Outer side of knee pain - help, pls

Hi All,

After a longish ride I always get a particular pain on the ouside of
my left - and left only - knee.

Could this be, in any way, be related to positioning/fitting?

If so, could a wider or narrower B.bracket make any diference?
(The other day I added a washerbetween the pedal and crank, and could
swear I did not feel this particular pain, on an equally longish
ride.)

TIA,
jbr

In article ,
(BigBen) wrote:

Hi All,

After a longish ride I always get a particular pain on the ouside of
my left - and left only - knee.

Could this be, in any way, be related to positioning/fitting?

If so, could a wider or narrower B.bracket make any diference? (The
other day I added a washerbetween the pedal and crank, and could
swear I did not feel this particular pain, on an equally longish
ride.)

The rule of thumb is that if the pain is in front of your knee, your
saddle is too low; if behind your knee, your saddle is too high; if on
the outside of your knee, your cranks are too narrow and if on the
inside of your knee your cranks are too wide. But that's simplistic and
may not actually work because pain can also be caused by some kind of
problem in the knee independent of bike fit. For healthy people those
rules of thumb work well enough, and so moving your pedal outboard as
you did may resolve the problem. So might shimming a cleat, adjusting
the saddle, etc.

Get a copy of Andy Pruitt's PDF e-book about knees and other pain issues
related to cycling. It's a great resource. Or if you live near Boulder
CO, go see him for an evaluation.

BigBen wrote:
Hi All,

After a longish ride I always get a particular pain on the ouside of
my left - and left only - knee.

Could this be, in any way, be related to positioning/fitting?

If so, could a wider or narrower B.bracket make any diference?
(The other day I added a washerbetween the pedal and crank, and could
swear I did not feel this particular pain, on an equally longish
ride.)

TIA,
jbr

i used to get that when i clipped out with my foot at the top of the
stroke, i.e. knee bent. to unclip in that way, ankle rotation has to be
partially accommodated by the rotation of the fibula. it can cope, but
mine doesn't like doing it a lot under pressure.

what i do now is unclip at the bottom of the stroke so all rotation is
accommodated by the femur's ball joint. easy, no pain, uses a joint
that's built to handle that stuff all day long.

On Sat, 22 Jul 2006 11:05:02 -0700, jim beam
wrote:

i used to get that when i clipped out with my foot at the top of the
stroke, i.e. knee bent. to unclip in that way, ankle rotation has to be

what i do now is unclip at the bottom of the stroke so all rotation is

I assume that in order to do that, you need to have your rear on the
saddle, and then after uncliping, push down on the foot you still have
cliped, right? Otherwise I can't imagine doing it without losing
balance and falling.

Anyway, I'll try that, to see if it works, although I don't think
unclip that often.

Thaks for the suggestion!

jbr

On Sat, 22 Jul 2006 12:31:56 -0500, Tim McNamara
wrote:

if on
the outside of your knee, your cranks are too narrow and if on the
inside of your knee your cranks are too wide. But that's simplistic and

I knew the others alread, but not these. Thanks! It does seem to
confirm my theory and (limited) experience.

I'll try adjusting the cleat(s), and if that still does not work,
perhaps get a longer B.bracket


Get a copy of Andy Pruitt's PDF e-book about knees and other pain issues
related to cycling. It's a great resource. Or if you live near Boulder
CO, go see him for an evaluation.

I live in Portugal... I'll search the net for it.

Thanks a lot!
jbr

On Sat, 22 Jul 2006 18:59:16 GMT, Robert
wrote:

Many people on this forum have gone the other way - chosen floating
(variable angle) cleats - specifically to reduce knee pain and this has
worked. Apparently YMMV.

OK, I'll try fidling with the cleats...

Thanks,
jbr

BigBen wrote:
On Sat, 22 Jul 2006 11:05:02 -0700, jim beam
wrote:

i used to get that when i clipped out with my foot at the top of the
stroke, i.e. knee bent. to unclip in that way, ankle rotation has to be

what i do now is unclip at the bottom of the stroke so all rotation is

I assume that in order to do that, you need to have your rear on the
saddle, and then after uncliping, push down on the foot you still have
cliped, right?

yes.

Otherwise I can't imagine doing it without losing
balance and falling.

it's just like riding a bike that doesn't have cleats - just because
you're unclipped, doesn't mean you don't have your foot on the pedal.


Anyway, I'll try that, to see if it works, although I don't think
unclip that often.

Thaks for the suggestion!

jbr

BigBen wrote:
On Sat, 22 Jul 2006 12:31:56 -0500, Tim McNamara
wrote:
Get a copy of Andy Pruitt's PDF e-book about knees and other pain issues
related to cycling. It's a great resource. Or if you live near Boulder
CO, go see him for an evaluation.

I live in Portugal... I'll search the net for it.

Too bad...uhhhh, I mean with regards to getting fit by AndyP--living in
Portugal sure sounds better than living in Ohio! He also wrote an
entire book, "Andy Pruitt's complete medical guide for cyclists" or
something like that. Honestly, I think anyone who is at all serious
about riding should own it. Your problem is most likely IT Band
Syndrome--its very common among cyclists. It is almost always caused by
biomechanical issues, i.e. bike fit. Until you can track down the book
(and I highly suggest that you do!) Look up stretches for the IT Band,
and start doing them every morning, night and after you ride. Also,
before you ride take an aspirin or ibuprofen, and after every
stretching session ice the painful spot on your knee. Within a week,
you should see some improvement.

I had a bad case of IT Band about 15 years ago & went to see Andy even
though it was a 12 hour drive b/c none of the docs nearby could help
me. Andy told me what I wrote above, checked my bike fit & prescribed
some orthotics. I haven't had IT issues since, but I do still stretch
them from time to time.

Good Luck!

Matt.

It's almost certainly your IT band. Usually happens when covering more
miles than usual, IME.

A combination of ice and anti-inflamatories will fix it.
There's a variety of stretches that'll keep flexible and help prevent
reoccurance.

Been there, done it several times, now I stretch my IT bands several
times/week,

-pete

"BigBen" wrote in message
...
Hi All,

After a longish ride I always get a particular pain on the ouside of
my left - and left only - knee.

Could this be, in any way, be related to positioning/fitting?

If so, could a wider or narrower B.bracket make any diference?
(The other day I added a washerbetween the pedal and crank, and could
swear I did not feel this particular pain, on an equally longish
ride.)

TIA,
jbr

On 22 Jul 2006 17:47:56 -0700, "Matt"
wrote:

Too bad...uhhhh, I mean with regards to getting fit by AndyP--living in
Portugal sure sounds better than living in Ohio! He also wrote an
entire book, "Andy Pruitt's complete medical guide for cyclists" or
something like that. Honestly, I think anyone who is at all serious
about riding should own it. Your problem is most likely IT Band
Syndrome--its very common among cyclists. It is almost always caused by
biomechanical issues, i.e. bike fit. Until you can track down the book
(and I highly suggest that you do!) Look up stretches for the IT Band,
and start doing them every morning, night and after you ride. Also,
before you ride take an aspirin or ibuprofen, and after every
stretching session ice the painful spot on your knee. Within a week,
you should see some improvement.

Thank you very much for information!

I'll start stretching, and see what bike fit improvements I can make -
I've recently been able to solve achiles and back of knee pain, but
the most persistent side has was always been .... the same where I
still complain about outer knee pain!

Well I guess that makes me less symetric than I hoped ;-), but I'll
likelly find a way to deal with it.

Best wishes,
jbr