Any Docs, Physios or Fitness Training Gurus....

[G-Zero]

.... I’m in need of assistance to help identify an unusual thigh muscle problem.

I’m 2 stone lighter than I was this time last year, I’ve never felt fitter having clocked up close to 2000 miles on the bike in the last 6 months and regularly train 3 or 4 times a week on an Airstepper, for at least an hour at a time, to keep my legs and cardiovascular in shape.

A few weeks ago, I walked my stepdaughter down to Durham and very quickly had pains in both thigh muscles, that felt like a small knot of cramp at the front of each muscle.
This pain only came on, on a steep downhill path and quickly abated once I was on the level; and my legs were perfectly fine on the uphill return route.
I thought no more of this until yesterday, during an extremely windy walk up Skiddaw in the Lakes.

We had a circular walk planned and my wife parked the car near to Latrigg, leaving us with a road walk of close to 2 miles to Millbeck, which was initially a fairly steep downhill.
Within 5 minutes of leaving the car, I had the same pains as already described, but this time a lot worse in my right thigh. By the time we were on the flat, I felt as if I had been kicked in that muscle and although it did ease, it never went away.

Once I started the hard climb up the side of Skiddaw, all the training came to fruition and I felt great all the way up, however conditions were so bad at the top that we decided to return the same way, rather than risk the extreme winds across the top of the plateau.
That’s when the problems started anew. As soon as I started downhill, both thighs started to knot up badly and very quickly went in to spasm. The pain was excruciating and nothing I could do would stop it coming back.

I stopped regularly and rested them, massaging them while resting, but as soon as I started walking down, the excruciating pain came straight back. A couple of areas of the path flattened out and the pain lessened and if I started to climb again, the pain eased even further.
My progress down was so agonisingly slow that I sent my wife ahead rather than her temperature drop while she hung around for me and she brought the car down to Millbeck and waited for me.
As ludicrous as it sounds, I ended up walking backwards in several places and this helped a lot.
　
I was well rested before the walk, had taken on plenty of fluids that morning and had plenty of fluid for the day’s exertion.
I have been doing this type of walking for many years and did several big mountain walks at Whit, when I wasn’t so fit and didn’t experience this problem at that time; in fact it only seems to have manifested itself since I upped my bike mileage.

Any ideas ?

 

[Nebulous]

I'm not any of the above, so feel free to ignore my musings.

Cycling brings 'adaptations' in your legs to suit them for the task and that may make them less well adapted for other tasks - like walking. I was pretty unfit before cycling seriously, but did occasionally climb a hill or have a long walk, without dramas. Now about a year in I get some twinges and discomfort after/during a decent walk, despite being much fitter. My walking style has also changed, I take smaller steps, but more of them for a start. My legs were always quite strong, but now they are like balls of knotty twine held together with steel cables. My tendons are amazingly tough- I think I could crack walnuts behind my knees!

I kind of speculate that being slightly bent at the knee on the bike means they will stick that way and become more and more difficult to straighten. Whilst the effect of many of these adaptations is quite positive, particularly for cycling, there could also be negative ones, like an impact on walking and an inability to straighten. To overcome these I have taken to stretching. I try to stretch and push the limits of my joints without causing pain a couple of times a day. First thing in the morning before getting up seems to work for me.

 

[G-Zero]

I'm not any of the above, so feel free to ignore my musings.

Your musings may not be correct, however to someone like myself who is also "none of the above", they make perfect sense and go some way to explaining why I only experience this on steep downhill sections.

 

[ASC1951]

I get exactly those symptoms, too, G-Zero, whenever I do any steep downhill walking after a lay-off. The muscle action must be very specific, because like you I can get it when I have still done loads of other exercise.

I didn't get it as often when I was still riding fixed and doing lots of leg braking.

 

[Zoof]

Hi G-Zero just a thought
If U don’t wear cleats or straps U will end up walking like a cowboy down hill.
Because of muscle imbalance, it happen to me after along tour.
Cheers Zoof