My left knee got a bit sore when riding a new road bike. Foolishly I ignored this and went out again without checking seat height, orientation etc. which resulted in an incredibly painful knee, to the extent I could hardly walk. After four days of this I went to the quacks and was sent to nurse practitioner who said oh dear and gave me heavier grade painkillers. After a few days more, not only is there little improvement but I nearly fell flat on my face getting of the sofa last night due to stabbing pain. The pain is concentrated on the inner side of the knee which the nurse called the meniscus.
So
1 what chance of it clearing up on its own fairly quickly? [event entered in a fortnight]
2 what action to take if the answer to 1 is no?
3 are any of the various sorts of brace, strap or other support going to be any help?

1) very limited
2) you need to see a specialist
3) yes but you need to have an idea of what’s wrong

Is pain sharp (yes I think) is it internal or external ?

Lots of possibilities inc ligament tear, calcium build-up inside knee cap etc …

Go and see a physio.

Self diagnosis and treatment of knees is a really bad thing, as are knee braces without professional fitting

I twisted my knee yesterday in the teachers v parents tug of war!! Really hurts today.

We (parents) won though so it’s alright*!!

*as long as it stops hurting…..

Is it possible to damage the meniscus just by riding? depends how old you are I guess, they do wear out over time.
The docs will not be much use to be honest, as you have experienced, “go away & take some painkillers, come back in 2 weeks if it still hurts”. Go see a physio as suggested.
Sprained acl, mcl, bruised/cracked bone & torn meniscus 2 months ago at bpw. Currently waiting on an op to have mine fixed.
This year has been written off 🙁

Agree with Jamba. Be very very very persistent with getting seen by a physio and scan if likely helpful. Self referral may be an option where you are and if the NHS physios prove useless (it is a bit of a lottery) then the cost of a decent private physio is well worth it IMO

In response to the last post, yes you can damage the menisci “just riding along”. They do generally degrade over time but ruptures are usually a result of flexion (bending the knee), load bearing and transverse plane rotations (twisting)… Which is feasible with riding hard, the saddle a bit low and cleats set incorrectly for example although there is no way to tell without an MRI.

I had a knee problem in the past and the issue was my back. The physio worked on my back and the knee pain disappeared.

Knee problems on road bikes are often (not always) caused by shoe/cleat/knee alignment. Essentially, when you pedal, your knee must be at a natural angle. i.e. as it would be if walking/running naturally. Often, folk cleat their shoes to the bike in a less natural manner (pointing forwards), then when spinning circa 80-120 times per minute, your knee goes tits up as its ground at angles it is not used too. E.g. my right foot on my road bike points out away from my bike and my left foot points just left of center, its how I walk and then cycles too.

The way to see what angle your feet should be at when riding is to sit on a kitchen surface with your legs dangling naturally, then look down and mentally note how your feet ‘hang’, then set up the cleats on your shoes to reflect this. Then when you pedal, your knees and feet will stay in a natural angle whatever the cadence.

If your feet are not hanging naturally, you will stress and strain knees, sometimes this brings out injuries which are actually not related to cycling.

Hope this helps, apologies if you are sucking eggs and knew this. 🙁

Edit: thats a top post from @buckster

Without getting too politcal this is one if the major benefits of the French system, you tell your doctor you want to see a specialist doctor/surgeon and a week later you have an appointment – total cost of two visits approx €100. The NHS isn’t setup for this stuff amd will string you along for months especially for an mri. When I bust my knee I just paid for the surgeon/mri it was €300 and had I French insurance cost would have been zero.

OP as above its very complicated, you could well have a ligament or meniscus tear from over exertion exacerbated by the new bike setup. IMO even if it goes away it will come back later.

Yeah, the shoe/cleat/knee thing sounds a very likely culprit. When I set up the new bike I was looking at saddle height as the shoes and pedals were the same but I hadn’t taken into account the position of the saddle on the rails which was far too far forward.
When I can flex my knee without yelping, I will spend sometime properly setting up.
Meanwhile back to the docs and try and get some physio and/or a scan. Waiting time for physio is about three weeks in our area

I wouldn’t wait, find someone local privately and go from there. I say this after the NHS style approach of wait and watch strung me along for 18 months before finally getting an MRI and having surgery soon after as a result of the scan. The private physio won’t be able to request a scan as far as I am aware but they will be able to do the same job as the NHS appointment in 3 weeks which you can arrive to armed with information (hopefully) and really press for a scan if things haven’t settled down. Just IMO but hopefully helpful for you.

The way to see what angle your feet should be at when riding is to sit on a kitchen surface with your legs dangling naturally, then look down and mentally note how your feet ‘hang’, then set up the cleats on your shoes to reflect this. Then when you pedal, your knees and feet will stay in a natural angle whatever the cadence.

Absolutely correct that the movement of all joints should be “natural” and not introduce any twisting or such like by the kitchen surface method is very static and passive whereas pedaling obviously isn’t which can make a big difference… it is a very, very rough guide at best

I took a blow at the side of my patella earlier this year, then it felt like pins and needles (almost electric) to the touch across the knee. Suddenly if I rest the ankle across the top of my other leg I get pains radiating down the lower leg. I also felt pain on the right side of the knee
After massaging and stretching the pain sshifts to the top back of my calf. My fear is my cartledge is going? It’s worse if I sit for a while, but moving abit really helps. I also found stretching the hamstring helps

OP when you see the doctor make sure you speak about the pain, can’t walk, affecting your ability to work etc

3 week wait 😯 can you afford a private appointment, do you imagine a professional athlete waits 3 weeks or 3hr mins tomsee a physio ? If you have any swelling / external pain you should ice yourr knee multiple times a day

Too many variations with knees, so you’ll need to see doctor/physio.

I have a current issue with my knee. Just came on, no crash or fall so no swelling or anything obvious. Just pain and reduced movement. MRI wasn’t relevant due to no swelling. Referred for investigative physio after blood test and x-ray, now have exercises and strapping method. Seems to be working.

3 weeks is quicker than mid-Wales, clinic is only one day a fortnight so was 3 or 4 sessions before they could fit me in.

Ice ,rest & anti inflammatory drugs. If this is the first time you’ve had the pain.
Docs if it recurs after you’ve looked at the bike set up.
My knees are fubared….cycling is all I can do ,sometimes when they are painful,like now, I have to walk a mile or so to loosen them up.