Lateral And Medial Knee Pain
Lateral and Medial knee pains are gotten from biking. Lateral pain is pain on the outer side of the knee, while medial pain is anterior knee pain. It is felt inside the knee. Cleat positioning is a very common cause of lateral knee pain and medial knee pain. Outside-the-knee pain is prevalent, and the culprits are often the feet or improperly adjusted pedal cleats. As a result, such pain is felt during or after the first ride with cleats and new shoes or replacement cleats.
The collateral ligaments, which sit on the outsides of the knee joint and prevent it from bending in the wrong direction, are the structures generating the pain, and they hurt because your cleats have been positioned wrongly.
The Knee Is A Complicated Joint
It’s important to remember that the knee is effectively a hinge between the hip and the ankle. It’s very rare that the problem is actually with the knee itself.
Monger-Godfrey explains: “There are so many structures involved that mean the pain is localised to the knee but you need to look at the ankle, hip and lower back. Because its so complicated, its great to treat because you often get a really good response rate.”
Treatment For Knee Pain
Dr. Heiden was an Olympic athlete and understands the risks and rewards associated with pushing yourself. Cyclists who experience knee pain can seek treatment from an experienced doctor who understands non-surgical and surgical treatment options. Your treatment may include:
- Rest and relaxation at home for minor injuries
- Pain medication
- Physical therapy
In addition to treatment, it is recommended that you make appropriate adjustments to your bike and riding techniques in order to avoid future injuries. Dr. Heiden will create a customized treatment plan to alleviate your knee pain and help you get back on your bike as soon as possible.
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Cycling Knee Pain: The 5 Causes And How To Banish It
Knee pain after cycling is obviously very unwelcome. Cycling knee pain can start off as a twinge or niggling discomfort, but it can become a more severe problem if you dont address it.
Over time cycling knee pain can turn into chronic, excruciating pain that can result in time off riding. Serious cases can even lead to surgery and months of rehabilitation.
Cycling knee pain can happen to any cyclist, from commuters to triathletes. But with the correct action, it doesnt have to affect you.
In this article, we will cover:
- 5 Key Causes Of Cycling Knee Pain
- How To Prevent Knee Pain After Cycling
- How To Recover From Cycling Knee Pain
Are you ready to get to the bottom of cycling knee pain?
Lets get into it!
Assessing Anterior Knee Pain
Self assessing the root of the knee pain is extremely important to a speed recovery. Start by treating it as an overuse injury and taking a rest for 3 days, while icing and heating the area and perhaps even take an ibuprofen. Then make sure to test only one variable at a time. Perhaps you think it is due to a low saddle height, raise your saddle height a small amount and then get back on your bike and test out your theory. Make sure to not increase your training load to more than 50% of what it previously was until you have isolated the root cause of the knee pain and fixed it.
Do You Have Knee Pain In Another Area? Check these links below for the causes and solutions:
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Other Bike Fit Causes Of Knee Pain
Though saddle height, offset and cleat setup are all common culprits of knee pain, there are some other factors worth considering. Saddle discomfort – or a saddle sore – can cause a rider to sit off centre, again resulting in incorrect tracking as the pelvis shifts and gives the impression of a leg length discrepancy. Even overly low handlebars could be a cause – if the lower back becomes fatigued, changing the natural movement pattern.
Tinkering with your set up may help – but if your problems become chromic there’s little replacement for a physio led bike fit.
Increasing Training Load Too Fast
Connective tissue takes the longest to adapt, strengthen, and repair following exercise or damage. Therefore, if you increase training hours too quickly, you may develop an overuse injury as your bodys tissues havent had time to adapt.
Consider upping your training load in small increments every week or two. For example, you can usually avoid these issues by incrementally adding 5 to 10 percent each period.
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Book A Bike Fitting Session
As we have established, poor bike fit is the most common cause of cycling knee pain. Therefore, the first thing you need to do is book an appointment with a professional bike fitter as a preventative measure.
You can download apps and watch YouTube videos, but there is no substitute for a session with a bike fitter to make sure your bike fits you just right.
A bike fitter will use measurements and formulas to ensure your bike is the right size. But they will also know what to tweak with regard to handlebar height, reach, seat post height, crank length, and so on.
When your bike fits you correctly, you will not only prevent cycling knee pain but also ride faster and more comfortably.
