redoctober203

Since I started riding, I have had really bad knee pains in both knees. I say in both knees because when I search the forum it seems like every one else with knee pains have them below the knee cap or above the knee cap. My pain was inside my knee, it pains and hurts to walk up stairs or get up from a chair after a ride, it would hurt several days after riding. Knees were swollen. I went back to the LBS when I got my bike and got re-fitted and measured last week and it was found that my seat was too low. They made some adjustments to the seat height and moved the seat back. I rode yesterday and to my surprise I am not feeling the same pain today.

Now I am having really bad pain behind my knees. I started feeling it at about mile 15 into my ride. I continued for another 10 miles. It’s very painful, almost like a cramp coming on but its not. It’s the area just above my calf and going up behind my knees. It feels like there is a ligament there and it’s getting stretched.....and it’s about the pop. Today, I can hardly extend my legs when I walk, painful behind the knee.

So, out of the frying pan, into the fire. Is anyone here ever experience this kind of pain? What was the cause and how did you get rid of it? I am never going to stop riding so I hope someone can help. Thanks.

miked528

I'm having similar problems except mine is on the side of my knee. I did a hard trail on Sat. om my mountain bike and yesterday I did 45 miles on my road bike and my knee is killing me. Ice packs for a half hour followed by heat for a half hour, been doing that all day. Really seems to help. Sounds like we need to visit a Dr. Won't be the first time for me. I stopped doing squats and legs in the weight room because of this, I'm not about to stop riding either.

munkyv22

I rode a century on Saturday and had some pain in the tendons behind the knees, exactly where you are describing. I put a heating pad on the area and stretched it out and within a few hours the pain was gone. Are you using clipless? It sounds to me like the tendons used to pull the pedal up and forward just need some easy time to catch up with everything else. Take some recovery rides and stretch them out.

timmhaan

are your cleats all the way forward? if not, try moving them more toward the toe end, that should take some of the strain off the back parts of your legs.

chrisvu05

i had the same problem...you might need to move the seat further up. When i was pushing hard, my heals were dropping through the pedal stroke and causing me to overextend with the back of my knees. Moved the seat up after a fitting and it went away.

'nother

Another possibility is that you simply need to rest and heal. Everyone loves to spout all the pseudo-scientific stuff about bike fit/saddle position, and sure, some of it may actually be helpful. But it sounds like you've injured yourself, and not lightly. Knee injuries in particular take a fair amount of time to heal, and if you think a simple tweak to your seat position is going to magically erase it, you are kidding yourself. Take some time off, or at least back way off on your intensity, let it heal up in there, and ease back into it. Speaking (unfortunately) from experience...

Greg180

I can barely walk on my left knee today. I just purchased new shoes and pedals and obviously I did not adjust them correctly. Did a four plus mile climb as part of a quick 26 mile ride on Sunday and only the left knee is bad. Obiviously I have to do a cleat adjustment on the left.

Today it is advil, (prn), and a light spin on the trainer later tonight to keep the knee from getting stiff.

soze

For the love of Bob, stop cycling until you see a doctor! Once you really injure your knees, they're never quite the same again. See if you can get a referral to a sports medicine specialist, they'll have more of an idea how to help you adjust your riding habits. But seriously, you really can't "walk it off" when it comes to joint pain; cycling for another ten miles when you'd already been hurting for fifteen really wasn't the right call. That's not manly, that's just dumb.

If you absolutely have to ride, take baby steps. And stop mashing already. Yeah it looks cool to push that monster gear, but spinning will save your legs.

redoctober203

I have not tried the heated pads and I will have to check the pedals when I get home. I am not sure how much higher I can raise the seat before I start to bounce. The good new from everyone here is that I can relieve the pain with heated pads and rest. I will do some light streaching today to see if that helps.

redoctober203

Yes, I am using clipless, Look Keo's. Are these pedals notorious for knee pains?

redoctober203

I started feeling the pain at about mile 15. I dont usually push a hard gear, I have a tripple and I usually ride on the middle ring, I find that I can sustain a 90 cadence and about 18-21 MPH longer. I did cut my ride short.

bfloyd

+1 on moving the seat a bit forward. I had this same problem with my seat too far back and once I put it forward pain was gone. You really shouldn't continue riding in pain as that can do permanent damage!! When I started cycling again after a couple year break, my knees would ache both in the back and the outsides of them. I was pushing too hard too soon when I was ready to and my knees took the toll. See a doctor to find any damage that may be there; if no damage then ease back on the intensity a bit until your body catches up.

