Close to giving up cycling
 

Last year right around fall I started having pain on the inside of my right knee. The pain was so bad I basically had to pedal around using one leg. I stopped riding because it got winter, and since I have never had problems with my knees before so I didn't pay much attention to it. Throughout the winter I was on the trainer and I had no problems with my knee. Right when it was starting to get warm I had a professional bike fitting just to make sure I fixed the problem for good. However, when it was finally warm enough to ride outside. I had the same exact problem.

I went back to the fitter to try and figure it out and we made some small changes and added inserts to the shoes thinking that the pain might be from my flat feet.

Had the same exact problem again.

Today I started thinking that the cleat placement, shoe, or pedal might be causing the pain so I figured going to flats might help. I decided to test my theory with a bike commute to work. It felt good until mile 10 or so, and the dreaded pain came back. By the time I had to ride home I was limping to go 10 mph, and on slight inclines I was at about 6 mph...

The weirdest part is the knee doesn't hurt at all when I'm not on the bike!!!!!

I'm just extremely frustrated, and if someone could read that rambling and has had a similar experience please let me know what helped you!

Edit: I'm 24 so it isn't old age creeping up on me :P

Can you do squats (with body weight only)?

Yeah, I can feel a slight tug where the pain is but nothing really painful.

Sounds like you've already tried everything but i had some pain in my left knee, didn't hurt off the bike, nothing like what you describe but it was annoying.

Turns out l had to raise the seat a few cm's, then i had to change the angle of the cleat every so slightly cause i noticed my left foot is dead straight while my right turns in a tad bit (originally adjusted cleats to right foot and made left match as right is my dominate foot).

What may seem like not much in regards to measurement could actually be a lot.

Id say mark where you are and then make slight changes but it might take more than a few miles for the pain to go away...

Note: i was originally fitted when i got the bike but turns out i had to slightly tweak it after riding a lot. Now i have it setup perfectly the way i need/want it.

What kind of pedals are you using? SPDs, or platforms, or what?

Have you seen a doctor? dont give up...

I have SPDs with Specialized road elite shoes.

What's your cadence? Are you mashing big gears?

What kind of doctor would I see for that sort of thing?

Look for someone like this:

http://drshanehudnall.com/services/

If he only did house calls to Elgin Illinois :p

So basically sports medicine?

I am surprised it didn't take 30-40 posts to come up with the right answer. You probably have a knee problem. See an Orthopedic doctor and have it looked into.

someone in sports medicine. I see you live in Elgin, I'm going to pm a Drs name.

Just sent you a P.M!

I ride platforms and had similar pain that I think began when I tried to keep my foot a bit straighter on the pedal (it naturally tended to tow out). A professional fitter raised my saddle a bit and I started to just let the foot toe out as it wished. It ultimately solved the problem, but I only took two easy rides over five weeks and didn't press at all for another month before the knee really started to feel stronger. (It was probably another month before it stopped twinging if I accelerated hard or otherwise put too much extra pressure on it.)

You need to address the cause, but you also need recovery time for the injury.

(edit - but yeah, always good to see a doctor)

I was riding SPDs and had some knee pain. I went to a fitter (an old-school guy, Hans @ Bannings/EWB in Fullerton), and when I told him my right knee was hurting, the first thing he did was look at my cleats. He found that my right SPD cleat was misaligned by a few degrees, and that was enough. Once it was straight, my knee pain went away. The cleats on SPDs have to be properly aligned, or some users get knee pain.

In my case, I quit using SPDs and went with Speedplays, as they have much more float. Since then, no knee pain in more than 6,000 miles.

I would give Speedplays a try due to the increased/unrestricted float design.

The advice given here is pretty solid. Be sure to rest and recover first and then try to systematically eliminate each variable.
Adjust one thing at a time and revert if it doesn't help. Clearly something on the bike isn't playing nice.

In the end, it could be a combination of problems, such as too high/low saddle height, the pedal platform, and/or your form.

Does any pain come about when in a different position on your bike (e.g. standing, forward, etc.)?
Are you knees pedaling inward? Your body is compensating for something wrong.

What is wrong with the 41 today? Almost twenty posts and no one has yet denigrated the OP's manhood....

He is already in pain, did not want to pile on. But since he is going to see a doctor, maybe I will reconsider.

htfu

42.

Yeah the posts are sympathetic and helpful....I was expecting at least one snide comment.

Yeah I was considering that, but I tried riding on the flats thinking that would simulate more float and had the same problem.

I tried playing around with how my feet were placed on the flats and nothing really seemed to change the amount of pain. But then again maybe my knees were already hurt and I should rest before i try again