Knee Pain. Help Please!
 

I am having left knee pain, not sharp pain but more of a discomfort. It sort of feels like it needs to be cracked but will not. Where do i start troubleshooting? Seat Height? Cleat Position? Sometimes i have the habit of pedaling with my feet angled down, kind of pointing down. I am trying to be bettewr with it by keeping my feet level with the ground. If the ball of your foot hurts do you move the cleat back or forward to start experimenting with position. Thanks for any help or advice you may have.

Seat height is normally the problem ie: to low , start there and progress to cleat adjustment and on to fore and aft seat adjustment

is the pain on the outside or the underside of the knee area?

outside of the knee.

I'm having this same sort of discomfort in my left knee. I thought i adjusted my seat at the beginning of the summer but recently this knee thing is gett out of control. It feels like when i pedal tension is kind of building up in the front outside part of my knee but it never gets real bad and sometimes it feels like it wants to crack. I think at lunch i'll put my seat up 1/4 of an inch or so

Try reading "Bicycling Medicine", by Arnie Baker, M.D. He's got a good section on knee pain. If the pain is on the outside/inside of your knee it might be the position of your feet on the pedals causing it. Are you using clipless pedals? If so it could be the cleat position.

I used to get that kind of pain. First check your seat height. It can also be too high.

But for pain on the outside of the knee I shifted to a cleat that allowed my feet to move (swivel) a little bit side to side (Mavic). I don't know if that kind of pedal is even still available, but it really solved the problem.

...ken

Hey, Whilst we are on the subject of pain in the joints does anyone know what would cause elbow discomfort? I get kind of a tinge or something in mine after riding for a few miles, feels like they are trying to get out of alignment or something like that. I guess I'll try lowering the bars or something.

Hawkster it may be your bars, it could also be your seat. I would suggest getting someone that does bike fitting. You can do it yourself, but it's hard if you haven't done it before. You can certainly get the information from any number of books, websites or a lot of the people here if you want to go it yourself

Most competent bike shops should be able to do it for a small charge.

I learned when I was riding 500+ miles a week that even a single mm or two could be the difference between injury and everything feeling okay...and the worst part is that what's right may not feel exactly right when you first sit on it (if that makes sense).
Over time you may make adjustments based on what kind of riding you're doing or changes to your body.

...ken

Hey, just to let you know, I lowered the bars about an inch and my elbows are much better. They just feel a little funny now, I will try lowering just a little more. Thanks for the input - Paul J.

I experienced knee pain while doing a half century. If you are using cleats and
your seat is low. It may be causing the problem like it did mine.
Seat height usually is the cause. You may be overgearing yourself also.
Don't give up tying to find out why.

Souldriver

for me it was a delicate combination of seat height, stem length, and cleat position. i was adjusting everything and wasting tons of time trying to dial it in to no avail. finally i bit the bullet and got a professional fitting done and was good to go after that.

edit: damn, i tricked into reponding to a really old thread.

Stretch your hamstrings before and after every ride.

I've had a similar problem with my right knee. The changes I made that ultimately fixed it were, in order:
Switched to speedplays
Raised my seat
Bought new shoes that supported my foot better
Stuck a LeWedge shim under my right cleat to support some fore-foot tilt

Knees feel great now.

If you've got a sports medicine or physical therapy outfit near you that does bike-fits, go visit them. My experience with LBS fits is that they've got a chart they try to fit you into. The PT guys will actually do things like watch you pedal and measure joint angles and leg lengths to get it right.

Edit: Oh, I almost forgot. The PT I got my bike fit from also mentioned that my IT band was especially tight in my right leg and gave me some good stretches for it. I think they may have helped more than all of the other things combined...