Pain behind left knee

[MaggieMay]

First of all, I have to admit that I'm a newbie. I've only been riding my new
Road bike for the past month. I wrode a mountain bike 12 months before that. I'm enjoying the Road bike sooo much. Lately, when riding more than 40kms I get a pain behind my left knee. The right leg is fine. I shall be buying cleats/shoes next week and I hope this may help my problem. I have also been stretching before riding but this doesn't seem to make any difference. Is there anyone else out there who has the same kind of pain or has any advice as to what it may be.

 

[MaxPrime]

I've been experiencing the same pain after my last ride - seems like muscle growth pains to me. Mine feels like the LCL - probably sore from so much use.

 

[Carrera]

You may need to be very careful about your seat height. Myself I found knee stress is prevented if your seat is at a level whereby your leg falls slightly short of full extension on the downstroke. Check you're not overstretching.
It also sounds like you may be overtraining through beginner enthusiasm. The knees need to be rested in between sessions or they may get overtaxed.. Myself I found that cycling every day gave me knee aches so I intensified my training and did less sessions per week but more intense.
To strengthen your knees, leg extensions are good if you have a machine in the gym. Leg curls also help balance out your leg muscles so your quads don't create an imbalance over the leg bicep.
Don't try and ignore or push through a warning pain as you could end up with a chronic injury and lose training time as a result. If you can ride pain free that's O.K. but if the pedal motion causes you any pain, stop and treat the problem.

First of all, I have to admit that I'm a newbie. I've only been riding my new
Road bike for the past month. I wrode a mountain bike 12 months before that. I'm enjoying the Road bike sooo much. Lately, when riding more than 40kms I get a pain behind my left knee. The right leg is fine. I shall be buying cleats/shoes next week and I hope this may help my problem. I have also been stretching before riding but this doesn't seem to make any difference. Is there anyone else out there who has the same kind of pain or has any advice as to what it may be.

 

[MaxPrime]

I agree - be very good to your knees. I tore my ACL/MCL in high school (football) and now baby them like no other - they're important.

 

[MaggieMay]

You may need to be very careful about your seat height. Myself I found knee stress is prevented if your seat is at a level whereby your leg falls slightly short of full extension on the downstroke. Check you're not overstretching.
It also sounds like you may be overtraining through beginner enthusiasm. The knees need to be rested in between sessions or they may get overtaxed.. Myself I found that cycling every day gave me knee aches so I intensified my training and did less sessions per week but more intense.
To strengthen your knees, leg extensions are good if you have a machine in the gym. Leg curls also help balance out your leg muscles so your quads don't create an imbalance over the leg bicep.
Don't try and ignore or push through a warning pain as you could end up with a chronic injury and lose training time as a result. If you can ride pain free that's O.K. but if the pedal motion causes you any pain, stop and treat the problem.

Thanks guys for your info. Yes, maybe it's beginners enthusiasm and I need to shorten my riding trips. I'm currently just riding my exercise bike through the week as its dark by the time I get home from work. Hopefully, next week I may be finishing a bit earlier and can ride my bike 2-3 nights per week doing short rides at 20kms and see how I go. I'm feeling fitter than I've been in a long time but need to take things a little easier as I'm now 39.

 

[tanggoman]

First of all, I have to admit that I'm a newbie. I've only been riding my new
Road bike for the past month. I wrode a mountain bike 12 months before that. I'm enjoying the Road bike sooo much. Lately, when riding more than 40kms I get a pain behind my left knee. The right leg is fine. I shall be buying cleats/shoes next week and I hope this may help my problem. I have also been stretching before riding but this doesn't seem to make any difference. Is there anyone else out there who has the same kind of pain or has any advice as to what it may be.

Make sure you're well-fitted on your bike as this might cause injury to you if not given proper attention.

 

[Big Daddy]

This is a common problem and can be solved with a few small adjustments.

Your problem is a fit issue most likely athough I do not discount the overuse issue but 40K ride is not a big ride really.

Three things to check you have mentioned thet you are getting clipless shoes and pedals which will aggravate your symptoms not make better unless you are fitted properly.

#1 Ball of your foot must be over the centerline of the axel of the pedal. make this adjustment first. Ifyou are using toe clips now this is a hard adjustment as toe clips now only come in one size, so small feet vs big feet are going to affect this postion. When you get your shoes and cleats check and set this up this first!!!!!!!

#2 set you bike up on a trainer or lean against a wall if no trainer or strong freind is available to support your weight on the bike. then with stocking feet whith your heel on the pedal, pedal backwards and adjust your seat height untill your heal barely makes contact with the pedal at the bottom (6 oclock) of the crank rotation. ( make sure that you are not rotateing your hips down to accomodate this. When you put your shoes on with your foot in the proper pedal position your leg should be extended but not all the way at the bottom of the crank stroke. You now have the proper seat height!!!

#3 The center of your knee needs to be over the center of the pedal axel line at the 3 oclock postion of the crank stroke. Check this by taking a plumb line (a string with a weight on it) and hold the end of the string on the small bone that protrudes from the side of your knee and adjust your seat fore and aft(front or back wards) untill the plumb line is on the center of the pedal axel.

Note you may have to do step 2 over if you shift the seat more than a couple of mm (1/16) to ensure proper seat height.

this should take care of any knee discomforts for long rides which is definitely longer than 40K. However here is some easy advice

Pain in front of knee raise set height

Pain in back of knee lower seat height

no adjustment should be more than 1-2 mm at a time

Happy knees Mate

 

[StonerLakeLover]

Thanks 'Big Daddy' your post was very helpful for me as well.
-Kristin

 

[MaxPrime]

Thanks a ton! I went down in seat height and it not only alleviated my rear knee pain but also made my ride on the tail MUCH more comfortable.

 

[Gilders]

Pain in front of knee raise set height

Pain in back of knee lower seat height

no adjustment should be more than 1-2 mm at a time

Happy knees Mate

When you say "pain in back of knee", are we talking about at the back of the leg, or literally behind the knee-cap?

Reason I'm asking is that been riding quite alot over the last 15 months and have been spared of virtually all kinds of knee pain. However, in order to alleviate strain on shoulder, neck and lower back muscles, I altered my saddle position a literally a few degrees so that it is now a couple of degrees nose tilted upwards (about 1 degree downwards before), and moved it back less than 2mm.

Pain in shoulders, back and neck gone - fantastic! However, after about 150 - 200 miles in this new position and after some hard rides, got a pain in the inner side tendony-type thing at the back of my leg, within the knee joint indent (if that makes sense, (i.e. not behind the knee cap!). Rested it a couple of weeks in total, went out again and same thing happened again, and in the right leg as well.

So, what do people think; is over-exertion, or is it those three degrees of saddle tilt alteration playing havoc with my leg extension length?

Appreciate any thoughts - thanks!