Left Knee pain; what's the deal?

[itself]

Hi there,

First time in my life I have had knee problems. When I ride my bikes, the outside of my left knee is in pain. I am fine when I get off of the bike ( sore), so it only happens on the bike. I use speedplay pedals.

Anyone know of a good orthopedic doc in arizona? So many on every corner!

Thanks for your help!

Lisa

[Cataboo]

It sounds to me that you probably need to take your bike and get it fitted to you- probably either the seat is too low, seat too high, or something is wrong in your position or the cleats. Maybe Knotted Yet will chime in with what it's most likely to be given the location of your pain.

If you're lucky enough to have a physical therapist around you that does bike fitting like KNotted Yet...

[chicagogal]

Could be your IT band. I have some IT band problems and I attribute it to pronating a bit with my right foot. However, when I change my cleat position to stop pronating, I get even worse pain on the inside of my knee. (I am going to go back to my fitter soon and see what he thinks . . .)

[moderncyclista]

Could be as simple as seat height. A good rule of thumb is...Knee pain in the front of the knee - lower your seat. Knee pain in the back of knee area - raise your seat. It couldn't hurt to try adjusting your seat first and testing this out. I used to have terrible pain on the outside of my left knee too - then I lowered my seat just a little bit - and it went away. Best of luck to you.

[OakLeaf]

A good rule ... is...Knee pain in the front of the knee - lower your seat. Knee pain in the back of knee area - raise your seat.

it's actually the opposite...

[moderncyclista]

Ha. Well, scratch that and reverse it. I guess I just run in reverse most times.
(improper foot position on the pedal or cleat alignment - can cause inside or outside knee pain too. Or, pedaling in too high a gear, and so on.)