General Cycling Discussion - Knee

I am just starting out. Is minor knee pain something you just ride through and live with, or does it mean you should not ride 'till the discomfort is gone? Thanks to anybody that responds.:D

Two things. Either your seat height is wrong, or your pedals do not have enough float.

Seat height: The easiest way to set is to place your heel on the pedal and set height so knee barely locks out. Then, when you ride with your feet on the balls of your feet, you will have a slight bend to the knee.

Pedals: I am assuming you have clipless pedals. If you do not, then obviously it's not the pedals! If you do, some pedals have adjustments you can make on the pedals to increase float (side to side movement w/o release of spring). Some pedals require you to flip the cleats. You can also get some pedals with more designed float. Speedplays for example!

If you are entirely new, it may just be your body adjusting to a new excercise, but generally not the case with knee pain!

L8R

My knees hurt if I push too big a gear!:(

I have found that even with every thing setup properly If I grind into a wind or up a hill in too high a gear my knees will ache. Your peddling style will affect your knees also. I have to have my toes pointed a little inward and make sure and keep my knees tucked in tward the top tube.

Just my 2 cents, but I have been through a steep learning curve in the last year.:p

Check which way your toes point in relation to your knees. They should be lined up. For example, when you're walking your toes should be headed straight ahead with your knees, not inward or outward. That torks your knees and makes them weak. I've noticed alot of people have their knees going forward/toes outward while riding and wonder why their knees feel strained :)

A lot of knee discomfort can be alleviated by concentrating on correct form. First, make sure you're in the right gear. If your cadence slows to 60 and your feeling significant resistance, you should shift to an easier gear. You should try to stick within the 80-100 range (or higher, if you have well developed cardiovascular system).
Try to develop a smooth, "circular" pedaling style; imagine pushing the knee forward as your forward foot travels downward. When that foot reaches the bottom position, imagine pulling your foot back (as though you were scraping mud off your shoe). This needs to be integrated into a smooth, almost unconscious, motion--so a lot of practice is required to program your nervous system to do this without thinking. The negative, or eccentric, part of the pedal stroke (the part from the bottom pedal position back up to the top) is important in relieving pressure on the OTHER knee as it is pushing forward!
If you have a lot of soreness at the front of the knee, try adjusting your cleats back slightly.

Originally posted by himmler
I am just starting out. Is minor knee pain something you just ride through and live with, or does it mean you should not ride 'till the discomfort is gone? Thanks to anybody that responds.:D

A word of caution. You should never ride till the discomfort is gone. Pain is the bodys way of telling you that something is not right. I leave the advise on what may be wrong to others much better qualified than myself.

Originally posted by Natophelia
Check which way your toes point in relation to your knees. They should be lined up. For example, when you're walking your toes should be headed straight ahead with your knees, not inward or outward. That torks your knees and makes them weak. I've noticed alot of people have their knees going forward/toes outward while riding and wonder why their knees feel strained :)
I disagree with this. Some of us have feet that naturally splay outward and others are pigeon-toed. I think that the inward/outward position of your cleat should reflect the natural position of your feet when you walk. If you naturally walk with your toes pointed outward, then forcing to be straight when you are on the bike will end up giving you tendonitis.

Go to an expert bike shop to make sure that ur seating position is right and don't push big gears for long periods of time the lower the better!!!!! :D Don't wait for ur knees to cave in first!!!!!! :(

I had knee problems a few years ago, which I ultimately discovered by trying to push too hard too early on rides and not allowing myself time to warm up properly first.

Originally posted by SteveE

... I think that the inward/outward position of your cleat should reflect the natural position of your feet when you walk. ...

Not necessarily, but definitely a good first approximation. My knees are happiest when my heels barely clear the cranks.

Are you taking the time to warm up?

Does it hurt all the time while riding or at certain times in your ride?

Take the time prior to riding to stretch a little and then do an easy spin on the bike prior to pouring on the pressure or speed.

