knee pain

[redsky]

I've recently developed a sharp pain on the inside of my left knee, just below the patella. There's no event or trauma that I can link it to, but I feel it has to do with the amount of biking I've been doing since early spring. The odd thing is that it doesn't bother me at all while I'm biking--only when I try to do things like walk down stairs, or sit cross-legged. A biking friend suggested that it may have to do with the biking muscles becoming overdeveloped and throwing the physical mechanics out of whack. Perhaps if I work on strengthening the muscles I have been ignoring the knee pain will resolve.

Anyone experience something similar? I'd like to hear about it. Also if you have comments or insights I'd like to hear those too. Thank you.

[bunny_ninja]

I thought I had http://www.google.com/search?q=patella+femoral+syndrome

The BF assured me it was not. But, I did lots of research anyway. You might check your stroke. Are you using the full range, do your legs wobble (horizontal movement). Are you comfortable in your shoes? What is your cadence like? more hills?

strengthening is good. The basic ITBS pt exercises should take care of any stability muscles.

Me, I have pretty developed quads :-/ and it turned out I just needed The Stick as my muscles were messing up my tendons down there... My pain was bilateral and I, too, had pain going down stairs. It was more just below the knee cap.

[OakLeaf]

Sounds like patellofemoral pain to me. Sharp pain isn't typical AFAIK, but the rest of it sounds familiar.

Things to think about:

strengthening the muscles around your hips (making sure your knees don't bow inwards)
releasing any trigger points around the hip muscles (IT band area, quads, adductors, hamstrings)
making sure your seat height isn't too low
making sure your cleats are properly aligned
making sure your crankarms aren't too long

and as you're working on the rest of it, stretching my knees before a ride used to help me.

[Cataboo]

BIking has actuallly helped my patella femoral pain (I agree it sound like she has it ) - so I'd get yourself fit to your bike or have someone knowledgable help you with it.

If my bike is "perfect" my knee doesn't hurt - if my seat position is off or anything like that, I can flare up my patella femoral syndrome.

Way back when I did physical therapy to strengthen my inner thigh muscles to help with the patella femoral and the therapists taught me how to tape my knee cap into the right position until I got the muscles balanced out... and in general the therapy was effective even though I didn't keep up with the exercises afterwards.

But my knee would still flare up on long hiking or backpacking trips or ski vacations - since I've started biking, I don't have those flare ups anymore...

[bunny_ninja]

OH hey! I bike through Arlington every morning!
(only a tiny bit is in Arlington)
http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/South-Waltham-to-Nokia

[cheeks.10]

I'm going through the exact same thing. I just finished the MS Ride (Cape Cod Getaway) this past weekend. It was after day 1 that I had the "ah ha" moment that it was my quad contributing to the problem. Prior to the last few months, I had primarily been running (20-25 miles/week) without any issues at all. I made the switch to riding pretty abruptly and was riding quite a bit right from the start. The knee pain came on suddenly soon after I started riding. I couldn't pinpoint where or what it was for a while. Same deal - it doesn't bother me when I'm riding (until about mile 40). But I started noticing it going up/down stairs and even just walking some days.

I've been stretching my quads a ton today, and I'm going to work on strengthening my left inner quad. The outside has gotten stronger than the inside, and it's lifting my patella outward. I'm also going to start strengthening my hips and hamstrings. It all stems from an imbalance in muscle strength, in my situation.

After this weekend, I think I also need to make a cleat adjustment on my left cleat.

You might find this article helpful: http://www.bikeradar.com/fitness/article/health-muscle-balance-16264

Good luck with recovery!