Patellar tendinitis and cycling

Hi all,

Looks like I’ve got patellar tendinitis. It’s not super bad but it’s stopping me going running.

There’s loads on the internet about it but was wondering how it relates to cycling so thought I’d ask here for direct experience.

It’s really annoying, I’ve got 4 days holiday coming up and was gonna go hiking but maybe that’s a bad idea and I’ll go cycling instead?

Anyone had this in the past? Advice welcome!

Thanks,

FM

Think I had it from road cycling 70+ miles about 10 years ago, because of the repetitive motion and using clips.

Never had a hint of it from my MTB riding on flats, and I do a lot of that.

HTH

hmm, I think it got it from running, because like you, I do a lot of MTB riding with flats and never had any knee issues. I’ve not changed my setup at all save for some front shocks, and can’t imagine that’s impacting my knees.

I would leave the riding. let it heal properly

Rest is the initial treatment for tendinitis, with gentle rehabilitation once the pain has settled.

Not resting it can significantly delay recovery.

Does it hurt cycling? what about walking? If the answers yes, they’re out.  If no, then ok, but moderation is king –  total rest isn’t the best thing either for recovery

How did you do this running?

Got it through running but also started to find it painful when cycling. Try resting it but I found that didn’t work so well for me. Saw a physio and had to build up other muscles in the knee with various squat and lunge type exercises before returning to cycling and taking it easy. Took a good 6 months before it really got better for me. So take it easy.

I suffer from this. I can’t find the video I watched, but it suggested getting resistance bands and doing a side step movement against the bands.

Apparently as cyclists, our quads can be over developed and it causes tracking problems with the patella. The exercise warms up your glutes and keeps everything in line better. Worked for me, I used to get bad pain from jumping. I do this as part of my old git warm up now.

Complicated bit of kit, the knee, but it may help and is nearly free.

Mine was caused by my quads being much more dominant than my glutes (squats, biking and weight lifting being the cause) and all my other muscles in my legs, the quads just end up pulling on the patella more than everything else

I suffered with it for years (just put it down to my knees hurting from gym and biking). But finally saw a physio through work and she gave me a load of boring exercises to help balance them all out and improve all the little muscles that help.

After about 6 months of boring exercises I’ve been pain free for several years now. (I don’t stop CrossFit, weight lifting or MTB riding at all).

Have you actually been diagnosed with it?

Cost me about £1500 and several appointments to my get knee issue accurately diagnosed. Sorry to be a pessimist!