I like to spin a slow speed at a cadence of about 90-100 for at least 15 minutes and this is enough for me.

Have a professional help set your riding position. I'm often amazed at the position some people are in on their bikes. Some look in pain.

I too have the bad knees. And I agree with most of what has been said here (except the keeping your knees and toes pointed forward). I know that I can't do it, and I thought that’s why the cleats had "float" built in. My toes have always pointed out and always will. When I switched to a Cannondale (road) frame a few years back I noticed that the heals of my shoes rubbed the chainstays when I was riding. Never enough that I felt it, but enough that I put protective clear tape on both chainstays. Even so, I wore through the tape and the paint and I have nice bright silver spots on each chainstay. It has also worn-away/scuffed-up the nice kangaroo leather on the heals of my Carnac riding shoes. To avoid the pain I am always sure to warm up by spinning at high RPMs. I also learned not to push too hard when I'm tired at the end of a very long ride. I learned that I was much more likely to hurt my knees at the end of long rides when I had gotten a little sloppy with my pedaling. Another thing that you can try is pedal extenders that put your pedals about 20mm further out from the crank arms. At one online shop these are actually called "knee savers".

Originally posted by John E


Not necessarily, but definitely a good first approximation. My knees are happiest when my heels barely clear the cranks. You are right, of course.

I find that the best way for me to align the cleats is to first adjust the fore and aft position of the cleat so that the ball of the foot is centered over the pedal spindle. For cleats with a 3-bolt pattern (e.g., Look and Campagnolo), it's easy to tighten the single front bolt so that the fore/aft position is fixed but allows free side-to-side movement. Then put the bike on a stationary trainer and pedal at an easy pace for 5-10 minutes. My feet automatically rotate to the best position for my knees. Have someone available who can mark the position of the cleat prior to unclipping so that the cleat can be tightened with the correct inward/outward orientation.

Works for me. YMMV.

I used to think my knee was normal (right foot turned out, knee was forward) until my dance teachers noticed it and showed me how to make it more stable and strengthen it. An inwardly pronated knee presses your arches down (flat feet, fallen arches). It's sort of a chain of events kind of thing. Goes on up to your hip joints, can lead to sway back, etc. Can be very subtle. After I did what they taught me, my knee pain almost completely went away and my lower back relaxed :) It's a general alignment thing, not a sport-specific thing. I don't feel it so much on a bike either because it's low impact. If any of this sounds familiar to anyone, look up "Alexander Technique", or heck..probably just "skeletal alignment". Now if you've got a fo' real injury or serious pain don't go messing with it yourself!! Go to a doc! And if you're just interested in alignment/coordination/balance, go to some kind of class (yoga, pilates, dance) before you go twisting your joints around based on what some chic on the net says :)

I don't remember who said that he/she thought 'that was the reason for float' ..something to that affect. Exactly!! Not that I'm an expert on pedals for sure though! Getting your knees in a more stable alignment is something that usually only freaks like me who pay attention to that are interested in, so most people have inwardly or outwardly pronated knees wether it causes them problems or not.

Those football/soccer/basketball players aren't sent to ballet class to look cute in tutu's ya know :D Although we did try our best...

Edit:
I've never done an internet search on this subject, but since I suggested it I thought I should do it myself!! I found some pretty good stuff so I thought I'd stick the links in for anyone who wants it.

http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/0150.htm
http://www.sportballet.com/advisory/peak_performance.html (the drawing looks a little sway-backed to me though; I've always been taught that the shoulder girdle should be directly centered over the pelvis so that the arms fall slightly forward of the midline. This one's shoulder girdle looks a bit forward. Also the legs are in the turned out position, but the same goes for parallel.)
http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~kkt/EXS334/Regional_Anatomy_III.html
(the last section labeled Lower Extremity Postures)

Okay, I'll stop now :D This just happens to be something I've studied and worked with for years and I'm really interested in it! Hope it's helpful to SOMEONE!!