Titanium
Guru
- Location
- Penarth, South Wales.
Tight muscles could be a cause. Sometimes tight quad muscles mean that the patella is pulled down on the knee joint more firmly than it should - as you cycle, the patella glides / rubs back and forth over the knee joint.
So stretching exercises for the quads may help relieve this tightness of the patella against the knee.
Word of caution - stretches should be done as if you are in slow-motion... give your muscles a nice easy time. It takes a long time doing it slow of course, but sometimes performing stretches can actually injure muscles if they're done too vigorously or quickly. Also try not to stretch when you or your muscles are cold. Walk around a bit first… get the blood pumping.
Anyway, this is the stretch where you reach down behind you and pull one of your feet up towards your buttock. So you stand on one leg whilst the other leg is flexed (knee pointing down) with your foot held closer and closer to your buttock.
If you do these stretches, I would suggest doing them for the first few days with your foot not pulled up too much at first – ignore the ‘no pain, no gain’ thing when it comes to stretches. Instead, nice and easy does it. As the days go by, you can gradually pull up more so that your foot can be held increasingly near to your buttock, until after a week your knee can be flexed almost as much as it can go. Hold each stretch for 5 to 10 seconds.
Perform the stretches a few times on each knee before a ride. Or do a very very gentle ride for 5 minutes, and then stop and do the stretches.
And to repeat – make sure these stretches are done really slowly and very gently... only take a stretch as far as a feeling of slight tautness; don’t do it if it feels uncomfortable. Again, this is definitely not a time for the no-pain-no-gain maxim.
I don't want you to do any harm... if in doubt, ask a Physiotherapist. Sorry to be boring.
If tight quads is the cause of your knee pain, this exercise regime could well be the answer. Good luck.
So stretching exercises for the quads may help relieve this tightness of the patella against the knee.
Word of caution - stretches should be done as if you are in slow-motion... give your muscles a nice easy time. It takes a long time doing it slow of course, but sometimes performing stretches can actually injure muscles if they're done too vigorously or quickly. Also try not to stretch when you or your muscles are cold. Walk around a bit first… get the blood pumping.
Anyway, this is the stretch where you reach down behind you and pull one of your feet up towards your buttock. So you stand on one leg whilst the other leg is flexed (knee pointing down) with your foot held closer and closer to your buttock.
If you do these stretches, I would suggest doing them for the first few days with your foot not pulled up too much at first – ignore the ‘no pain, no gain’ thing when it comes to stretches. Instead, nice and easy does it. As the days go by, you can gradually pull up more so that your foot can be held increasingly near to your buttock, until after a week your knee can be flexed almost as much as it can go. Hold each stretch for 5 to 10 seconds.
Perform the stretches a few times on each knee before a ride. Or do a very very gentle ride for 5 minutes, and then stop and do the stretches.
And to repeat – make sure these stretches are done really slowly and very gently... only take a stretch as far as a feeling of slight tautness; don’t do it if it feels uncomfortable. Again, this is definitely not a time for the no-pain-no-gain maxim.
I don't want you to do any harm... if in doubt, ask a Physiotherapist. Sorry to be boring.
If tight quads is the cause of your knee pain, this exercise regime could well be the answer. Good luck.
there's the dream!
