Cycling knee pain, Knee cycling Injuries. Everything You Need to Know for Prevention and Cure

Are you suffering cycling knee pain or soreness when you cycle? Have you got a knee injury that is limiting your performance on the bike? You are not alone! This article will explain what I have learnt over the last few years while treating my own knee injuries! It identifies common causes and proposes some solutions.

The following list gives you some possible causes of your cycling knee pain. It could be one of them, it could be many of them or it could be none at all !! Where knees and cycling are concerned – identify the exact cause of the problem is more of an “black art” than an exact science.

CYCLING KNEE PAIN CAUSES & SOLUTIONS

Overuse injuries

Most often occur at the beginning of the season, particularly in the cold winter months. You are more likely to experience them if you suddenly increase your training volume. Prevention is better than cure in these cases.

All the obvious solutions apply such as wind proof leg warmers and not riding too hard until you are thoroughly warmed up. Also remember when building base endurance NOT to increase volume by more than about 10% per week.

These injuries can also be caused by pushing too BIG A GEAR or by having too low a CADENCE and explains why many experienced riders only use the small chain ring for winter riding and early season training. This has the added benefit of encouraging “spinning” of the pedals and builds leg speed.

Injuries resulting from poor riding position

Such injuries are common but usually the easiest to fix. Normally as soon as you identify this as the cause of the problem and make the necessary adjustments the pain goes away.

There are various factors to consider such as saddle height, saddle position, cleat position, pedal float, crank length.

Be particularly aware of these type of injuries when you buy a new bike or change the setup for any reason.

Injuries resulting from accidents

The cause and solution to such injuries varies so much that the only advice I can give is to seek the opinion of an expert.

Diagnosis of Knee Pain

This table details the location of thee pain, gives possible causes and some quick fix solutions:

LOCATION	POSSIBLE CAUSE	POSSIBLE SOLUTION
Front of knee	Saddle to LOW	Raise
	Saddle too far forward	Move back
	Riding Hilly Routes	Go easy!
	Pushing to big a gear	use low gears & spin
	Low Cadence	Spoin those pedals!
	Scranks too long	Change
Back of Knee	Saddle too high	Lower
	Saddle too far back	Move forward
	Excessive float in pedals	Reduce
Inside of Knee	Toes are pointing outwards	Change
	Excessive float in pedals	Change
	Clipless pedals too tight	Adjust pedal tension
	feet too wide apart	narrower cranks or shorter bottom bracket axle
Lateral	toes point inwards	Adjust cleat
Outside of Knee	Excessive Float in pedals	Change
	feet too close together	Adjust cleat or longer bottom bracket axle or offset cranks or fit a spacer between pedal and crank

Pain Relief

I take Ibuprofen at the first sign of any joint or ligament pains. This includes knees and fingers (I do a lot of rock climbing!!). It is an anti inflammatory and will reduce the inflammation. This is important as my understanding is that the injury DOES NOT START healing until this has happened.

It also acts a pain killer so you will be able to continue training. BUT you should note that if you do so the injury has not gone AWAY you have just dulled the pain. Obviously best solution is to rest BUT in most cases we don’t do this so best to train on but with caution.

Dosage recommended 400mg 3 times per day. I have read about taking much higher doses for short periods of time and have done so myself when I had very bad pain (800mg 3 * per day) BUT I cannot recommend this to others.

I generally cycle / rock climb with it in my pocket or kit bag so that if I get pain then I will take 400mg rather than taking continuously.

Please note also that it is very hard on the stomach lining and so should note be taken by those who have had stomach ulcers or similar. Also you should not continue to take over a prolonged period of time without seeking MEDICALK ADVIVE as it can DAMAGE the stomach lining. Particularly if you are taking high doses.

Long Term Prevention

In the knee, much of the pain, discomfort, inflammation and eventual osteoarthritis occur because of damage to the cartilage which leaves the heads of the leg bones in contact with each other causing pain and increased inflammation.

One solution in to take the supplement Glucosamine. You should take 1500mg per day.

If you are tempted by an endurance riding challenge then take a look at the 100 mile bike challenge. Also I work with many amateur bike riders helping them to realise their fitness and weight loss goals. To find out more check out Century Training

This is a new web site and I would really appreciate your help in raising awareness. If you enjoyed this article please take a moment to comment or share it on Facebook or Twitter. I would really appreciate it. Thanks and keep cycling. David Ertl has published a fantastic ebook 101 Cycling Workouts. You should check it out.

Luke Bream

P. S. If you enjoyed the article then please stay in touch. You can do this by joining our email newsletter or become a FAN on Facebook or how about subscribing to the RSS feed.

P. P. S. Are you getting the fitness and weight loss goals you desire? Maybe I can help you. To find out more check out Cycling Training

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