Cycling Knee Pain: How To Recover
Cycling is a form of exercise that has many benefits: it improves your cardiovascular endurance, helps strengthen and build muscles in the legs, it gets you outside in the fresh air , and if you use it to commute itll save you petrol money while reducing pollution. Its a win-win. And one of the many benefits touted in favour of cycling is the reduced impact on your joints compared to other activities like running. Nonetheless cycling knee pain and injuries from cycling are not unknown phenomena.A study that looked at prevalence of knee injuries among triathletes found that the running portion of the event accounted for some 72% of knee injuries. So while its clear that running puts the knee at more risk, a not insubstantial proportion of athletes reported injuries during cycling. Further research shows that a combination of the prolonged changes in posture and the repetitive motion are the main causes of injury and pain in the leg and knee in cyclists.
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Upper Iliotibial Band Stretch
Standing upright, cross your bad leg behind your good one, making sure you keep it locked straight.
Then, without bending forwards, gently lean sideways from the waist over to the good side.
You can support yourself against a wall by leaning away from it. You should feel this stretch over the outside of the hip and upper thigh.
The Knee Joint: Most Complicated Part Of Your Body
Doctors and physiotherapists have deemed the knee joint as the complicated part of your body, after all, it is a hinge between a persons hip and ankle. That is why you have to take the best care of it, we must not put superficial pressure on it.
In most cases, the knee is hardly at fault, there are problems in the surrounding areas, but if we are not careful, there could be tremendous problems. That is why doctors keep on stressing that keeping the best care of the knee angle and the hip flexors is very necessary.
The weak muscles of the body must be transformed into efficient muscles otherwise this problem will keep on happening. If there is pain then the focus must be reducing pain, not increasing it. If the persistent pain is too much then it is suggested that you contact the doctor as soon as you can.
Whenever you feel pain in the knee cap or the actual joint, it could be that there is a problem with the hip or the ankle, or other surrounding areas. That is why it is equally important to take care of all the areas that are surrounding the knee.
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How To Avoid Anterior Knee Pain
A few issues are known to cause pain in the front of the knee while cycling stemming mostly from bike fit, muscle issues, or training mistakes.
Bike Fit
Firstly, if your saddle is too low or too far forward, you may experience pain from the extra pressure on the anterior knee. Another common problem is crank length if they are too long, more pressure goes through the front of the knee. Therefore, make sure to do a proper bike fit at home or visit a professional bike fitter.
Weak or Tight Quads
Imbalances from a weak or inactive vastus medialis oblique quadriceps can result in anterior knee issues. This muscle can be underdeveloped because the VMO typically activates fully in the final part of a leg extension, and a cyclists leg never fully extends while pedaling.
Using the strength training described at the end of this article, you can usually help correct this imbalance.
Tight muscles can also lead to imbalanced pressure distribution, leading to more strain on one area. Cycling disproportionately tightens the mid and lateral quads muscles, possibly causing problems down the line.
Mobilization, stretching, and massage can help improve function and reduce unwanted stiffness in muscles.
Training Mistakes
Finally, a couple of common training mistakes may cause anterior knee injuries.
Top 3 Stretches To Avoid Knee Pain When Cycling
Gluteal Stretch
Bring your knee to your chest, place the same side hand on the outside of your knee. Place your other hand on top of your foot. Pull your foot towards your chest and push your knee across to your opposite shoulder.
Hip Flexor / ITB Stretch
Place a pillow on the floor in front of the chair. Place your toes on the chair and your knee on the pillow. Put your other foot out in front with your knee bent 90 degrees and in line with the knee on the pillow.
Quadriceps Stretch
Stand with your back to the table and place your toes on the table. Place a rolled towel in the crease of your knee. Lean backwards and push your hip forwards.
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Pain In The Back Of The Knee
Pain behind the knee is less common than pain in the front, and is generally easier to trace back to a culprit: over-extending the knee, says Bresnick. Your saddle is too high or too far back. Try lowering the saddle a bit or moving it forward a bit in relation to the handlebars, she says.
This pain is also more common among cyclists who spend a lot of time on fixed-gear bikes when you ride fixed, you use your hamstrings to decelerate your pedal stroke, which can put the biceps femoris tendon under too much load and irritate it. Giving your legs a break with some freewheeling now and then can also help.
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Inside Knee Pain & Cycling
Nothing slows down your cycling routine more than prolonged soreness. Knee pain while cycling is usually a symptom of another problem. In the case of pain on the inner side of the knee, the culprit is almost always the position of your cycling cleat. You can adjust your foot and seat position to eliminate the pain, but take care not to over-adjust and risk trading your knee pain for a different type of soreness.
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Knee Pain Caused By Weak Core
When we look at pro cyclists, we see rippling superiority in their quads and calves because they are more intentional about looking superior that they forget that the legs are supported by the core, which includes the lower back, abs, glutes, and hip flexors. The core of a cyclist must be strong, or else smaller, less efficient muscles will be pushed to work too hard, resulting in pain.
