After a 67 miler, fairly easy ride, some tough climbing at the end, I have some soreness in my left knee :?: It hurts to walk! This is the first time I have noticed this, I'm not a big rider and I have rode a century and plenty of 60+ mile rides and have never had any pain. Does anyone have any suggestions on what it could be? Poor toe angle possibly? Need a fitting? I rarely get any shoulder or neck pain either after long rides.
Could be a bunch of things. First I'd check saddle position (height, fore/aft, angle, crooked, etc). Same bike setup as always? Loose cleat, new shoes or pedals? Any new activities (running, hiking)? A drastic increase in mileage? Lots of different types of knee pain, too. Soreness vs. tenderness, any inflammation? Try some ice or ibuprofen. People speak pretty highly of professional fittings. Might not be a bad idea if it keeps up.
+1 Seat too low and cleat position. I had the same problem on my road bike. I adjusted the cleat so that my heal moved closer (almost touching) the crank arm. Pain stopped the next day and never came back.
No new activities, same position as always, not any more miles than I usually do. Pedals and shoes are fairly new, but I already have a dozen 50 plus and a century on these shoes (Sidi) and pedals (shimano SPD road). It hurts to the point where I am walking soft on it. Might be time for a good fitting, just cant explain the "out of nowhere" pain. Thanks guys!
Do anything differnet as far as warm up or post ride stretching? Where does it hurt on your knee, inside, outside, inside the kneecap, etc. Id suggest some ibuprofun/aleve, and lots of stretching. From my expierences, alot of knee injuries/pains comes from tightness associated somewhere else in the leg.
I stretched pretty well before the ride which I have never done before and did a lot of during ride stretching at stops due to a tight thigh. And its smack in the middle of my kneecap on the outside.
Is the tight thigh the same leg with knee thats bothering you? Were you warmed up before you stretched? Taking aleve and stretching cant hurt.
Both were pretty tight but the left was the tightest of the two, which is now the knee that hurts. Trying to stay off of it for a few days and will talk to a local fitter, see if I cant get this right. I've had my Cannondale Synapse for over 9 months now, have over 1300 miles on it and now I get pain, kind of weird. Thanks for the input guys, much appreciated!
I have had similar problems before and it was due to a muscle imbalance. Cycling tends to mainly work the Vastus lateralis (outside quad muscle) so that muscle tends to be stronger than the medial (inside quad muscle). What this means is the lateral (outer) pulls the kneecap out of alignment causing inflammation.
I tore my knee up pretty good playing hockey when i was younger and ever since then my left knee always acts up on me. Its pretty hard for me to run and take that abuse from the pavement so cycling is great. But aside from cycling I have to keep my knee in shape. I do exercises like this to give my knee area strength and protection. http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/strengthening/resistance_bands/knee_extension.php I'm a big fan of resistance bands and it has kept me in shape, plus it can fit in my back pack and I can work out almost every part of my body.
