knee pain from saddle position

[Maxo]

I solved the problem but I'm curious if anybody else ever experienced this:

I was doing some serious hillclimbing the other day here in
middle Tennessee on my old road bike which is set up the
same way I've been doing since the eighties: legs straight
when heels touch pedals, plumb line from bottom of patella
goes through pedal axel. At any rate, I got tired on the
umpteenth hill of the day and slid forward on my Brooks and
found that I could spin just brilliantly in that position.
When I got home I adjusted my saddle perhaps an inch forward
and raised it a smidge to compensate. The next ride, on
fairly level ground, my right inside knee just crapped out
with severe horrible pain--I limped home the last couple
miles on pretty much lefty leg power. So I took a couple
days off, and thought I might have to give up riding, or see
a specialist--which I can't afford at the moment. Of course
the riding bug got hold of me, and I returned the seat back
to it's usual position and did a fierce 40 miler today with
absolutely no pain.

I'm just bewildered that such a small change in position
would cause such a condition--anybody else experienced
anything similar?

 

[David Reuteler]

maxo <[email protected]> wrote:
> I'm just bewildered that such a small change in position
> would cause such a condition--anybody else experienced
> anything similar?

yes. it's only that finicky with high-mileage climbing, tho
(i'm in idaho). for me, that tends to be seat down a bit
lower than usual. but it's the achilles as well as the knees
that get affected.
--
david reuteler [email protected]

 

[Dan Daniel]

On Wed, 09 Jun 2004 03:42:48 GMT, maxo <[email protected]> wrote:

>
>I'm just bewildered that such a small change in position
>would cause such a condition--anybody else experienced
>anything similar?

Yep, though in the other direction- moving the seat back led
to almost immediate knee pain, and moving it back forward
got rid of it. Go figure...

 

[S O R N I]

maxo wrote:
> I solved the problem but I'm curious if anybody else ever
> experienced this:
>
> I was doing some serious hillclimbing the other day here
> in middle Tennessee on my old road bike which is set up
> the same way I've been doing since the eighties: legs
> straight when heels touch pedals, plumb line from bottom
> of patella goes through pedal axel. At any rate, I got
> tired on the umpteenth hill of the day and slid forward on
> my Brooks and found that I could spin just brilliantly in
> that position. When I got home I adjusted my saddle
> perhaps an inch forward and raised it a smidge to
> compensate. The next ride, on fairly level ground, my
> right inside knee just crapped out with severe horrible
> pain--I limped home the last couple miles on pretty much
> lefty leg power. So I took a couple days off, and thought
> I might have to give up riding, or see a specialist--which
> I can't afford at the moment. Of course the riding bug got
> hold of me, and I returned the seat back to it's usual
> position and did a fierce 40 miler today with absolutely
> no pain.
>
> I'm just bewildered that such a small change in position
> would cause such a condition--anybody else experienced
> anything similar?

IMO, an inch is /not/ "such a small" adjustment. It is, in
fact, quite radical.

Bill "mm increments" S.

 

[Mike Jacoubowsk]

> I'm just bewildered that such a small change in position
> would cause such a condition--anybody else experienced
> anything similar?

I remain, after all these years, skeptical of the idea that
there's this perfect position that your knee has to be in
when you're on a bike. Rather, I think the human engine is
an amazingly-adaptable piece of engineering that can get
used to just about anything. But... over time, what we can
adapt to becomes narrower and narrower as we train our
muscles & tendons & ligaments in a certain way.

If my idea is correct, it implies that you can, at a younger
time in life, vary your position on a bike from time to time
and never suffer from issues associated with relatively
minor changes in seat height or setback. But as you get
comfortable with being in a specific place, it becomes
increasingly difficult to move from that position without
suffering painful consequences.