Core strength is important to every human because most activities hinge on the core. A strong core provides a firm foundation from which to deal with change. Cyclists are notoriously bad at keeping their core strength. The glutes are supposed to be the powerhouse, and they should be powerful and stable.
How To Prevent Cycling Knee Pain
Firstly, lets get the bike right. Knees are most commonly affected by a seat being too low, too far forward or the wrong cleat position. If this seems to be a problem for you it may be time for a bike fit. To keep those achey muscles happy over the spring and summer months it might be time to start some stretching. Maintaining flexibility is important for injury prevention as tight muscles can lead to overuse injuries.
For cycling related anterior pain the main muscles to pay attention to will be the quads, hip flexors and glutes. There are several ways to stretch these but Ive just shown the simple versions below. For recovery purposes I tend to recommend stretching each muscle group for a minute after each training session. However, during rehab, stretches may need to be done 2-4 times daily.
Stretching for less than about 15 seconds is not overly effective as the muscle takes approximately 18 seconds to fully relax. Sometimes during periods of higher training load you will need to stretch more frequently if you start to notice your flexibility decreasing. While youre at it stretching, dont forget about the rest of the body there are many other muscles that get tight from riding and they too need a bit of TLC.
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Is It Ok To Cycle With Knee Pain
In general terms, the knee has three main areas where pain might present itself: the front of the knee , the side or inside of the knee , and the back or behind the knee . If one or more parts of your knee hurts when cycling, you should definitely stop and assess the source before you cause some serious, long-term damage.
One of the most common causes of any sport injury is overuse, and this should always be your first port of call when tackling pain when cycling, whether you prefer an outdoor bike or indoor smart bike trainer. Ask yourself if youre overdoing it, either by cycling for too long at one time or overtraining. Be honest with yourself and look for other symptoms, such as chronic fatigue, irritability, and insomnia. If any of these ring a bell, all you need to do is ease back on your training and take a few rest days. You may well find the knee pain disappears by itself if this was the cause.
What Is Knee Pain
If you have knee pain, you know all too well how it can disrupt your daily routine because of the irritation it can cause. Many athletes believe that their pain is just something that comes along with being active. However, knee pain can be a sign that theres deeper damage. If you have knee pain and ignore the symptoms, you could risk permanent scarring or nerve pain.
Knee pain is a very common complaint among adults and athletes who have suffered wear and tear as a result of aging or just everyday activities.Hopkins Medicine explains that the most common knee problems include sprained and strained ligaments, cartilage tears, tendonitis, or arthritis.
As the center joint of the leg, however, there could be over a dozen potential conditions or injuries causing your knee pain. As the center joint, the knee takes the majority of the force with each step when you run, walk, or cycle.
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Pain On The Outside Of The Knee
Pain on the outer sides of the knees is often caused by iliotibial band syndromea stabbing pain that happens when the IT band becomes stressed and inflamed. Misaligned cleats that cause the foot to be excessively toed in can cause this, says Veal. So can cleats that are placed too far to the outsides of the shoes, causing too narrow of a stance on the bike.
Knee-Strengthening Essentials
The Correct Position On The Bycicle
Determining the correct position on the byciclemust be done by an expert. Today many have computerized assessment systems, which however can never do without practical experience. Experience and innovation must go “hand in hand” otherwise there is trouble. The help of technology is welcome but any changes must be made gradually and with common sense, because even changing the position of the saddle a few mm can have an impact on possible stress for the knee. Sudden changes of some cm. can only lead to injuries. Not only that, but some athletes cannot stand out of the saddle for long periods because of an inherent inability to maintain them: for example, a lack of flexibility of the lumbosacral column cannot support a saddle that is too far back and implemented in a short time.
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Pain At The Back Of The Knee
Pain behind the knee and in the hamstrings is opposite to pain at the front of the knee so its not too surprising that the cause can also be the reverse. Holz says: Pain at the back of the knee, in the hamstring attachments is often caused by the saddle being too high .
The alternative is that the hamstrings may be being forced to work too hard as a result of a lack of stability in the foot. This occurs when the rider has too much float in the cleat to shoe interface, when riding clipped in.
Holz explains: Your hamstrings act as stabilisers kind of like the reigns of the horse. If the foot is flopping around, they have to work really hard trying to hold it straight.
Ideally, in cycling pedals and cleats you should be able to move your foot a couple of millimeters if you give it a wobble in the pedal, but no more. If youre riding too lose, you can fix this by opting for a cleat that offers less float, or tightening the adjustment on your pedal system.