Those that were injured, joint paint/inflammation, foot/ankle/hip issues? help?
 

I am looking for others that have experienced or delt with joint pain..! help guys!!

Just getting back into riding when I previously would do 250kms every weekend during the summers and about 1.5 hrs daily on rollers during the winter months...

I only had clipless on my road bike, but recently had SPD pedals on my fixed gear and my other "random-task" bike installed. I had clips/straps on these bikes before.

When I started clipless on my road, I would occasionally suffer a "sprained ankle" like symptom after unclipping. Usually these symptoms like outside ankle soreness/weakness would start the morning after a ride (around 20 hrs).

This time, the morning after included a seriously swollen ankle, and the day after that the pain got worse. The 3rd day in, the pain was unbearable and the swelling was mainly concentrated around the ankle joint. I saw a dr, and took x-rays and blood work. Bloodwork was to check for markers indicating high uric acid (gout) and what the white blood cells are doing (ratio to red).

Xrays didn't show anything broken or fractured, but something burst and there is excess fluid in my ankle. The blood showed high inflammatory levels.

Dr. rx'd some inflammatories and they seem to be ok, the pain has receeded, but the swelling and soreness is still around.

I have had inflammation in my feet before, (in retrospect, could also be flatfoot+cycling+unsupportive shoe related - have since had custom orthopaedics made, been comfy since)

Has anyone else had ankle issues or fluid escaping a joint? I have googled this up, and its mainly RICE and wait it out...

I am now on the 5th day in, and can walk/swelling has gone down a lot around the ankle but now is somewhat around the forefoot area.. I suppose its that fluid making its way around the foot.

I could unclip better?? locking up the knee and using more of my hip to unclip focusing on keeping the foot aligned with the knee and turning the entire leg.. currently i sorta dangle and push my ankle outwards.. but has anyone else experienced any of these issues?

Well that's a bummer. Go easy for a bit and maybe take ibuprofen to get the swelling down.

The only real suggestion I have is to go to a clipless system that requires no additional effort when exiting like Crank Bros. Candy 3's. I use them on my fixie and they hold very securely, yet to exit all you need is a slight twist but there's no resistance at all. Easy to clip in as well with no fumbling at all since they're two-sided. Great pedals. I've even considered them for my road bike.

Aside from RICE...and I would err on the side of caution for rest and ice until you are healed. It isn't your technique for dismounting. Something is amiss with your pedal connection to shoe. You need to CHANGE your pedal system or risk further injury. Dirt, contamination and lack of lubrication changes all pedal systems. Yours may have this and be well out of adjustment. The torque it takes to dismount should not create a foot issue unless something is awry with your pedals and/or shoes.
Good luck.

Try riding with some platform pedals for a few weeks and see if your symptoms persist and use that information to decide what to do. I agree with what campag4life wrote. I have all kinds of foot / knee / ankle issues but nothing like what you are experiencing!

I know my spd-sl system on the road bike requires a bit of effort, but the spd system doesn't really require much at all to disengage from them. If it was anything obvious like snapping out of the pedals requiring significant effort to twist out of them, I would agree, but I personally think they are pretty loose (adjustment/effort) wise.

Hopefully you'll get clipless to work, but you can still get clips: No rotary motion necessary, of course if you choose to go whole-hog and use cleats with the clips you'll need to loosen the toe strap each time to get your foot out. http://www.yellowjersey.org/tocleat.html

DO NOT TAKE IBUPROFEN. I would guess you're on an NSAID anti inflammatory, which is almost the same as ibuprofen...not a good idea. Just take it easy and go slow. Don't rush back into it and try to ride 100 miles a day. Take it 20-30 minutes at a time. Your local LBS may even be able to do shoe fittings to determine ideal cleat placement, etc.

Coming off of a back injury, I can tell you that it does get better. stay safe.

Why not?

This ice cup has been great for me. Much better than static icing:

http://www.amazon.com/Cryocup-Ice-Ma.../dp/B000VGFY04

Yeah, but I don't think it's the unclipping that's causing your issue... the pedal / cleat may be holding your foot in a position that just isn't working for you. Obviously a platform pedal can't do that, which is why I thought it might be good to try it out. Regardless, please update this thread as you learn new info.

2nd'd why not? My blood showed high levels of inflammatories.. or what was explained to me as my body thinking i am injured and its over producing the stuff to fight off the resulting stuff that is produced from healing the injury, internally? So, anti-inflammatory drugs would be the go-to answer, right? does it do something that makes me more prone to injuring it later or making for a slower future recovery?

I never really thought of that, as the rides being 3-4 hrs or even the straight 1.5h on the rollers never made me think about my ankles for a second and the only thing I can trace the pain to being in common is with the area pressured in unclipping... and that made me start un-clipping by turning the ankle towards the seat-tube toe outwards... either motion towards/away does not trigger any hint of pain after unclipping or even hours after unclipping.. this injury and the previous more minor ones had always been a 'morning-after' mystery....

I will certainly try to complete this with as much info as possible as i know others like myself google stuff and stumble upon threads, such as this..!

