Knee Pain! Help Please!

[hamster]

I'd check that you are not with your foot fully up against one side of the SPD float. Sitting on the edge of a kitchen worktop and seeing how your feet hang naturally can help with adjustments.

Personally I can ride any distance with SPDs - over 100 road miles is OK, but a lot also depends on the shoes you have.

Personally I'd go and pay for a sports physio. They are way more knowledgeable than GPs and for me have been money well spent in recovering from and preventing further injury.

 

[giant-one]

I've experienced similar problems as you. I've had 13 ops on my left knee and 2 on my right

As mentioned above use a pedal with more float such as Crank Brothers or Time and go for ones with a bit more support. I use Crank Brothers Mallets so I can use them un-clipped if needed just to rest them.

A good way to check if your saddle is in the right position is to sit with both pedals level, get a plum bob (piece of string with a weight on the end) and put the string in the grove at the front of your forward knee and dangle the weight above the pedal with your foot clipped in. The weight should sit in line with the pedal axle. If it's not adjust your saddle for and aft until it is.

 

[drystonepaul]

Personally I'd go and pay for a sports physio. They are way more knowledgeable than GPs and for me have been money well spent in recovering from and preventing further injury.

Definitely agree with that. Having suffered with knee pain for a long time and trying to self diagnose and treat with limited success other than the placebo effect perhaps.

But a couple of trips to a good Sports Physio correctly diagnosed the problem and gave me the correct advice in terms of stretches, set-up and targeted muscle strengthening exercises. All this has pretty much sorted me out.

I only really get knee pain now when I get lazy with my stretching, or foolishly go running.

HarryBurgundy asked a similar question about knee pain recently in this thread: http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=103204

 

[Student Bob]

Personally I'd go and pay for a sports physio. They are way more knowledgeable than GPs and for me have been money well spent.

I'll be a qualified sports physio in a year, so I HIGHLY recommend grinning and bearing it for about 12 months, then come see me. Bring cash. Or shiny things.

 

[designer1]

Done! lol

 

[s_zigmond]

I too get terrible problems with my knees. Its usually (though not always) my left knee when cycling and my right knee when running or walking. My main problem is that in trying to compensate for the pain I end up causing problems with my hips.

Think I will have to go to a physio also. Its just the cost that puts me off.

 

[drystonepaul]

Think I will have to go to a physio also. Its just the cost that puts me off.

Physiotherapy is also available on the NHS if you can tolerate waiting for what can be a hit and miss service.
That said some NHS Physios are pretty well clued up on sports injuries, so it is well worth visiting your GP in the first instance for a referral.
Many practices will refer to private sports physios anyway once they've correctly diagnosed the problem.
In those circumstances it's a win win situation as you get high quality provision for free.