Knee Pain

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Last post: Oct 31, 2009 7:04 PM by Darrow Weiss

Eric Wilhelm

1 posts since
Oct 12, 2009

Currently Being Moderated

Oct 26, 2009 6:49 AM

Hey all, I did my first organized long ride and near the end had sever knee pain in my right knee. Never had it before. Longest I had rode was 40 miles do mostly to time restraints. This was the Hilly Hundy and was Hilly!!!! I was doing the 63 but one wrong rookie turn and ended up doing 72.5! I rested for 2 days and did 25 and it started to hurt slightly near the end. 2 more days off then did 40 and the pain was back the last 10. Any ideas/sugestions? Thanks

Tags: cycling, cyclist

thomas_graham

1 posts since
Mar 8, 2009

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1. Oct 28, 2009 11:36 AM

in response to: Eric Wilhelm

Re: Knee Pain

hey Eric,

i'm in the same boat as you. Back in July I completed a century and towards the end my left knee was popping and i was going through a huge amount of pain just trying to keep the line. I had dull pain for a week or so after the event. took a few weeks off from riding and the pain seemed to go away. Well i've since started gearing up for another century (a hilly one; Horrible Hundred) and my knee is talking to me again...just a little louder though. A couple of my buddies in the medical field have recommended that i try Glucosamine and Chondroitin supplements and see if that can swerve the pain and issues i've been having. I'm about 3 weeks in and my knee still let's me know it's there, although it's a whisper rather than a yell. The ride is on Nov. 14th so we'll see how well it holds up. Taking stairs right now seems to be the only way for my knee to start popping or cracking. I plan on seeing a ortho soon after the ride regardless of any issues or not. I can only suggest that depending on your level and how frequently you have occurences, that you should also consult a specialist and get his/her opinion and try the supplements. Good Luck!

-Tom

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Darrow Weiss

1 posts since
Apr 5, 2009

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2. Oct 31, 2009 7:04 PM

in response to: thomas_graham

Re: Knee Pain

I used to have the same problem until I learned to climb from a human mountain goat of a biker. Assuming you did not have a previous knee injury or deformity, probably the primary reason that your knees hurt is that you have not properly trained specifically for climbing. That means you have to ride in the proper climbing gears (not just your granny gear) in the right body position with more weight over your bars than normal, and more flex in your elbows than on flat roads. You also have to practice riding real hills. Riding the flats and spinning classes are no substitute for hill training where you have to shlep your own weight, deal with wind resistance, and work against gravity and centrifugal forces. Muscles for climbing are different than racing. If you emphasize your quads when climbing, they will put a lot of torque on your knee ligaments. So be sure you work on strengthening your hamstrings and keeping them flexible. But don't over-train. You have to give yourself time to rest between hill rides: the older you are, the more you gotta rest. I always ice down and do some stretches and TriggerPoint massages right after riding.