A Knee Injury And A Spanner In The Works

[morehawes]

Hi, been training for my first tour, a 2-3 month roam of Europe and I have come across my first big problem (that isn't money!) - MY LEFT KNEE!

I've been building up the miles/weight and did a 120mile trip over 2 days carrying pretty much full load (oh, this was going over the Brecon Beacons!). I ran into problems the second day. The doctor says my knee cap is inflamed and was causing 'grinding' which caused sheer agony when peddling. He said to stay off the bike for 2-4 weeks. It gives me no pain off the bike what so ever so i'm just going to have to wait and see.

The problem is - i'm planning on leaving at the beginning of September and need to find out whether this is going to happen again. If so - i've got problems. So my question is (finally!) - does anyone know any exercises or supports or anything I can do/use to protect my knee and prevent it from becoming inflamed again? I'm assuming I just put it under too much stress, though i'm hoping to be doing more miles than this on the actual tour.

Help!

Any suggestions much appreciated.

Thanks,
Joe.

 

[Andy in Sig]

120 miles is probably overdoing training for a tour. You'll probably be happy with 100 km a day in Europe assuming you want to actually stop and look at things. You now know that 120 miles a day is too much for your knee in any event. Take the doc's advice, wind down the training a bit and enjoy your tour.

 

[morehawes]

Sorry - thats 120 miles over two days. So 60 a day. I agree I think i'm aiming to do around 80 miles on a good day in Europe - which is why i'm a little concerned.

 

[Andy in Sig]

Have you got SPD pedals? If so you could have got the angle of the cleats set up incorrectly. Also the Brecon Beacons are a bit extreme. It might be an idea to stick to the European river valley routes.

 

[morehawes]

Have you got SPD pedals? If so you could have got the angle of the cleats set up incorrectly. Also the Brecon Beacons are a bit extreme. It might be an idea to stick to the European river valley routes.

Oh I hadn't thought of that. Will check i out, cheers. Wasn't that extreme really... just in the way of my house and my parents house!

 

[Andy in Sig]

Don't want to teach you to suck eggs but the best way I know of checking it is as follows: sit on the edge of a table with your legs and feet relaxed and dangling naturally below you. Not the angles at which the feet point from the legs (they won't be in a straight line). Make an approximation of that angle by adjusting the cleat in the shoe. Bear in mind it gets a bit mirror image-ish i.e. angle goes in the opposite direction ... sort of.

 

[Scoosh]

Latest C+ mag has a good article about knee problems, their possible causes and remedies.

I've been having a few twinges after almost a year of 'bi-lateral patella-femural disfunction', so am reading it carefully !

Hope it helps and you maintain your fitness for your tour

 

[morehawes]

Latest C+ mag has a good article about knee problems, their possible causes and remedies.

I've been having a few twinges after almost a year of 'bi-lateral patella-femural disfunction', so am reading it carefully !

Hope it helps and you maintain your fitness for your tour

Ah thanks, sounds like exactly what I need. Will see if I can get hold of a copy.

 

[ChrisKH]

Latest C+ mag has a good article about knee problems, their possible causes and remedies.

I've been having a few twinges after almost a year of 'bi-lateral patella-femural disfunction', so am reading it carefully !

Hope it helps and you maintain your fitness for your tour

Ahh, you beat me to it. Good article and it includes set-up tips.

 

[snorri]

120 miles is probably overdoing training for a tour. You'll probably be happy with 100 km a day in Europe assuming you want to actually stop and look at things. You now know that 120 miles a day is too much for your knee in any event. Take the doc's advice, wind down the training a bit and enjoy your tour.

I'll second that.

 

[Scoosh]

Ahh, you beat me to it

Whew !

Actually, I kinda thought most people here would read C+

 

[Riding in Circles]

You may want to try a shorter crank and make sure you have a low enough granny gear for the hills, what crankset, cassette combo are you running and what wheel size?

 

[andrew_s]

The normally recommended strengthening exercise for cycling knee problems is to straighten your leg against a resistance, just from a 15 degree bend to locked straight and hold/clench. Sit in an armchair with the leg out straightish, and lift to straight so your foot only lifts the (smallish) weight 6" or so. Probably a pair of old-fashioned clumpy hiking boots would be heavy enough.

This does of course presuppose that you've got the fairly common too much too quickly problem of chrondomalacia patellae (I think it's called).
(I am not a doctor and all that)

 

[rich p]

I'd recommend seeing a qualified sports physio if it doesn't improve. They're not cheap (£30) but they can diagnose the problem and give you advice and excercises. A GP is just that, general, and isn't necessarily able to give specific advice

 

[peanut]

As others have said I'd look at the saddle and particularly the pedal shoe position .
My technique to get it just perfect is to put the bike on the rollers or a turbo and loosen the shoe /cleat fixings until they can just be moved with some force whilst clipped in.
Spin the cranks whilst adjusting your feet into the most comfortable position. When it feels right get someone to mark the shoe/cleat position or slip out of the shoes still clipped to the pedals and mark the cleat position.
Its then an easy matter to remove the shoe from the pedals, position cleat to the marks and tighten.