OCRider2000

DITTO!

When I was young and dumb I ignored knee pain regretted it. If your knees hurt do not ride. Your problems could be related to poor fit but at this point you really don't know. See sports doctor.

FIVE ONE SIX

i've actually been told the opposite of what some riders here said, and that is that knee pain from behind the knee is actually from having the seat a bit too forward, since depending where the seat is located depends on which part of the leg muscles you really use.

for example, if you're a pedal masher and like the seat further back, you're using your quads more than anything else. if you're a spinner and like the seat further forward, you're using the muscles in the back of your legs more than anything else. now i would think that if you were getting pain behind your knee, it would either be from the seat being too far forward based on that, since you're using those muscles more.

now i'm not a doctor, and i've never had any type of knee pain when i ride, so that's based soley on what i was told by an experienced ride and may not be 100% true...

also, don't forget, if you move your saddle postion forward or back at any time for any reason, you need to raise or lower it too, depending on if you increased (back) or decreased (forward) the distance to the pedals...

and i use the Look Keo Carbons, and they're not notorious for knee pain, at least not as far as i know. they do make 3 different cleats though, depending how much float you want, so if you feel like you need more float just different cleats. they're black (0 degrees), grey (4.5 degrees) and red (9 degrees)...

Lucky07

Get checked out by a doctor. Your age & history might have something to do with it. Are you a runner as well? Do you have a history of knee problems?

Bike fit is definitely important, but if you've overtrained you're going to have to give your body (and knees) a rest.

blue_nose

+ 1 on seeing a doctor.

I have struggled with knee problems for a number of years; most of the trouble stems from years of running. As others have stated already, take this pain seriously. Your body is telling you something is not right and you will end up doing some perminant damgate if you do not take steps to correct the problem.

Lateral knee pain (outside of your knee) tends to be from problems with tightness of your IT Band. For example, when I run or cycle I tend to over-pronate (my arches collapse) and this places strain on the outside of my knee. Shoe and cleat position are very important here. Another thing that really helped me is to get some corrective inserts for your shoes. You can get wedges or shoe inserts at your LBS or better yet, go see a podiatrist and you can get custom orothodics, These can actually be covered by your health insurance if you have any.

Knee pain behind the knee can usually be solved by adjusting the saddle position. Likely just moving the saddle a little higher will help alleviate the problem.

botto 

knee pain? look here

(Y(L|S+

Question: You said "since I started riding...", but how long have you been riding?

I had knee pain in my right knee similar to your pain, just under the knee-cap. Pedalling was actually fine. Climbing the stairs hurt but only as I raised my leg to place it on the next step. Just the action of extending my leg caused it to hurt. Then after a couple weeks it got better and the pain started on my left knee just as the right was getting better. Then I had noticed when I removed my pedals and put them back on (switched to/from other bike for rollers), that both axles were wobbling as I threaded them back on. I'm guessing the axles were bent. So I decided to replace my pedals. I was planning to do so anyways. I got the Crank Brothers EggBeaters to replace the cheapo OEM single-sided SPD pedals that came with my Felt. After a couple rides my left knee was feeling better and my right knee pain was gone all together. Now both kness are totally without pain. So there's probably something in you fit or equipment that's causing this pain. Have you changed anything like seat height/position prior to your knee pain? Or maybe it just was an accumulation of a long time with some misalignment.

I should've seen a Dr. but I didn't and I got lucky with my "fix". If the knee pain would've remained, then I would've seen a Dr. Looking back, it probably was not the smart move as I could've damaged my knees even worse. Ultimately, the choice is yours whether you wan to see the Dr. or try to remedy it yourself.
Just remember that you have to live with that decision.