General Cycling Discussion - dag-on my knees hurt

I thought cycling caused miminal stress to your knees. I read somewhere that in fact cycling cause less stress to your knees than walking. I've had ONE wreck in the past 3000 miles, and it was in some light snow which covered the pavement. I was traveling very slow, but when I fell off the bike, I came down directly on my right knee. I know that most of this is just arthritis, but I'm thinking maybe I'll have to have knee surgery because I have so much pain doing everyday activities. I'm giving up softball this year, because if I play, it could cause me to lose a few hundred miles on my bike. I try not to take more than 2 or 3 Advil or Tylenol a day. However, when I ride my bike, my knees get warm, and the pain goes away.

BTW, both of my knees hurt. I played Rugby in college, and it was then that I damaged my left knee.

Any suggestions?

Lay off the tylenol/advil. NSAID's reduce blood flow to the kidneys and daily use has been proven to cause damage to these vital organs. In extreme cases (such as when you are dehydrated) taking NSAID's can even cause kidney failure.

A properly fitted bicycle is easy on the knees provided you don't push big gears. Note the two main points in that last sentence: properly fitted and 'no big gears'.

Read the fitting info at http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/ and http://www.rivendellbicycles.com/

Do NOT follow the fitting advice of Fred Mattheny from roadbikerider.com

AF, you might try and get your hands on a copy of Arnie Baker's "Bicycling Medicine". He's got a good section on knee pain, and even though it sounds like you're problems aren't fit related, you might get something out of it. It's a good all round book anyway.

Makeing sure you're well warmed up before putting any stress on your knees is your best bet, as long as seat height and position is OK.

Do you have clipless pedals? Sometimes the angle of the cleats can affect your knees as well.

Good Luck!

To the good advice from the two preceding respondents, I would add that you may want to use legwarmers and try quad stretches. As always, I recommend "Save Your Knees," a $10 paperback written by James Fox, the Los Angeles-based knee-specialized official orthopedic surgeon of the 1984 Summer Olympic Games. Also, make sure your pedal system permits a generous amount of angular "float."

Humm? Just over a year ago I tore the ligiment in my knee. It had to be operated on to glue/weld/sew or however they reattached it. One of the therpys was bike riding.

Before the operation the Dr. told me it would be 8 mo. to a year before I could ride a real bike again. But with vigirous therpy of lifting weights with that leg and leg presses as well as the stationary bike after 3 mo. I road 9 miles on my real bike.

I gues I would:

Through away those pills - If you can't grow it or at least see it grown don't eat it.

See a good knee Dr. (some one mention a paper back book that sound great (I will be looking for it) as long as nothing needs fixing then go the gym and start working it.

HTH
Joe

:beer: