Knees knees knees

[SadieKate]

Ditto on Pruitt.

BTW, TrekHawk, what's up with the mtb cranks?

[DrBee]

I had knee problems in both knees from my ballet days as well. I had my right knee dislocate 5 times in one afternoon of riding horses when I was 15. That was pretty much the end of my ballet days. I had surgery (lateral release) on both knees when I was an undergrad and it cured me. I have had no problems since. My knees will "talk" to me a bit when I start running, but by 5-10 minutes into it, they are fine. I haven't run into any problems on the bike. Strengthing the quads is not always the solution - that is what caused my problems. It's the other muscle on the inside of your leg (name escapes me at the moment). In women, the quad wraps across your leg above the knee. Over-strengthening of that will cause improper tracking. The jumping and other movements done in ballet accentuate this. Hence, the problem in women, especially dancers. When they did my lateral release, the doc said that he could see the patella pop back to where it was supposed to be.

[Nanci]

Beta, I'm sorry to hear about the knee problems. I think your only hope is to move to Florida. The brevet series here is much gentler and kinder, too.

Nanci

[betagirl]

Wow, thanks guys for all the tips. I've been mulling over seeing an orthopedic dude who I hope would refer me to a good PT. The surgery (lateral release) I had at 14 worked phenomenonally well (knock on wood). So I'm tempted to just have it done again. I know it sounds crazy to say that the surgery is the "easy" way out of this. But I tried the exercises when I was young. Grant it I probably wasn't that dedicated to doing them, so their efficacy was probably less than it could have been.

I did a pretty fast ride today, and had no problems. I was spinning a lot, no mashing, so I definitely think that's a big part of it. So I'll try to keep the cadence up. I've been better about that this year. I'll also check out that book.

Nanci - if they'd just do the Brevet's in Illinois, I'd be happy. I think the chicago area competes with FL for flatness. But noooooooooooo, we need to go to WI for them. RAGBRAI this year starts near Sioux City, and goes through some area called the Loess Hills. That should be painful. Guess Terry the triple will see a lot of action

[KnottedYet]

Fishdr- that's the VMO, vastus medialis obliquus. It's on the medial side of the whole quad complex and acts to pull the kneecap so that it stays centered in the groove. In those of us of a feminine persuasion, it gets inhibited and weak so it needs extra love. It acts to help straighten the knee in the last 10 or 15 degrees which is why everyone is running around doing short arc extensions. There are better ways to strengthen the VMO. If the VMO is already weak the larger quads can substitute in a short arc, so you end up in the same muscle imbalance you started with.

(i'm thinking externally rotated straight leg raises with feedback from just resting your fingers on the VMO, and functional activities like step-downs in front of a mirror and posture work)

[carolp]

If there's a way to fix it without surgery I would think that's the way to go. Every time you have surgery you get scar tissue which in the end can cause so many problems.
I have a new left knee-- it will be a year old in another month== and it's the best thing I could have done. I'm doing the ALC AIDS ride in June. But without a good physical therapist, I would never have been able to.