mis alligned platella equals no cycling

littleknown

well, got some bad news yesterday in terms of cycling at least, after several months of problems with the knees the specialist said i had mis alligned platellas which meant i would have to stop cycling for the foreseeable future and was vague about if i should ever do it again, ( he actually suggested i sell my bike!), this hurts more than anything because i was just starting to improve my fitness levels and had forked out over a grand on a new road bike adding to my mtb, cycling is the one sport hobby i love so its a real pain,

just wonderig has anyone else had this knee problem and returned to cycling?

BostonB

Perhaps you should get a 2nd opinion from another specialist not the internet. You'd be best advised seeing a sports physio, and perhaps another specialist. As they don't all agree or treat the same. I had this pproblem and physio helped massively. Though it can be caused by different things apparent, so my problem might be different to yours. Which is why asking medical advice is against the rules on the forum (I think).

TheJones

Agree with the above, taking any advice received online that may aggrevate the problem could be detrimental to your eventual recovery, if not satisfied with your initial diagnosis then seeking a second opinion is always justified but that second opinion should come from a qualified individual and not from this forum, sorry to hear about your problem and good luck

littleknown

thanks for the feedback, to be honest this is the third specialist i have been do and is the best one, a proper sports related injury type, its amazing though each specialist recommended different things, from drugs to surgery, i was even advised by one to keep cycling as it helped the problem. the last specialist though said this was not the case and my own experience tells me he is right, i

bottom line is the medical profession from my experience and through other family illness is a farce so i felt to ask some experienced cyclists regarding their own experiences might in fact provide a more factual overview of the injury.

peterako

Not sure if it'll be the same for you but...

Most(?)/a lot of patella misalignment/mistracking is caused by muscle imbalance.

Cycliing, running etc. can lead to massive imbalance between the outer Quad and inner muscles leading to, over time, real tracking problems.

I'm not a physio, nor a sports doctor, but have suffered from bad knees since my teenage years. (14 years solid at pretty high levels of Athletics can abuse the joints terribly )

At times I could barely climb stairs :eek:
Doctor after doctor told me there was nothing wrong.....(Sports ones too but that was back in the 'dark ages' of Irish medicine)

I have managed to get my knees into pretty good shape now by taking care to have balanced strength around my knee joints (I try to have this for all my joints).

Just another person's 2 cents.....

Peter

RobFowl

littleknown wrote: »

well, got some bad news yesterday in terms of cycling at least, after several months of problems with the knees the specialist said i had mis alligned platellas which meant i would have to stop cycling for the foreseeable future and was vague about if i should ever do it again, ( he actually suggested i sell my bike!), this hurts more than anything because i was just starting to improve my fitness levels and had forked out over a grand on a new road bike adding to my mtb, cycling is the one sport hobby i love so its a real pain,

just wonderig has anyone else had this knee problem and returned to cycling?

Absolute bollocks PM me

BostonB

Indeed if anyone knows of a specialised physio for these kinda of injuries I'd be interested in some contact details.

gman2k

Misaligned patella is often caused by having bow legs (thank your parents), which is not fixable by muscle building - so my specialist told me...
He didn't advise me to give up cycling, but to stay away from the hills as much as possible.
I would advise you to talk to an orthopedic surgeon if possible.

robs1

this might sound mad but when i got fitted for my bike i had told the guy about my knee problems and he advised me to get the clip in look brand peddles cant remember why but he did say they would help

RacoonQueen

I had this from running, first cropped up back in May just two weeks before a marathon, I was in absolute agony with every step I took. Had to pull out of my marathon and was about a month out of doing any proper running. Felt no pain when cycling and was still cycling to and from work/the gym and did a few other long cycles and felt fine. It cleared up, bar a couple of odd twinges with some strengthening work and physio but started rearing it's ugly head again recently when I started running more and going to the gym less. It can be treated, there's no reason AFAIK why you should have to give up cycling. I was told to be careful when cycling and was seeing two different physios at the time, neither of them told me not to cycle or run, they were actually both surprised that I was more or less not running at all as most people can continue their sport while trying to correct the problem. It's caused by a muscle imbalance so you should be able to sort it out. Get a second, third and fourth opinion if you have to.

BostonB

On the subject of clip ins and fixies for that matter, you'd think as it works your knee going up and down it would be more even exercise for muscles than stabilise the kneecap. I haven't tried either though. It was just me thinking about it. Then I read this too http://www.sheldonbrown.com/fixed-knees.html. However theres always the risk the problem isn't straightforward and you might do the wrong exercise, or something is wrong with how you ride the bike. So best to see someone I reckon.

holly2

not giving medical advice! but misaligned patellae is a very common running/cycling overuse injury. if you've had it for a very long time (ie years), there may be wear and tear changes, but if not i would consider that very treatable. its usually caused by a muscle imbalance which can occur for a variety of reasons. I wouldnt give up the ghost yet at all LK. Get to a recommended sports physiotherapist.

littleknown

thanks for the feedback, just went for a spin yesterday and my knees are acting up today so its definitely related. just wondering could saddle height, cleat position also effect this, the pain is on the outside and under the knee cap.

are there any diagrams of correct cleat position, im sure i have this messed up anyway.

thanks

BostonB

I find I get knee pain unless the saddle is the highest I can be comfortable at. Probably different for everyone.

CatFromHue

i dont want to wade in here with any medical advice but im in a very similar situation to the op.
the knee first got very sore cycling one night in december.
after alot of time with physios mri's and now asports orthopedic doctor im going in on thursday to try and take up the knee cos he reckons it might be a condition called patello-femoral stress.
i did find taping it up helped somewhat and im going into meet the physio and doc during the week to try some other taping up techniques
just an idea op

sy

Read both of these excellent articles and seek another professional opinion
1 and 2 . In fact all "newbie" and "expert!" cyclists should read them. Good luck with your quest littleknown.