Knee Pain

I've started suffering with some knee pain when riding, which is doing my nut in :cry: .

It started after doing a fairly tough and rapid 22 mile ride - pain on the upper/outer side of my left knee cap, on what feels like ligament/tendons. Pain is when pushing down on the pedals. Walking up stairs, pressing the clutch in the car were really painful.

The pain went after a day or so, and was gone for a week until it came back towards the end of another ride (only a 10 miler). I took ibuprofen for a week, then went on an 18 mile ride without any problems. Then I did the Mary Towneley loop of 49 miles, and the pain started after about 30 miles, which was nice, not.

So I took two weeks off, using ibuprofen, ice and ibuprofen gel. Then went out for a 22 mile ride yesterday, and now both knees are the same.

I think it's something called Iliotibial Band Syndrome, from what I can see on the intraweb.

Has anyone suffered this or similar? Any advice?

Dave

Er, go see your GP? Friend suffered similar and a few specific exercises to balance the knee sorted it.

ouch, this is a hard pill to swallow. you will probably have to get a proper bike fit.... that means retro rides have to be minimal cause of geometry and looong stems with no rise and flat bars. using a rolling pin on your i.t. band works great to loosen them up. you'll have to stretch tons and also check your cleats on your shoes. if you can live with the pain and have had it for a bit than it is not doing damage, but if it is crippling and is something new to you get it checked out quick in case of scar tissue developing and any liquid that might be trapped in there. i am no m.d. but my wife is a pro roadie and is dealing with this right now and goes to many doctors all the time. i hear about it all the time. cheers, jesse

Could be what happen to me BITD. I hadn't riden for a while then did a long ride. On the way back pain in my knee. Found out from Doc my knee cap tendons had packed up and weren't holding the knee cap in place so it was rubbing the knee joint. Had some exercisees to do and heat treatment. But what really fixed it was a thermal knee support from boots. Went up the road. Pain at first. But after 5 mins pain gone. Rode with the support for a few weeks. Never needed it since

I got this after doing a seven day ride and camp without proper training a few years back. I get it sometimes now if I havn't ridden for a while and then hit it hard because the suns out.

Things I now do:

Warm up.
Get your leg extension correct (ie seat height)
Wear knee warmers on cool mornings (they help no end)

Hope it helps as going down stairs is agony.

I do regular indoor training now and this has helped build up my knees, so I am no longer a binge rider.

It's hard and probably dangerous to try and diagnose from a keyboard.
My suggestion is to go and see a sports physio. They have always given good advice to me in similar circumstances.

I can get knee pain. It feels today what the doctors said was 'growing pains' when I was MUCH younger. Eventually, it was described to me as a roughening of the bone underneath the kneecap. I was given excercises to do which consisted mainly of trying to push the back of my knee into the floor.
I think Time pedals (on the road) have helped a little too. Take the advice above and go and see someone professional including your GP.

Thanks for the replies people.

Definitely going to see GP regardless of suggestions, more thinking that by the time I get an appointment :roll: the pain/evidence will have gone!

Am definitely thinking riding position - am sure my saddle took a nose dive on a ride about the same sort of time as the first occurance - maybe it's not back how it used to be. Also never been sure my seatpost is high enough. How best to establish whether my riding position is out ?

I ride eggbeaters, and have done for a while without problem so thinking that isn't related. My Pace has risers, and I've run a 120mm stem for yonks as well - nothing has really changed in that area.

Dave

I had pain on both knees a few months back. The stretching techniques I learned helped quite alot.

You might want to take a look at this thread from the weightweenies forum.
http://weightweenies.starbike.com/forum ... hlight=pfs

Going to the doc is probably the best thing but if you fancy a spot of self diagnosis this site is quite interesting

http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net