Patriot

This one has me a bit perplexed.

Last summer, I was having some patellar tendonitis, which was so swollen, the Doc had to drain the fluid out of my kneecap by the time October came around. Strange how it never hurt though.

So, I kind of took a semi-break from cycling just to be sure. I basically dropped down to riding only once every two/three weeks during the winter, just to keep my legs moving. I did lots of walking, and did some weight lifting for the upper body, just to stay in shape. However, I noticed that knee pain in BOTH knees started creeping in, and slowly getting worse over several months. I thought it was just the cold weather, but still got me worried.

Then March came around, and as the weather started getting nicer, I started riding more. I was still having alot of kneecap pain while riding, not just on the one knee like last summer, but BOTH knees. I thought maybe my riding days were coming to an end.

None the less, I decided to do lots of shorter 30 min rides, and just put up with the pain I was having. Did stretching, and even some slow full squats to work the full motion of my legs. Obviously the kneecaps weren't tracking right for some reason, because I was getting quite a bit of irritation when flexing.

Now, it's been a good two/three months, and I have really been pushing harder and harder to build up the muscle again. Been riding 3-4 times a week for at least an hour, up to 3 hours, like today. Along with this, lots of commuting to work, which is 3 hours/day of riding.

Lo' and behold, my knee pain is slowly going AWAY!!! A little more each week.

The best I can figure, is that one of the reasons people have knee pain, is because the kneecap doesn't track properly when flexxing, and the tendons and fluid sack (bursa) get irritated by this.

I figure what may have happened to me, is that when I took so much time off the bike, the muscles started to weaken, and caused the knees to lose their strength and proper track, so pain started setting in. Kind of like muscle atrophy? And the rebuilding process is one filled with unfortunate suffering.

So, I guess I'll just keep riding, build up my endurance again, and try not to quit sans injury.

cyclingvirtual

There are some injuries that benefit from woring the muscles etc. Knack is judging what is the right courmse of action. Use or rest.

idcruiserman

The less I play soccer and the more I ride my bike, the happier my knees are.

Creakyknees

As my handle might hint... I have a knee problem. If I don't ride, it's worse. Jogging more than a mile or so is right out. I can do hill sprints ok, but long walks etc really get me.

2manybikes

It could be lots of things. In my case it's arthritis that needs range of motion exercises. If I stay off the bike too long I have the same symptoms when I start up. It gets better fastest if I do
a few long slow rides and warm up very slowly. Stretching on the bike during warm ups can reduce the pressure on the knee and make it feel better too. Actually stretching any time on the bike (your legs) can help knee pain.

It could even be the weather getting warmer and not the riding. You could be correct too. In the end it may be impossible to isolate just one thing that gives those symptoms. It's not that unusual. You could have a little arthritis starting too.

Glad it's getting better anyway.