Pain – Back of the knee (one side?)

Darkside question I know.

I get pain during and after my road rides in the back of my right knee. I have tried:

Moving saddle down, up, forwards, backwards.
Cleats (so foot is closer to the axle.

Any thoughts?

Old age ?

Knackered knee

edited- ignore me

ignore any set-up advice here and go see a sports physio that knows about bikes

ignore any set-up advice here and go see a sports physio

and stop calling it Darkside

I would always recommend seeing a sports physio for these problems – they can usually decide pretty qucikly if there is a problem they can fix and if they are wrong they are unlikely to casue any harm.

and stop calling it Darkside

Aw, c’mon! It’s hilarious.

😐

+1 for physio, my tight hip flexors manifested as pain behind the knee.

Other than that, move the saddle back further, and play atrorund with cleat position, ignore the ‘rules’ just figure out what’s comfortable.

ibuprofen before the ride / pain arrives

Seriously see a physio, you can have various aliments inc little “nodules” develop on inside of knee which then rub/wear …

My knees are in very good condition with no underlying problems (or the last two years of intense physical training with weight on my back would have highlighted them).

I am not old.

I am fit.

This was on the first two rides on a new bike with new shoes and my first two road rides.

I’m pretty sure it’s setup not **** knees.

Spoon are you sure about saddle backwards?

Oh and I asked a few physios where I worked and they all said 90% bike.

Also never take ibuprofen before if you can help it – your gut shuts down and it increases your chance of ulceration hugely.

as above, get a decent physio to review.
When I had this it was due to me over-extending the popliteal muscle.

I always had quite flexible hamstrings and had thought I was quite clever being able to touch my toes with knees locked out. do not do this, when stretching hamstring always make sure you have a slight bend in the knee.

What was your bike-related solution? lower saddle? Further forward?

Mine was get a proper bike fit. Dont want saddle too high such that when heels are down it over-extends the muscle at back of knee but best to make sure you’ve got the full fit otherwise you could put something else out fella.

but in general my solution was to stop locking the knee out whether on or off the bike.

Had sciatic nerve trouble manifesting in back of knee. Physio traced problem to lower back trouble from riding long distance on incorrect setup.

Physio with understanding of bike fit really helped me.
Important to consider that if you, like me, think you know it all because you have been riding since you walked – think again.
Turns out I was riding with my saddle about 30mm too high on both mtb & road bikes!
When you watch back footage of you on the bike it says it all.

Spoon are you sure about saddle backwards?

Nope, in fact I think it’s the opposite, I’ve got a link bookmarked on my home PC for bike fitting advice so I’ll post it up later, it works allong the lines of “if pain here, do this in small incraments untill it goes”.

Applied it to all my bikes and by itteration they end up pain free. It’s quite good as it works continuously, if I get a niggle or an injury (or the opoosite, actualy get fitter/stronger) I can just tweek the bike position to compensate for it.

Not changed your cranks recently for shorter ones ones by any chance? I did and started getting knee pain- back to the 175mm ones and it is fine again.

physio to get you checked out and fixed …

almost certainly setup and most probably saddle too high causing
over extension, but …

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/article/take-care-of-your-knees-part-2-17445/

might be worth checking your legs are the same length and that your feet angle the same. Could be you need some cleat shimming.

if you have previous injuries (broken ankle, torn hamstring etc..) these could have left you with an inbalance or you may have just been born like it.

Back of my left knee occasionally tweaks if I have the saddle too far back / high. I’ve had several injuries in the past which mean I’m not ‘even’ and it can show as pain on the bike on longer / more intense sessions

Being young and fit has nothing to do with whether you might have some degradation inside your knee. if you are really fit it means you excersize a lot which means you are more likely to have “wear” or friction injuries.

I had a similar pain a while back. Turned out I had my seat slightly too high and given myself tendinitis in the back of my knee from over stretching the tendon every time I turned the pedals. Had to take a month off even after I’d fixed the seat height to let it heal. Bloody tendons!!

But yes, go see a physio. They’ll get to the bottom of it