Knee pain...

Notifitsraining

Over the last week I have begun to feel discomfort in the inner rear side of my right knee. I feel it most lifting my foot on the forward step walking, particularly after having been seated for a while. It is not particularly painful, but I can feel it is not right.



I have felt something like it before, hill walking in heavy boots, on consecutive long days on the hill – which leads me to think it may just be a pull (I have an ongoing battle with tight hamstrings). Having said that I have recently increased my cycling training slightly and upped the pace and am worried it may be something more sinister. Had I been doing more running I might have thought that was to blame as despite being a slight overpronator, I run in neutral shoes but I have been running only once a week of late (though all on road).



Has anyone any ideas what may be causing this? I want to be increasing my training right now and if there is an obvious answer I’d like to remedy it now before it worsens.



Also, though my bike seat position conforms closely to formulae I’ve seen in T220 and Cycling+, neither mentioned much about determining the ideal fore/aft, lateral, and rotational positions for cleats. I have recently moved my seat forward 5mm to help me accommodate a drop in bar height but have not checked to see if the cleat position may need altering. I am going to re-visit my entire set up using guidelines of Lennard Zinn as a starting point, however if anyone knows of a blinding correlation between pain in the area I describe and cleat set up I’d be very interested to know so I can factor it in. Alternatively does anyone know a good bike fitter near Ipswich?!

gaterz1981

Just make sure you have float movement at your feet in its natural pedalling position otherwise you rotate and strain the knee joint as your working against your foot in a rigid position. Hope this makes sense........hard to explain, i cycle with my toes pointing so far out my heels almost clip the crank.



Apparently if you get out of the pool or bath, walk along naturally and look at your wet footprints. This will give some idea to your natural foot position.

Notifitsraining

I remember reading somewhere that you should sit on a desk and look how your feet hang, but my local shop specifically said not to do this as any muscle imbalance could end up causing you to adopt a position that ultimately harms the knee. Zinn seems to suggest doing what you say with loose cleats - trouble is saving the position accurately! My right foot always seems to want point outwards while my left is happy pointing dead straight I wondered if that in itself was putting stress on my knee.

gaterz1981

The place in which my feet sit on the pedals is within float movement. Not rigid, if your feet in riding position where there is no float your knees take the strain....any clearer.

jonE

I have a similar problem,cropped up on a run 13 months ago,severe pain around the area of the ligament,three different diagnoses,tendon,ligament,or meniscus tear.Similarly as the other replies,by pointing my toes inwards when I walk the pain does ease somewhat.I wear orthoses which corrects some defects but not where to point my toes.Consult at least three sports specialists,have a scan,x-rays,but take out private medical insurance first.Best of luck.

Phil Cavell

Hello,

Have you thought about having your position professionally assessed? Formulas don't work for cycle-positioning and have been largely discredited. Everyone pedals differently and has different imbalances and asymetries. Formulas don't take account of individual physiology. They aim at the bullseye where we aim for the centre of the bulls-eye. The problem and therefore solution could be: stance-witdth, cleat position, pronation, supination, set-back, posture, pedalling technique...etc or a combination of some or all of them. Or something else. It is too important to guess I would suggest.

Phil Cavell

CycleFit