Knee discomfort

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.




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Allan 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'
--------------------------------

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.


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 ****ed off.
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

wrote:

Allan 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'
--------------------------------

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

"Allan" wrote in message
...
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.

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

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" wrote in message
...
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.




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Allan 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.

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

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" wrote in message
...
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.




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Matt Bidwell wrote:
Hello. Does anyone know or have any experience with Fetish Cycles? I am
impressed by what the offer for the price: Columbus Airplane tubing and
a carbon rear stay. However, I have not been able to find any
information on the company or anyone that has any experience.
thanks Matt

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



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