling uses the quads a lot (I think this because of how sore mine
get after a long hard ride), so if imbalance is due to weak quads, cycling
should help.

Roger Zoul said:

In general, cycling is good for the knees provided you fit your bike
correctly.

And /cycle/ correctly, I assume? A friend of mine has an odd
habit of riding with his right heel sticking out, which I
would think puts unusual stresses on the knee joint.

--
jc

Remove the -not from email

Roger Zoul said:

I think cycling uses the quads a lot (I think this because of how sore mine
get after a long hard ride), so if imbalance is due to weak quads, cycling
should help.

If you're ever in doubt that cycling uses the quads, just take a look at
any pro cyclist's quads. Case closed. ;-)

-km

--
the black rose
proud to be owned by a yorkie
http://community.webshots.com/user/blackrosequilts

the black rose said:

Roger Zoul said:

I think cycling uses the quads a lot (I think this because of how
sore mine get after a long hard ride), so if imbalance is due to
weak quads, cycling should help.

If you're ever in doubt that cycling uses the quads, just take a look
at any pro cyclist's quads. Case closed. ;-)

If there's an imbalance among cyclists, it's almost certainly weak
hamstrings (as compared to quads). One yoga class will confirm that!

Bill "living proof" S.

S o r n i said:

the black rose said:

Roger Zoul said:

I think cycling uses the quads a lot (I think this because of how
sore mine get after a long hard ride), so if imbalance is due to
weak quads, cycling should help.

If you're ever in doubt that cycling uses the quads, just take a look
at any pro cyclist's quads. Case closed. ;-)

If there's an imbalance among cyclists, it's almost certainly weak
hamstrings (as compared to quads). One yoga class will confirm that!

Strength, or stretch? (or both?) You *are* stretching your hamstrings
regularly, aren't you Bill? *wicked grin*

-km, who after 2 months can finally touch her nose to the knee of a
straight leg

--
the black rose
proud to be owned by a yorkie
http://community.webshots.com/user/blackrosequilts

the black rose said:

S o r n i wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

If there's an imbalance among cyclists, it's almost certainly weak
hamstrings (as compared to quads). One yoga class will confirm that!

Strength, or stretch? (or both?) You *are* stretching your
hamstrings regularly, aren't you Bill? *wicked grin*

-km, who after 2 months can finally touch her nose to the knee of a
straight leg

Actually, I'm extremely flexible (especially for a man); can easily put
"nose to toes" in various positions. (Knees easy, too.)

Bill "need to strengthen the hammies, though" S.

S o r n i said:

the black rose said:

S o r n i wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

If there's an imbalance among cyclists, it's almost certainly weak
hamstrings (as compared to quads). One yoga class will confirm that!

Strength, or stretch? (or both?) You *are* stretching your
hamstrings regularly, aren't you Bill? *wicked grin*

-km, who after 2 months can finally touch her nose to the knee of a
straight leg

Actually, I'm extremely flexible (especially for a man); can easily put
"nose to toes" in various positions. (Knees easy, too.)

Bill "need to strengthen the hammies, though" S.

Before my hip injury, I could touch my elbow to the tip of my shoe,
with my leg, of course, straight with knee locked.

-B

"S o r n i" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

the black rose said:

Roger Zoul said:

I think cycling uses the quads a lot (I think this because of how
sore mine get after a long hard ride), so if imbalance is due to
weak quads, cycling should help.

If you're ever in doubt that cycling uses the quads, just take a look
at any pro cyclist's quads. Case closed. ;-)

If there's an imbalance among cyclists, it's almost certainly weak
hamstrings (as compared to quads). One yoga class will confirm that!

Bill "living proof" S.

it depends on what type of cycling you do. sprinters have big quads because
they stand a lot. but personally I can never get as good a workout for the
quads cycling. it also is even more important for patellar tracking which
area of the quads we're talking about, that's why i mentioned the VMO. what
happened in this case (according to the PT-whose advice has been good) is
that the laterals and hams were very strong while the medial quads were weak
causing the tracking prob. since the only exercise i was doing at the time
was about 200 miles/week on a very nice old Benotto road bike it was safe to
assume the prob was from that. ask any trainer for any sport how important
it is to keep the quads fit for knee support. i apologise for being unclear
in my earlier post.

-of couse that was before pedals with "free float"!

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

Quoted message said:

"S o r n i" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

the black rose said:

Roger Zoul wrote:
> I think cycling uses the quads a lot (I think this because of how
> sore mine get after a long hard ride), so if imbalance is due to
> weak quads, cycling should help.

If you're ever in doubt that cycling uses the quads, just take a look
at any pro cyclist's quads. Case closed. ;-)

If there's an imbalance among cyclists, it's almost certainly weak
hamstrings (as compared to quads). One yoga class will confirm that!

Bill "living proof" S.

it depends on what type of cycling you do. sprinters have big quads

because

Quoted message said:

they stand a lot. but personally I can never get as good a workout for the
quads cycling. it also is even more important for patellar tracking which
area of the quads we're talking about, that's why i mentioned the VMO.

what

Quoted message said:

happened in this case (according to the PT-whose advice has been good) is
that the laterals and hams were very strong while the medial quads were

weak

Quoted message said:

causing the tracking prob. since the only exercise i was doing at the time
was about 200 miles/week on a very nice old Benotto road bike it was safe

to

Quoted message said:

assume the prob was from that. ask any trainer for any sport how important
it is to keep the quads fit for knee support. i apologise for being

unclear

Quoted message said:

in my earlier post.