Knee pain - not looking for medical advice!

mirrormatrix

So recently i've been getting some anterior knee pain (just above the kneecap) and i'm trying to isolate the cause of it. It could be down to overtraining, as my cycle commute now has more hills than previously and i'm doing a lot of hill repeats during the week. However, I think that it's probably not down to this as i'm decreasing my overall mileage, so i'm now looking at bike setup as a root cause.

Before getting this pain I was messing around with my saddle height and fore/aft position a good bit to try and get more comfortable over long cycles, so i'm now cycling with a higher saddle height and with the saddle further forward than previously. Checked my position on the bike in a mirror though and I think my knee extension is about right. I can't pedal backwards with my heels on the pedals as the saddle is too high, but I tend to point my toes down a bit at the bottom of the pedal stroke, so still getting a reasonable bend in the knee at all times.

I'm waffling a bit here, but does anyone have experience with this sort of knee pain? What (assuming this is down to setup and not a medical/overtraining issue) could cause this sort of pain?

Raam

Do you try to push a big gear rather than spin an easy one?

07Lapierre

mirrormatrix wrote: »

Before getting this pain I was messing around with my saddle height and fore/aft position a good bit to try and get more comfortable over long cycles, so i'm now cycling with a higher saddle height and with the saddle further forward than previously. Checked my position on the bike in a mirror though and I think my knee extension is about right. I can't pedal backwards with my heels on the pedals as the saddle is too high, but I tend to point my toes down a bit at the bottom of the pedal stroke, so still getting a reasonable bend in the knee at all times.

Think you just answered your own question...put the saddle back into the position it was in before you started to experience knee pain. then make one minor adjustment at a time.

pelevin

Go see a doctor. You'll be lucky to see out the week otherwise. I'm not joking.

Lumen

It might be caused by something like using different muscles in your new position. I recently switched commute bikes and it's taken a couple of weeks of mild knee/leg discomfort before everything sorts itself out.

I'd stop the hill repeats and see if it starts to improve.

mirrormatrix

Raam wrote: »

Do you try to push a big gear rather than spin an easy one?

Yep, but I guess i have always done that. I always try to muscle my way up a climb rather than switching to an easier gear. Maybe I need to try upping my cadence alright.

mirrormatrix

07Lapierre wrote: »

Think you just answered your own question...put the saddle back into the position it was in before you started to experience knee pain. then make one minor adjustment at a time.

Yeah, this certainly makes sense. It's time consuming though as you have to cycle a fair distance after every adjustment to see how it works out. I was kindof hoping that there would be some magic quick-fix solution like "oh, you have anterior knee pain, the solution to that is x".

Guess its going to be a slow process getting myself set up correctly.

666bxg

I had a similar problem - knee pain - and a bike fit sorted the problem. Prior to that I've tweaked the saddle to no effect.

Turned out my knees were 'swaying' out wards on the pedal cycle resulting in an inefficient stroke, hence tiring the muscles and ligaments. This is most likely caused by unequal leg length.

Cleat adjustments and spacers worked like magic!

lismore7

Took me several weeks to eventually get my bike correctly adjusted, so as to eliminate my knee pain. Played around with saddle height, saddle distance to handle bars and cleats. As already said...small adjustment at a time, then go for a cycle and so on and so on.
If this is too time consuming, go to your LBS and get it professionally fitted.
I did it myself and it did take me several weeks to finally get is right.
But once I did...I said goodbye to knee pain and I'm a lanky sod!

seven stars

Who did your bike fit, if you don't mind me asking?

666bxg wrote: »

I had a similar problem - knee pain - and a bike fit sorted the problem. Prior to that I've tweaked the saddle to no effect.

Turned out my knees were 'swaying' out wards on the pedal cycle resulting in an inefficient stroke, hence tiring the muscles and ligaments. This is most likely caused by unequal leg length.

Cleat adjustments and spacers worked like magic!

07Lapierre

mirrormatrix wrote: »

Yeah, this certainly makes sense. It's time consuming though as you have to cycle a fair distance after every adjustment to see how it works out. I was kindof hoping that there would be some magic quick-fix solution like "oh, you have anterior knee pain, the solution to that is x".

Guess its going to be a slow process getting myself set up correctly.

Not really...I carry a multi-tool with me, go for a spin and adjust the saddle etc. as I go. Adjust the saddle, cycle for a few kilometers and you'll know if its right or wrong? Works for me anyway.

Max_Charger

mirrormatrix wrote: »

Checked my position on the bike in a mirror though and I think my knee extension is about right.

You can do a decent saddle position and height bike fit by yourself on the cheap if you have a turbo trainer , buy something like this off amazon and make a plumb bob with sting and a weight. Loads of decent videos on bikefit on youtube like this one.

07Lapierre

Just came across this: (might help)

666bxg

seven stars wrote: »

Who did your bike fit, if you don't mind me asking?

It was done in clontarf by a physio. She was then starting out so had a master bike fitter that came from london and boy, he really knew his stuff.

Took a long time for them to figure out the problem. I enjoyed looking at then trying to sort the problem systematically using all the tools they had.