What I was saying is that if youre already taking an anti-inflammatory as prescribed by your doctor you should not take another one like ibuprofen. Non steroidal anti-inflammatories are very common(celebrex is a popular one). If you take these and ibuprofen together, you're likely to cause some issues like stomach bleeding. Stick with what youre Doc prescribed you.

Stretch your ankle and take it slow.

I had celebrex in the past and it worked quite well.

Now with this injury, I had Naproxen which didn't help (not sure if it does much when there is excess fluid built up in ankle), and I switched to Ketorolac, which seems to react quite well, but not sure if its just due to the fluid receding.

The dr then perscribed the killer combo of Ketorolac and Tylonal 3.....

yeah...Ketorolac is an NSAID, so you shouldnt mix it with Ibuprofen...although tylenol is fine.

And I agree wit Trojan's good advice as well OP. When you get back into riding after your foot is much better, switch to platform pedals aka the way all little kids ride. I still have a 29er bike I ride with very good platform pedals that I enjoy immensely and I ride alternatively to my road bike for change of scene.
A few years back I damaged my feet due to a lot of riding and very poor fitting shoes that had no arch and were too narrow. I developed neuromas in both feet which btw are not easy to reverse which I have which I never thought I would. Suffice to say I was living with pain and 'concerned.' The first thing to do with injury prevention is CHANGE. You need to change what you are doing or you will continue to injury yourself. I had basically ruined my feet by improper support and a lot of riding. I switched to platform pedals and rode in tennis shoes for a full season. I used more of a mid foot pedaling style which I ultimately adapted to my Specialized road shoes with Speedplay pedals. A tennis shoe has a flexible sole and this restored some flexibility to my arches and mid arch pedaling reversed the injury taking pressure off the ball of my feet.

The biggest thing I have learned about cycling due to its repetitive nature is...if you have pain...change what you are doing. Cycling is metaphor for life in many ways and one tenant that is clear is the often stated definition of insanity. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. It rarely happens. I do not subscribe to the notion of adaptation on a bike...your body will often adapt by injury which is the bodies way of telling you to do something different.

The first thing I'd suggest would be to check your fit. Is your saddle too high? Why do I ask that question ...

-- ankle issues
-- "locking the knee" as an option
-- "dangle and push my ankle outward" ... suggests to me you're having a tough time reaching the pedal


Next, loosen your pedals ... it shouldn't be much of an effort to unclip.


Third, although some people seem to be able to unclip when the pedal is in the 6:00 position (bottom of the pedal stroke), I can't. I need to have my foot in about a 1:00 position (near the top of the pedal stroke). Where is the pedal when you're trying to unclip?


Fourth, have you ever tried moving your heel inward rather than outward to unclip? I've had SPD pedals that seemed easier to unclip from by moving my heel inward.

yah, so far the pain is minimal, but i took 1/4th of the T3 to sleep a bit more sound.

yes, i totally agree with you.
I blew out a season with not a lot of time being a new dad and all, and i resorted to taking my older daughter for extended rides in a tow-buggy on my random task bike. I probably had 2-3 hrs of good cardio pedalling but it was all in completely unsupportive shoes. I already have flat feet and this was exaggerated with the pedalling with the extra 50lbs off the back and me looking for rolling hills to tackle. Since then I had my road and mtb shoes fitted with custom orthodic insoles that have really blown my mind in comfort and pedalling power. Even if you don't have fit issues, custom insoles in your cycling shoes WILL make a dramatic improvement on the bike.. pls try it guys!

I also agree with not adapting to the bike and have had my rides fitted with particular attention to comfort, control, sustained power output measured by speed and heart-rate/perceived exertion. I was riding 3 hr stretches and having my hrm up around mid 160s for most of the time. There wasn't any pain before/during/afterwards, except 20hrs afterwards...

THANKS FOR ALL THESE POINTS, MACHKA!

By locking knee and dangling, let me clarify:

not locking knee straight at full extension. I don't believe any real bike fit should allow a knee to lock that unless maybe with a lot of heel-drop, but i meant locking the knee from twisting so I would have to force my hip outward to get my foot to rotate out of the pedal. When I unclip, i usually do it at the foot-level and maybe it would twist up at the knee. I was thinking that keeping the LEG with knee and toes both pointing in the same direction could eliminate this re-occuring sprain. By dangling, I would be kinda turing the foot toe in toe out to release.

The pedals are at their loosest setting, but i'll double check.

I THINK THE 3RD POINT IS DEAD ON!

I only unclip at 6 o-clock. I never really thought about changing it in the rotation (although on the fixed gear, it will take a bit more concentration), but I will CERTAINLY CHANGE THIS to something at the 1/2/3 o'clock positions!! I had to think about this for a bit and ur totally right, i always unclip at 6 o'clock for the last 5 years and think changing it is the solution!! im really excited to try this!

and yes, I have toe'd in and outwards but it has both been at the 6'oclock position.

i'll keep you guys updated.

Day 7 and the swelling (or fluid leak) has subsided except for maybe a 5% remaining around the forefoot.

Anatabloc.