Knee issues (esp. cycling)

Russinating · 15 Mar 2011 at 17:17

Two weeks ago I 'twinged' my knee while playing squash, wasn't bad at all just stepped funny. Played squash the day after and barely felt it at all.

Now it's still 'twingy'. I've cut squash as that's just an amateur hobby but I'm worried that it's going to affect my cycling as I can 'feel it' even when walking now. I've bought a knee support from Boots today to see if that helps at all, but what else can I do?

I know there's lots of things that can affect your knee while cycling, from saddle position to cleat placement, but how on earth do I know how to change these for the better, or is it just trial and error?

Steedie · 15 Mar 2011 at 17:20

Just give it a week or two off mate. Nothing does niggling injuries better than time to heal. Wear that knee support for a while and if after a week or two it is still giving you issues, head to your GP

Russinating · 15 Mar 2011 at 17:33

I commute by bike so I might give this week a rest (was off today and yesterday anyway). I've got a 60 mile paid sportive ride on 3 April that I need to train for though so hopefully that'll be enough rest!

Hilly · 15 Mar 2011 at 17:52

Before you can do any sort of remedy action, you need to find out what's wrong with your knee.

Russinating · 15 Mar 2011 at 18:00

hilly said:
Before you can do any sort of remedy action, you need to find out what's wrong with your knee.

GP or would that be a useless exercise?

Clum · 15 Mar 2011 at 18:00

Where exactly is the pain? Saddle position/crank length ect can be adjusted to help with any knee issues, but it depends on the pain location as well as your body proportions to some extent as well.

If it's not bad enough to have gone to the hospital for, and if it's not some long term niggle, then a minimum of a weeks rest will probably be fine. Don't rush into things just because you've paid 50 quid or whatever for a sportive though. Better to lose out on a little cash than be laid up for months and months getting fat from a knee injury. Trust me, I know!

Russinating · 15 Mar 2011 at 18:04

Pain is just below the knee cap. Oddly I knelt on a wooden bench yesterday and instantly had to pull off, almost felt like I'd knelt on something sharp like a stone, but it was totally smooth and bare. Been a tad worse since that but nothing painful, just a kind of "I know my knee exists", if that makes sense

.

PS. I don't want to turn this into a medical thread for obvious reasons!

Clum · 15 Mar 2011 at 18:08

Might be a mild case of Patellar Tendonitis (jumpers knee). Sure it'll be fine with some rest if it's not too painful. If you have to cycle, make sure your saddle isn't too far forward or too low, as this would aggravate any anterior knee pain. Also keep to the bigger rear cogs and up your cadence rather than pushing the big gears.

oddjob62 · 15 Mar 2011 at 19:18

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Russinating · 16 Mar 2011 at 18:47

Luckily (although also very annoyingly) the sportive has been postponed until October. It was supposed to be in 2 weeks time, so pretty ridiculous. Asked for a refund anyway but will take the pressure of training for a week.

Hilly · 17 Mar 2011 at 12:34

Russinating said:
GP or would that be a useless exercise?

GP might be able to help, likely course of action there though is a referral to a specialist. If you're not on Private Medical, then it might not be worth it.

Pain just below the knee cap is generally the tendon. If it clicks and locks you're looking at cartilage, if it's unstable you need to get it looked it.

Give it plenty of rest, ice it down and see how it goes.