Knee exercises/stretches?

[montage]

Had a stiff right knee for a while now - while cycling I had pain on the inside(ish) of the knee, now the whole knee hurts when used - Possibly seat too low? Raised it by a few mm's.

Anyway - anything I can do to stop my knee hurting? It isnt excruciating (spelling ) and I haven't cycled for about two weeks now due to various reasons.

 

[02GF74]

^^^^ wasn't it you who changed to SPDs?

make sure you pedals/shoes are fitted comfortably and have enough end float; nowt you can do about that once you bought the pedals though.

check saddle position and height too.

 

[montage]

changed from SPDs to SPD-SLs...and this knee issue was before my pedal change...nice amount of float on the pedals

Was talking to a club member, and he thinks it COULD be due to a tight hamstring...which puts the knee in a poor allignment. There may be some truth to this as the tendons on the back of my knee are really really tight.

A result of poor stretching after rides me thinks.

 

[eldudino]

I was given 3 knee exercises by the physio for my dodgy-dodge knees.

1. Standard hammy stretch - put one of your feet on a step and bend forward with your back straight. Hold for 10 seconds, repeat alternately on each leg 5 times.

2. Squats. Again, back straight so your leg muscles are doing the work. Go up and down into a seating position 10 times.

3. Hip swing. Stand in a door frame, cross your feet then reach with your hip towards the door frame. It must be on the crossed foot and you again need to keep your back straight.

These have all done good work for my knees but you might be better getting a professional opinion!

 

[Landslide]

3. Hip swing. Stand in a door frame, cross your feet then reach with your hip towards the door frame. It must be on the crossed foot and you again need to keep your back straight.

Can you clarify this one for me?

If I cross my right foot in front of my left, should I move my hips to the right or the left?

 

[eldudino]

Can you clarify this one for me?

If I cross my right foot in front of my left, should I move my hips to the right or the left?

Reach to the right with your hips in that instance. You should try and keep your shoulders in the same position. It helps to put your arms up in the 'stick-em-up' stance, leaning your forearm on the door frame.

 

[bonj2]

might sound silly but check your saddle orientation, by that i don't mean whether it's gay or not but whether it's pointing to the right or left. i.e. it should be pointing at the stem, not the left bar or right bar. It's obviously not likely to be wildly out but could be very very slightly out, and that slight amount could make a difference.

I had a bit of a dodgy knee (clicking tendon at the back) and i went to a cycling coach to analyze my bike fit, that was the first thing he did - my saddle wasn't perfectly aligned - not by any obvious amount but he could notice, the other thing was he moved my saddle forward and to compensate also moved it up.

 

[postman]

Well,well.On Sunday i was cleaning my bike.I also moved the saddle forward quite a lot and raised the saddle. And the ride on Wednesday was the best this year.

 

[Yellow Fang]

It may be your ITBs rather than your hamstrings causing the knee tracking problems. ITBs are pretty hard to stretch. You can cross one leg behind the other and lean one-handed against a wall, so that you can feel the stretch along the side of your thigh. It's quite hard to explain.

Knee exercises include standing on one leg, bending it and straightening out again. If you have a gym ball, you can stand with the gymball between your back and the wall. You slide your back down the gymball so that you're doing the chair. Then you shift your weight to the side of the injured knee (trying not to roll it out) and hold for ten seconds. Then you shift your weight back to your centre and slide the gymball back up the wall. I've been told that when you start getting knee pain, some of your muscles start switching off. You may have muscles which are very tight down one of your thigh, but weak the other side.

 

[montage]

Hmmmm pain still there and read all the posts, going to research all your different ideas etc and see if any apply to my knee.

Thanks all

 

[montage]

OK....saddle was slightly off centre (cheers for that bonj!) so this may have been one cause, aswell as a slight testicle pain Also I have move the seat higher and further forward - so far so good!