recent bike fit causing knee pain



knhokie

New Member
Mar 21, 2011
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I sustained a knee injury 5 months ago and am just now getting back on my bike. I wanted to make sure I didnt harm my knee any more so I went in for a bike fit. Before this fitting, I had been back on my bike for 2 weeks and even did two 60 mile rides, feeling great

During the fit, I got a wider saddle to center myself on the seat(I was apparently shifting to the left, and injured side), seat raised and pushed forward and cleats moved all the way forward.

The next day I went to ride it and I got this stabbing pain right under my knee cap, on the non injured leg. We pushed back the seat some (but not too much to aggravate the bad left leg) and moved the cleats back 1 cm. Its been a week and a half and the pain is not subsiding. It usually begins 25-30 min into a ride and feels the worst on the down stroke.

Any suggestions as to what might be going on? The guy who fit me says it might be patello femoral pain syndrome, but I dont know how that could be since the pain occurred right after a bike fitting.
 
My knee injury a couple of years back made me favor the good knee and place strain on it. It tended to cramp up at times. I eventually got past it by concentrating on applying equal force to both knees and a lot of miles.
Don't know if that is your issue but it was mine.
 
Unfortunately the fitter at the LBS is trained to set you up in the best riding position. Seeing as you had a knee injury 5 months ago you may want to get your Orthopedic doctor to refer you to a sports clinic where they can evaluate your current condition and set your position on your bike accordingly.
 
My inclination would be to put everything back as close as possible to the way it was before (pre-fit), and go ride, making small adjustments as you see "fit" to do so. But that's me; YMMV.
 
but the thing i dont get, is the knee that was injured feels great, its the other one that is now suffering.
 
Originally Posted by knhokie .

but the thing i dont get, is the knee that was injured feels great, its the other one that is now suffering.

If this is the case refer back to oldgoats advice. BTW are you favoring your good knee? If so you may be creating an overuse issue.
 
How much free play do you have in your cleats? Does the float allow you to move your foot around a bit allowing your knees some rest from the straight up and down movement?
 
Originally Posted by knhokie .

I sustained a knee injury 5 months ago and am just now getting back on my bike. I wanted to make sure I didnt harm my knee any more so I went in for a bike fit. Before this fitting, I had been back on my bike for 2 weeks and even did two 60 mile rides, feeling great

During the fit, I got a wider saddle to center myself on the seat(I was apparently shifting to the left, and injured side), seat raised and pushed forward and cleats moved all the way forward.

The next day I went to ride it and I got this stabbing pain right under my knee cap, on the non injured leg. We pushed back the seat some (but not too much to aggravate the bad left leg) and moved the cleats back 1 cm. Its been a week and a half and the pain is not subsiding. It usually begins 25-30 min into a ride and feels the worst on the down stroke.

Any suggestions as to what might be going on? The guy who fit me says it might be patello femoral pain syndrome, but I dont know how that could be since the pain occurred right after a bike fitting.
If you make a bunch of changes and things start to hurt then set 1 is to make a note of what changes were made and step 2 is put things back closer to what they were before.

A wider saddle won't keep you centered on the seat. The purpose of a wider saddle is to support your "sit bones" if they're further apart than your narrower saddle would properly support. You need to figure out why you're 'tilting' to one side - is it a skeletal issue or a muscular issue?

Just thinking about a saddle and cleats pushed all the way forward makes my knees hurt.

patello femoral pain syndrome - ice, rest, more ice, more rest. Make sure the saddle isn't too high and that your knees track straight up and down (when viewed from the front) while you pedal. It could be something with similar symptoms such as overworked quads because your saddle is too high.

It's pretty much impossible to diagnose what you have going on in your knees over the net.