Achy Knees

Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.

taxing

Well-Known Member
I've not been riding long and one of my knees has started aching a bit. I feel like my seat is the right height other than this, so is this a sign that it's not and I need to adjust it, or is it just a breaking-in period? It's funny that it's only in the one knee, but I have always had knees that click a lot, I don't know if that's anything to do with it.
 
One knee isn't funny IME. My left leg is weaker than my right, in trying to compensate the body tightened the ITB on the Left, it then pulled the Patellar out of alignment causing the left knee to be rough rather than running smoothly, it was agony but some stretches/ strengthening exercises have sorted it out. I think the clicking was the patellar moving back to the correct alignment. I'm no physio though so contact one for a proper diagnosis IME it only gets worse if left.

The other thankfully more simple cause of knee pain IME is just having your saddle too low (I use the technique of putting my heel on the pedal and when the leg is almost straight, thats the correct height) or having the saddle to far back so your knee is behind the axle.
 
OP
OP
T

taxing

Well-Known Member
My knees turn inwards, a physio I met informally once told me that I should have that looked at but I never did, so maybe I'm going to have this problem until I see someone about my knees being all skew whiff.

I watched the video, I wonder if the same rules apply on a sit up and beg style hybrid. I just read something (http://www.dft.gov.uk/adobepdf/ctsb/bikesetup.pdf) that would suggest maybe not.
 
taxing said:
My knees turn inwards, a physio I met informally once told me that I should have that looked at but I never did, so maybe I'm going to have this problem until I see someone about my knees being all skew whiff.

I watched the video, I wonder if the same rules apply on a sit up and beg style hybrid. I just read something (http://www.dft.gov.uk/adobepdf/ctsb/bikesetup.pdf) that would suggest maybe not.
Only a guess but I think the physio would treat that with orthopaedics to raise the inside of your foot.

The Video is just another way of achieving the same thing the optimum comfortable saddle height. The Dft manual agrees with my method but both the vid and the manual are aimed at comfort and will be OK regardless of the bike type.
 

hotmetal

Senior Member
Location
Near Windsor
A saddle that's too low will put a lot of pressure on the knee, which apart from making your thighs feel tired quickly, can make your kneecap click. A saddle that's too high always seems to me to feel better than one that's too low, but can cause overstretching of the leg which feels very different but isn't good for weak knees either. Also it's worth experimenting with cleat position (assuming you are using clipless pedals, which you may not be). If you're relatively new to cycling and have knee problems it's probably a good idea not to bother going clipless until your knee stabilises though.
 
OP
OP
T

taxing

Well-Known Member
Having paid a lot more attention to it today than I usually would, I'm pretty sure that my seat is too low. When the pedal is at its lowest I'm still bending my knee quite a lot, even if I put my heel on it rather than the ball of my foot. I'm going to raise it a little bit tomorrow and see how that goes, thanks guys.
 
OP
OP
T

taxing

Well-Known Member
I raised my saddle and my knees don't ache any more! But now my hands hurt. Am I supposed to raise the handlebars when I raise the saddle? Is that even possible? I'm afraid I missed a memo here. I'm going to have to tilt the saddle downwards too, I don't want to talk about exactly where it's hurting at the moment but I'm afraid it may affect my ability to have children later in life.
 
Top Bottom