For what it's worth, I'm trying to become less hyper-
sensitive to minor changes in seat height. Mostly an
experiment for no good reason, just trying to prove to
myself that it's absurd that I should be so sensitive to
changes of less than 1/16 of an inch. I'm making some
headway; I can tolerate a range of about 1/4" or so without
pain now. Still, there's a very narrow sweet-spot where I
feel most comfortable.

--Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReactionBicycles.com

"maxo" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news[email protected]...
> I solved the problem but I'm curious if anybody else ever
> experienced
this:
>
> I was doing some serious hillclimbing the other day here
> in middle Tennessee on my old road bike which is set up
> the same way I've been doing since the eighties: legs
> straight when heels touch pedals, plumb line from bottom
> of patella goes through pedal axel. At any rate, I got
> tired on the umpteenth hill of the day and slid forward on
> my Brooks and found that I could spin just brilliantly in
> that position. When I got home I adjusted my saddle
> perhaps an inch forward and raised it a smidge to
> compensate. The next ride, on fairly level ground, my
> right inside knee just crapped out with severe horrible
> pain--I limped home the last couple miles on pretty much
> lefty leg power. So I took a couple days off, and thought
> I might have to give up riding, or see a specialist--which
> I can't afford at the moment. Of course the riding bug got
> hold of me, and I returned the seat back to it's usual
> position and did a fierce 40 miler today with absolutely
> no pain.
>
> I'm just bewildered that such a small change in position
> would cause such a condition--anybody else experienced
> anything similar?

 

[Per ElmsäTer]

maxo wrote:
> When I got home I adjusted my saddle perhaps an inch
> forward and raised it a smidge to compensate.

As Others have said, moving your saddle an inch forward is
rather a radical change. Since you then only raised your
saddle a "smidge" you were probably sitting lower than you
were used to. Last summer I lowered my saddle a little bit (
5mm ) just so I could spin really fast easier. No problems
until I did a really hilly trip. One knee started hurting on
the last 70 km of the first day. In the evening I raised my
seat 3mm and the next day I had no problems whatsoever on an
even hillier
climb.

--
Perre

You have to be smarter than a robot to reply.

 

[David Kerber]

In article <[email protected]>,
[email protected] says...
> I solved the problem but I'm curious if anybody else ever
> experienced this:
>
> I was doing some serious hillclimbing the other day here
> in middle Tennessee on my old road bike which is set up
> the same way I've been doing since the eighties: legs
> straight when heels touch pedals, plumb line from bottom
> of patella goes through pedal axel. At any rate, I got
> tired on the umpteenth hill of the day and slid forward on
> my Brooks and found that I could spin just brilliantly in
> that position. When I got home I adjusted my saddle
> perhaps an inch forward and raised it a smidge to
> compensate. The next ride, on fairly level ground, my
> right inside knee just crapped out with severe horrible
> pain--I limped home the last couple miles on pretty much
> lefty leg power. So I took a couple days off, and thought
> I might have to give up riding, or see a specialist--which
> I can't afford at the moment. Of course the riding bug got
> hold of me, and I returned the seat back to it's usual
> position and did a fierce 40 miler today with absolutely
> no pain.
>
> I'm just bewildered that such a small change in position
> would cause such a condition--anybody else experienced
> anything similar?

Yep, though in the opposite direction. Raising my seat 3mm
(yes, less than 1/8 inch) stopped my knee pain.

--
Remove the ns_ from if replying by e-mail (but keep posts in
the newsgroups if possible).

 

[Michael Press]

maxo <[email protected]> wrote:
>I solved the problem but I'm curious if anybody else ever
>experienced this:
>
>>I'm just bewildered that such a small change in position
>>would cause such
>a condition--anybody else experienced anything similar?

I started having knee pain so I measured my knee position
wrt the axle
- it was 4cm (cm, not mm!) forward of the axle. I moved the
seat back 3cm (about the same as your inch forward) and
the knee pain mostly went away. I moved it back another cm
and haven't had any knee pain since.

Michael