Knee Pain - Any Advice?

[Rob3rt]

gearing/cadence is not really relevant - the bike will not move forward without you pushing the pedals, regardless of how fast you spin them...

But by gearing down and spinning faster you reduce the maximum forces acting on and in the knee, instead replacing them with lesser forces, but with a higher incidence rate. Now the effect this has will depend on the nature of the injury, for example, if you have some sort of inflamed cartilage in your knee, then reducing the maximum pressure will be a good thing as the compression forces will cause pain. Lesser forces may not cause pain, in fact they may to some degree even stimulate healing and minimise pain by keeping the joint moving with minimal compressive forces. For other injuries well, it may make no difference, it may even make it worse, eg, ITBS, where the band will move on each repetition so by increasing rep's you will in all likliood endure more pain.

I have endured my fair share of knee injuries including both of the above examples. My last injury was indeed inflamed cartilage in the knee and I underwent a 6 week course of physio and ultrasound massage in order to resolve the issue. I am fairly confident in the diagnosis and advice too, since not only did it work and resolve my issue but additionally this was a private Sports Injury clinic (not NHS) and I was NOT a paying customer, it was free, so the physio had no reason to give me any silly diagnosis or waste her time!

 

[squiggle]

Best advice: Go to local bike shop and get bike fitted to suit your needs

 

[The Sooper]

Thanks for the tip although as it is a road bike, it is higher then the handlebars anyway. Sitting on the saddle I can tip-toe the ground which should suggest the correct height?

No, don't assume you should be able to tip-toe the ground. Certainly sounds to me like the saddle is too low.

 

[MrJamie]

I used to have knee pain, particularly when pushing hard up hills which was solved by raising the saddle to nearer the proper height - when the bike was new i liked to be able to touch the floor reliably so the saddle was a bit too low.

Ive recently reintroduced some knee pain (front of knee like an ache), when i changed my pedals to new wider ones (flats) and moved the saddle up and forwards slightly more to be closer to what the bike fit websites say. It only really happens after a burst of higher torque riding, trying to go fast or uphill and isnt particularly painful. Ill move the saddle back where it was, but i think the bigger pedals have changed my foot position somewhat.

 

[defy-one]

I find i'm continually repositioning my feet on the commuter that has flat pedals,no issues on the Defy as i'm locked in. This could have something to do with your knee pain

 

[Octet]

Ok, thanks for the help guys.

I shall check my bicycle height and see if it makes any difference.

 

[Zofo]

Sitting on the saddle I can tip-toe the ground which should suggest the correct height?

Your saddle is way too low-no way should you be able to touch the floor on a road bike, when sat on the saddle

 

[Octet]

Your saddle is way too low-no way should you be able to touch the floor on a road bike, when sat on the saddle

I've upped the saddle as much as I can (reached the 'max height' limit on it). My leg is straight when at the 6 'o' clock position so I lowered it just a tad to give it a slight angle which is how it should be?
If my leg is straight, I can still tip-toe the ground (large feet I guess).

I have yet to give it a trial ride as it is too dark without proper lights, so it shall need to wait till the morning, but thank you!

 

[Zofo]

Also make sure that you keep your cadence up around 90 or so-as anything much lower can put a lot of strain on very delicate tendons at the front of the knee. Secondly, make sure you cover your knees up when the air temp is less than 15 deg-the cold can do a lot of damage.

 

[Octet]

Thanks for all the help!

I've raised the saddle, and it made a lot of difference (averaged 25 mph on the flats, which I'm rather proud of). Not sure what the air temp was today, didn't seem too cold but then again I would much rather go to the Arctic then Hawaii.
No problems on a forty or so mile ride today, so it seems to be making a difference.

 

[Grayduff]

Newbie rider with 3 weeks of every other day riding behind me, taken lots of advice from this forum taken it easy to start and building up slowly THEN...my knees starting giving me trouble especially at night, a dull aching pain/feeling in and below the knees..Have i over done it, am i not warming down properly, saddle to high, to low ???? any advice would be welcome.
Cheers

 

[defy-one]

Probably all of the above. Experiment with saddle height. Gear selection. Warm up and warm down