About six weeks ago, I put a new saddle on my bike and mistakenly put it about 1/2" too high and 1/2" too low. During the first ride I felt a little pain in my right knee about 3 miles into ride (pain was about a level 1-2) so I kept riding. I did about 100 miles over the course of two weeks with low level pain before having my LBS check my position and they found the saddle in wrong position. Re-positioned saddle, did 64 miles with no pain, but the next day a generalized ache in my knee. Since then, I have experience generalized pain in my right knee ONLY when resting...it does not hurt while walking, going up down stairs, riding, or running on a treadmill. It also does not hurt while lifting (leg presses, calf raises, leg curls, hip abductors). I stopped doing anything this past Friday except stretching (including foam roller on IT Band and under calf and knee). The IT band has loosened up (little pain when using roller) and last night was the last time I did it under my calfs and the right one was VERY sore so I am going to continue to do that (maybe right calf is tight causing knee pain???). I have also been taking Ibuprofen and icing every night for the last week / week and a half. I have an appointment with an Orthopedicist tomorrow, but has anyone else experienced anything like this...can do anything, but rest comfortably!?!? Thanks!!!
Sick and tired of this knee ache!!!
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Tough one... sorry totally dumbfounded that there is pain only when resting. Curious what the Orthopedicist said though.
Well, I may have found one cause of the pain....I have been using the foam roller for IT Band and quad stretching and after reading up more, decided I should also do it on my calf. Rolling on left calf was fine, but on right HURT A LOT, especially at the top of the calf under the knee. So I put some Tiger Balm on it and of course, the knee feels better today. So hopefully it was just the strained muscle on the back side of the leg that was causing the pain. A muscle pain seems to make sense..warm muscle up, pain stops. Let muscle get cold and it tightens up.
Seems the problem has been solved....it was the calf muscle that runs up under the knee. The dr. examined the knee and thankfully found nothing wrong with anything and the xray was fine. He felt around and the underside of the leg was really tender - where the calf runs under knee. He said I probably injured it when I had my saddle to high and far back and it has just turned into an overuse injury. Have continued to use roller on calf and stretch that muscle (lying down with leg out straight and pulling toe back towards knee hits it great) and the pain has pretty much gone away. Lesson learned...a half inch here and a half inch there can really mess things up...and a foam roller is great for IT band and leg muscle stretching.
proper fit
paying for a professional fit is worth every penny. i tweaked and tweaked, my positioning by myself, but always in error, i had back,knee and calf pain. got fitted and instantly the pain never returned. I am much more efficient, relaxed and overall faster. It's been said a thousand times to ride a bike with optimum fit, this is just one more iteration of that advice.
paying for a professional fit is worth every penny. i tweaked and tweaked, my positioning by myself, but always in error, i had back,knee and calf pain. got fitted and instantly the pain never returned. I am much more efficient, relaxed and overall faster. It's been said a thousand times to ride a bike with optimum fit, this is just one more iteration of that advice.
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That always isn't the case...EasyAZ said:
I've got knee pains and had 3 pro fittings...None made the pain go away...Other thing is all three guys fit me slightly different based on what they liked...One had a tendency to fit rider low, another high, etc...
What's next....who knows...
I agree with rbart...you MUST give feedback during a ftting. No matter how qualified a fitter is, he/she will still try to 'push' what they like...the guy that fit me is a VERY aggressive rider and I made it VERY clear that I would never be the level of rider that he is...after a couple trials of bar level, reach and me saying I felt too low and too stretched out we got a more nuetral fit. Most important part of fit is getting saddle height and fore/aft position correct. ALL fitters should get this position very close to each other..once you get it right, you can play with bar position all day and probably not cause any 'damage'...incorrect saddle position can result in damage. Also make sure cleat position and float are correct as well.
Also, I have learned that stretching out your calf (sitting down, leg straight and pulling toe back while relaxing ham string and thight) and using foam roller on calf helps illeviate knee pain as well....most focus on hams and tband,but don't forget calf.
Also, I have learned that stretching out your calf (sitting down, leg straight and pulling toe back while relaxing ham string and thight) and using foam roller on calf helps illeviate knee pain as well....most focus on hams and tband,but don't forget calf.
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