Training & Nutrition - Anyone else have outward angled foot/tibia/knee

After months and months of tweaking my seat height, angle, fore/aft position, etc, my right knee still hurt like heck. It was fine while riding, but once I got off the bike I could barely walk. I was fearing that it was either some sort of surgery or give up biking for good.

I started doing searches on the internet and I think I may have just had a breakthrough. My right tibia from the knee down is angled outwards. I believe it is called varus angulation of the knee. When resting my feet in their normal relaxed position, my left toes point to about 11:58 and my right toes point to about 12:45. Anyway, I found a website called chiroweb.com that said...

"If the cyclist has an excessively varus angulation to the knee, spacers can be placed between the pedal and crankarm, widening the pedal stance to align the feet under the knee."

Has anyone with a similar problem ever tried this? And does anyone know if such spacers are commonly found at bike shops?

The spacers you are looking for are called "knee savers" if you want to do a search for them. I honestly don't know how common they are nor have I used them. At the moment I'm not riding clipless pedals, but I suspect I'll be looking for some when I make that move.

When resting my feet in their normal relaxed position, my left toes point to about 11:58 and my right toes point to about 12:45. Anyway, I found a website called chiroweb.com that said...


12:45?? Yikes that must hurt!

Or do you mean something like 12:05?

I'm kinda "duck footed". I too had a lot of trouble riding with standard cranks and pedals, and didn't notice any relief until I got a bike with a newer MTB crankset. It has a wider Q-factor than older MTB and standard road cranks.

I feel much better now.

If you want to increase the q-factor on your current crank, here are a couple different places offering pedal extensions (knee savers):

http://www.hostelshoppe.com/cgi-bin/readitem.pl?Accessory=983909612

http://www.thethirdhand.com/index.cgi?d=single&c=Small%20Parts&sc=Pedal&tc=Adapters&item_id=SC-PDA&id=754175312557)

12:45?? Yikes that must hurt!

Or do you mean something like 12:05?


No, 12:45 for real. It doesn't hurt when I just sit here, as it has been this way for a l-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-ong time. But if I get on the bike and go for a few miles, I'll be on the ground as soon as I put my weight on the right leg.

maybe this is my problem. no matter what i do to the saddle i cannot resolve the pain in my left knee. i wish i could try the "knee saver" pedal extendors without shelling out 40 bucks first. seems expensive for what it is.

maybe this is my problem. no matter what i do to the saddle i cannot resolve the pain in my left knee. i wish i could try the "knee saver" pedal extendors without shelling out 40 bucks first. seems expensive for what it is.
Hey Timmhaan,
I thought the same thing. $40 is kind of expensive. I saw in another post a link to a store where you can order just one for $27.00 though. Still, if it doesn't work it is a waste, but I'm personally running out of ideas to eliminate my severe knee pain. I' gonna give it a shot. Here is the link. The only thing I'm worried about is how to decide what size to get. https://secure.adventuresports.com/bike/scor/product/secure/knee_order2.htm