One knee pain. Why one only?
 

I believe I getting a little better in cycling. I enjoy my rides longer. After I lowered the seat my sitbones feel much better. I don't fall anymore every ride.
However, at about mile 25-30 I got a pain in my right knee. I feel it only when I pedal, it does not hurt at all as I walk. But when it starts hurting, I cannot stand on pedals.

If it would be both knees, I would think that this is bike fit. But why one only? the left knee is fine.
What I possible could do wrong?

My right knee hurts occasionally, because my right leg is 1/4" shorter than the left.

My right leg splays outward and I have terrible issues with getting it dialed in. As a result my right knee bugs me when I need to adjust my fit.

I've developed a bit of knee pain as well, similar situation like yours except its in my left knee. Right above my knee cap is where most of the pain is coming from.

It's very common that you will find pain in one knee and not the other. I suffered from right knee pain that was a combination of saddle height and also some more pronation in one foot compared to the other. Wedges in one shoe fixed that. Some people do have different leg lengths that can cause this, as well as muscle imbalance.

I'd consider raising your saddle back a little, and see if that fixes your situation. Sit bone pain could also be caused by saddle tilt or frankly you might just not have the "right" saddle for your backside yet.

Good luck.

People are not symmetrical along their length :)
Saddle height, angle, fore/aft position, cleat position, q-factor (your stance on the bike) all play a factor in knee pain, but what would help is if you told us where your knee hurts. Different parts can mean different issues.

Check your cleats. People often will position the cleats identically for both shoes when they have differences in their legs and/or feet that need to be considered. Unless you have unlimited float pedals like a Speedplay, you may be brushing the limit a bit hard on one side and not realizing it. This in turn, could cause knee pain.

55/Rad

I discover new things every day. I thought my body is in perfect symmetry, at least that what my different eyes tell me :)

It hurts right above the knee in front of the leg, but the pain is coming from little inside

Interesting, how did you discover what the problem with your knee was?

I saw a bike fit guy who knew what he was doing. No way I'd have worked that out myself.

I'd definitely consider getting a professional fit if you are having knee pains. It took me a while to dial in my knee pain problems with fit, and I should have just gone for the professional fit from the get go. I find it kind of helpful that only one knee usually hurts. Can't imagine having two bad knees while riding, or even using them daily while letting them heal!

I would estimate that much of the time the cleat position is not only the simplest solution, but the right one.

I would get a fit done as well, as I don't think I would have ever hit upon the idea that I need more q-factor(even on a triple) on my own.

Same here, plus I dislocated my left knee several years ago; the right ended up getting a lot of strain while the left was torn up, but I didn't take the time to rehab it while I was working on the left, so climbing and stairs will cause some pain there.

I had the exactly same problem when I started riding about a month ago. If it happens in the middle of the ride (as it happened to me), I discovered you can relieve the pain and still manage to get back home if you position the foot on the pedal closer to the heel than the toes. I'm guessing it works as it lowers the minimum angle of the knee. Not sure whether this would be possible if you have clipless pedals though.

Things that you should be careful about:
* Always try to ride at above 70rpm. I'm not sure how much I'm doing, I don't have such an instrument, but in general just try to go in the lowest gear that will let you keep the speed you want to go (without jumping around in the saddle :)). Higher cadence is much easier on the knees.
* Stretch before/after each ride, paying special attention to the knees and the muscles around. Do the stretch exercises once a day even when you're not riding.
* Don't start riding too hard. You're not tired and have a lot of energy when you just start, but your muscles and joints are not very ready for full load, so you should go a few km in some low gear to get them warmed up. Even if you stop for a 5 minute rest, don't start too hard, always increase the load gradually.
* Do some strength training on the legs, e.g. climb some short hill as fast as you can from time to time, or go to the gym. This is more of a long-term thing though, you won't see immediate effects.

I wasn't doing any of these things :) Once I incorporated them in my cycling the knee pain was gone after 2-3 rides. Yesterday I did 205km without any knee pain whatsoever.

This is very important too, make sure your seat height is correct for your leg length. Check on the internet, there are a bunch of articles on how to adjust seat height. Lower than the correct height will most certainly lead to knee pain.

I recently adjusted my right cleat, to straighten out my foot bring it closer to the BB. Bad idea. My knee started hurting. I guess my foot likes to be pointed out a bit / instead of straight | .

So, cleat positioning is really important!

I have a similar issue but left knee for me. My entire left side from feet to hips are a problem tighter than the right. I have been told to simply stretch & stretch some more it does work. The pain I was told was from a tight thigh. Where is your pain, location may help determine if it is a bigger issue...mine was called jumpers knee it also hurts when I ride but will go away after I warm up.....Stretching helped & knowing that it is not a major deal helps mentally

Yes, I have clipless pedals, and I don't recall having a knee problem riding the platform pedals. The truth is I did not ride much on platforms, maybe the problem did not have a chance to develop.

Once it starts hurting, the higher cadence doesn't seem to help. :(((

I never stretch before a ride, though I stretch a little when I do my exercises the other days. I will start doing it.

Good advice, thanks.


wow.

I have no problem on right side at all, only the knee. And the difference is that it is not there at the start, but come later with more miles

Yeah, I had that problem with my left knee. It wanted to point out a bit and that caused problems after a while. I just keep it in near the TT now and everything is good. Has taken a while to "retrain" my leg though.

The human body is not symetrical. As others have mentioned, getting a pro fit will be the best investment you can make. Even small changes can yield big results and it's nearly impossible to determine what the issue is without having a fitting.

Check to see if you are riding with your hips squared on the saddle. Have another biker ride behind you to see is you are riding side saddle. This can be corrected with a little mental adjustment.

I've had some issues with this as well. I noticed my legs are slightly different so I need to consciously make the effort to point my right leg in the right direction and make sure my toes are pointing outwards/straight. Just get a feel for where your knees want to be and where they need to be and try to allow them to stay in form through the ride.

Also: shoe tightness. keep both shoes the same tightness or you push harder with one leg, over loading the knee.

1. I had knee problems.
2. I got a good pro fit.
3. I didn't have knee problems anymore.
4. I wondered why I waited so long to get a fit.

I'm sorry but I didn't see you answering weather or not you have had a pro fitting anywhere. All the things people are saying in this thread are really interesting but not to useful until after you've gotten a basic fit imo. I realize this might not fix every problem but when you get a fitting the guy should be able to figure out symmetry problems or problems in your posture. He will be able to look at your shoes and everything. The guy that gave me mine showed me my knees where a bit splayed and he noticed little things like my cleats were 5mm off on in one direction. If you have already had a fit go back in and tell them your problem and have them look at you again. If they can't find anything you should have your knee looked at by a doctor imo.

P.S. as for nonfit issues that can make one knee hurt over the other.

If it's the leg you unclip/clip in the most cleat tension may be to high causing problems in one leg (this caused me achilles problems that still hurts a little)
You make have weak muscle tissue in one knee
Your damn shoes might not be the same height
you may favor one knee over the other and push harder with it (a problem I'm constantly dealing with)
your saddle could have been knocked to one side.
probably a bunch of other reasons