Originally posted by hwttdz
My knee is giving me trouble. I had heard that riding at low cadence was more likely to cause trouble than riding at higher cadences. I have a cadence computer and it seems I ride at about 100 average, ranging from 90-110 or so. This is within the happy window so I don't think this is causing trouble. Putting pressure on my foot from either the outside or the inside causes pain. Imagine trying to keep your leg straight, knee forward, clipped in while pushing to the outside or inside with the muscles in your upper leg, this is what hurts. I thought that it might have had something to do with the angle my foot clips in at but that seems to be ok. So my current suspect is underdeveloped muscles on the sides of my knee. The only thing that I really do is ride, no weights or cross training. Due to a hip injury I can't run so that kills a lot of possible activities. What's a good way to build up stability and keep muscles balanced? weights? what exercises work?
Hi hwttdz.
Do you have any examples of what the pain feels like and exactly where the pain is located?
It is important that a person does not have underdeveloped stabilizers. However there are many factors that can cause knee pain of which this is simply one. Proper bike fit and cleat position/pedal choice are two other very important factors.
To work on your stabilizers there are several exercise you could do. A few good ones are:
1) Squats. No weight, all the way down. Back against a wall with a ball or pillow pinched between your thighs (above the knees) keeping your kneecaps about 12 inches apart. When performing this exercise the kneecaps should never be forward of the toes. Keep butt pinched. You're doing good at 3 sets of 30 or more.
2) Put two phone books on top of each other. Lift one foot over the edge and allow it to dip all the way to the ground without putting weight on it when you touch the ground. Keep butt pinched. You're also doing good at 3 or more sets of 30 or more.
3) Lunges. No weight. Put lead foot on a low unstable surface (like a ball, pillow, or aerobic trampoline). The lack of stability will help work on additional stabilizers. Go down until rear knee touches the ground but stay stretched out enough that the front kneecap does not surpass the front of your foot. Keep butt pinched.
4) Skipping (I don't know any other word to label it). Not skip rope. You look like a merry reject but it's good.
Like any exercise, these should be done slowly with a steady technique. Weight should only be added when you become more advanced.
It is common that these exercises will make you feel worse before you feel better. But that should make sense as the stabilizers have to strengthen before you start relieving the areas that are inflamed.
It’s a good idea for all endurance athletes to include exercises such as these into their training program.
However if your problem is not actually because of a stabilizer imbalance, strengthening these areas is still a great idea, but may not the magic potion.
Good luck.
