Ive been struggling with knee pain for about 3 weeks. I know where I got it. I did some interval training on my wife's spinning cycle, by using very heavy resistance every five minutes during my 30 minute spinning exercises. The next day, my knee was messed up. I have a pain on my left knee, left outer side. It hasnt gone away for about 3 weeks. It's not a strong pain, it's just there. I don't limp, but I'm old enough to be concerned that riding through pain can possibly cause more injury. I have medical insurance, but I am also an adherent of traditional medicine for simple ailments. I came from Southeast Asia and grew up with it. Back in my youth, every home had a guava tree. Scratches, minor cuts and wounds were treated by chewing up guava leaves and placing the paste on the wound. I know, eeeeeeewwww, but it worked. As for my knee pain, this traditional medicine is limited to chiropractic manipulation and massage for the diagnosis and treatment of pain with muscles, ligaments and the reset of dislocated and sprained joints such as the knee, ankle and fingers. Today I went to my masseuse/witchdoctor/shaman/herbalist and showed him my knee. After a brief diagnosis, the shaman traced a muscle going down from my left knee to my calf, on the left outer side. He then proceeded to press on the muscle, causing me to contort into various pretzel type poses. It felt painful, but oddly good at the same time. Using an analgesic and anti-inflammatory herbal ointment plus more muscle manipulation, my guy worked it to a point where the knee pain was gone but the muscle is now sore to the touch. I was told that the muscle is inflammed and instructed to keep massaging the muscle with the ointment for a few days to help make the blood flow into the area and rest a few days from riding while at it. Looking forward to a pain free ride by Wednesday. Disclaimer: I do not recommend this remedy to anyone. Just sharing a story. It works for me and I can avoid taking pharmaceuticals. The whole thing reminds of that guy that used a roller to solve his knee pain. Sounds pretty much the same cure, just different approaches.
He is a guy in Pasadena. If youre interested, I'll ask him if he will take on a new patient. He is very private and doesnt have a store front. Most patients are through introduction. It's more of a favor than anything else. I bring him food to barter. I think he doesnt take walk in patients due to liability issues and the fact that he might get swamped. There are a few in Los Angeles, some Filipino, some Indonesian and Malaysian, but I like this guy 'cause he looks like a regular Joe with none of the theatrics
Oh crap. My knee pain went away, came back, went away. I am pain free right now, but my knee started popping after an XC ride. Its freaky. Did a bit of research and my issues were probably IT band related. No shaman or doctor can likely prevent the recurrence without strengthening my hip muscles Started hip strengthening exercise. My theory, am getting stronger and hip muscles arent able to support the knee under power.
Be careful using a spin bike. Once you quit pedaling, you then have a very heavy flywheel "pulling" on your knee, and knees don't like being pulled. As far as the IT band goes, I hurt mine several years ago hiking (of all things). Did some reading and ended up buying a roller pad and did some rolling on the outside of my leg every day. The rolling was very painful, but seemed to stretch out my IT band and got me riding pain free.
+1 on the roller and the pain while using it (hurt like a mo-fo). Gene suggested I use one and showed me how to use it while I was training for the CC. It helped so much!! I haven't used it for awhile but know it's just a matter of time before my IT bands starts to give me problems again - the roller was a god-send!!
Gonna get a roller then. Anyone have a instructions or a video tutorial that you know works good? Thanks!
Foam Roller helps. [video=youtube;cKTewyL73Zc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKTewyL73Zc[/video] Strengthening helps more
Just read thru your thread. IT band for sure. I rode with an IT band strap for some races in 2007 and for a while after. My knees stopped popping and aching. Never returned. Here's the Pro-Tec I used: http://www.runningwarehouse.com/descpage-ITBAND.html Good luck. - shud === EDIT === P.S. I think I got mine from riding a stationary as well...
