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Another "Knee Pain and Cycling" Cry for Help
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Last year I suffered from a very annoying case of ITB syndrome in my right knee. The usual symptoms (pain on the upper outside of the right knee and which would everntually increase in intensity and cause me to stop running) and cure (rest, stretching, icing, more stretching, massage, then more stretching). The rehab worked brilliantly and I am now running as well as ever. (Highly recommend rolling over a foam rolling pin - hurts like hell but gets results!!)

But now I am plagued by pain in the same knee whilst cycling. I am no further than 20km into the ride when the discomfort starts to rear it's ugly head on the upper outside of the knee (above the level of the knee cap). This pain gets worse, and gets to the point where standing and cranking for sprints and pushing off at lights is very uncomfortable. At this point I am unable to get any real power through the cranks, as doing so will hurt like hell - so I don't.

Could this be related to the ITB problem experienced previously? If I was a betting man (and I am...) I would say it would have to be. Same spot, same knee etc... But why can I run pain free, yet have this very annoying pain on the ride??? I thought ITB syndrome was a running injury...

Thanks in advance for any help.

P.S. I am still doing the same stretches I did for the ITB issue last year, but they are not seeming to alleviate the problem.
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Re: Another "Knee Pain and Cycling" Cry for Help [Oz Tri-Guy] [ In reply to ]
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try reading up on Rotor Cranks, they claim to help with knee pain www.rotorbike.com
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Re: Another "Knee Pain and Cycling" Cry for Help [Oz Tri-Guy] [ In reply to ]
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I get ITB symptoms while cycling, but not from running. Some things that have really helped me, in order of decreasing importance:

- Seat height! The biggest factor for me. I get my seat as high as I can with my legs just shy of straight.
Makes a night and day difference.

- Pedals with tons of FREE float. I use Speedplay Frogs, the mountain bike version, on all my bikes.

- Wedges. Shims that go between the cleat and the shoe to 'tilt' your feet a little bit. Goes under the unfortunately titled brand name, 'Big Meat Wedge'.

- Pedal extenders. A larger Q-factor seems to help somewhat. Lightning Cycles makes these or you could get a wider bottom bracket, but this may affect your shifting.

Best of luck. It's a nagging injury, but sometimes you can find just the cure that works for you.

--ashayk
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Re: Another "Knee Pain and Cycling" Cry for Help [ashayk] [ In reply to ]
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If you find that your issue is with your pedal - shoe alignment, I would suggest looking at the Time Pedals. They have massive float, adjustable Q factor (by default with 6mm of side to side play), and with the Time shoe has the shortest distance from your foot to the pedal axel. Another thing is that with the pedal and cleat together the Titan Mag weighs LESS that a Speedplay with the cleats. I know many people that are on Time and either never had, or solved a knee problem.

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What if the Hokey Pokey is what it is all about?
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Re: Another "Knee Pain and Cycling" Cry for Help [Record9ti] [ In reply to ]
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Have you considered orthodics? I wear orthodics in my running shoes and did not put them in my bike shoes for a long time. I had recurring knee pain on the bike which only went away after wearing the orthodics in both my running and cycling shoes. No problems since I started riding with the orthodics.
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Re: Another "Knee Pain and Cycling" Cry for Help [Record9ti] [ In reply to ]
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So on the cleat positioning side of things, if the pain is on the outside of my knee, should I assume that my foot (and hence cleat position) should be slightly splayed? (versus riding pigeon toe'd...)
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Re: Another "Knee Pain and Cycling" Cry for Help [ashayk] [ In reply to ]
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I had a similar experience to Ashayk. My physio moved my seat forward and up and it has solved the problem.
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