Knee ligament pain

Comments

• geoffg

  September 2012 edited September 2012

  Hi Ed.
  Difficult to diagnose or help at arms length so to speak, but here are a few thoughts and pointers.
  
  The pain on the outside of the knee is symptomatic of shortened (contracted) muscle which is a permanent condition with lactic acid locked in the muscles and muscles so shortened that they start to pull continually via their ligament attachment to the joint. The muscle fibres need to slide easily as they extend and contract.
  
  Your problem could stem from several causes and it is likely to be a chronic condition that has been highlighted by putting the leg under extended use over longer distances.
  Learning to do a series of proper stretches on all affected ligaments will help lessen the problem. In fact ALL club riders could do with such a session to show them how to take tension out of abused muscles post exercise.
  
  Riding position can exacerbate this but it is more likely to be a lower back issue needing an osteopath to sort first. If things mechanical are misaligned then whatever you do in the way of exercise loads these unaligned bits unevenly causing greater point loading by muscles trying to compensate.
  
  A sports massage working lower back, gluteus,quads,hams and calf muscles will help, but if the problem is skeletal misalignment then all these issues will recur till you address the root cause.
  
  hope this kicks you off in a better direction and good luck.
• Mark H

  September 2012

  Following on from Geoffs information though mine is slightly less technical but from past experience very important.
  My initial reaction would have been that your cleats are not correctly positioned, clearly this is not the case as you aren't using any, though this may help to reduce the tension and pressure over prolonged riding as your will subconsciously ensuring your foot stays attached to the pedal via gravity and presure only. Cleats do wonders for riding and should seriously be considered.
  
  The other simple possibility is that you are overstretching (even slightly) on your downward stroke. This can do untold damage to your joints. Have another look at your position and if necessary adjust the length of the post slightly. Most importantly when doing all this it should be done with one pair of shoes (trainers) on your feet and these are the only ones you use to ride as the sole thickness varies from shoe to shoe and those few millimeters can make a huge difference.
  
  Hope this helps too!
• juniormaynard

  September 2012

  Most of this has probably been covered.
  
  Firstly, its worth getting someone professional to look at it if it is affecting your cycling.
  Secondly, you might have a muscle imbalance from doing too much cycling and no other sports, this causes knee pain.
  Lastly, check saddles height. It is so important that this is correct. It needs to be just right, not too high or low. I suffered for half a year with horrible knee pain because my saddle was too low
  
  But mostly get it looked at by someone who does that kind of stuff for a living.
• edwardajames

  September 2012

  I am very grateful for all of your comments, and I shall take them all on board. I have just checked this before bed, so I will reply in more detail tomorrow! Thanks again - Ed.
• edwardajames

  September 2012

  Hi all,
  
  Geoff - thanks very much for your detailed reply. Interestingly I have had a recurring ankle injury on my left leg, and I do (whether as a direct result I don't know) appear to have some contracture of my left calf muscles which may be a factor with the tendon. I am interested in your comments about my back though - after a long time I do get back ache in my lower back, but I thought this was just because I wasn't really used to riding for longer distances. I will visit the Doctor to begin with, and also investigate an osteo/physio therapist.
  
  Junior, I also suspect I do have a bit of muscle imbalance. I have quite well developed quadriceps, but have always felt my hamstrings were less well used and developed - I used to cycle every day to work in normal shoes and also did heavy lifting at the gym. I have recently started trying to remedy this by doing specific leg curl exercises in the gym.
  
  Mark - I fully intend to upgrade to cleats as soon as possible, it's just the expense of cycling shoes that is preventing me from doing so as it seems basic decent ones are at least £50 and unfortunately that's unaffordable for me at the moment. Slightly nervous about collapsing sideways at a junction, but I am sure I'll be fine.
  
  I have tried to sort out my riding position as best as possible, but perhaps it would be a good idea to visit a bike shop for a fitting. For now I will check my saddle height and try to make sure I am neither too low or too high. There is a possibility of the latter at the moment, so I might lower it a bit.
  
  Thanks for all your help!
  
  Ed
• geoffg

  September 2012

  Good reply Ed. Doctor is always a good first call, but in my experience they are not all that good on these soft tissue and skeletal issues.
  They often advise pain killers and rest and it usually works as the muscle gets less use, slightly wastes giving the blood time to flush trapped lactic and allowing the muscle to relax. unfortunately, if the base problem hasn't been addressed as soon as you start exercising those muscles again the problem will quickly recur and you are back at square one. Some doctors are well versed in these areas, especially those who are sport oriented.
  They often advise a physiotherapist and if sport biased this can work.
  The problem is that if there is a skeletal issue all this work is pointless until the bones are realigned as they should be. An exploratory session with a good osteopath can determine whether or not this is of concern.
  You wouldn't expect your car to run perfectly without looking at occasionally to make some adjustments and corrections. The same applies to the body. we all need to drop in to various specialists on a regular basis to make corrections and adjustments to keep the machine in good working order. Planned maintenance.
  Consider the problem. A skeletal imbalance will require the muscles to compensate and this requires them to pull on the opposite side to that which is out of alignment trying to correct. This means those muscles are permanently contracted. This is where the muscle stays bunched up slightly shortening its length also.The longer this persists the greater the area affected until it can affect the whole side.Add to this the fact that those muscles permanently contracted are using energy. The more affected the more energy wasted in keeping them locked.
  By this time the muscles have developed a memory and therefore when you go for correction it may work initially, but soon after the muscle memory reasserts itself and you are back at the earlier position. Two or three sessions usually suffice to overcome this so don't expect an instant fix whatever you do.
  If you catch it early a sport masseuse can probably take out the knotted muscle and get them all working smoothly again. a couple of sessions on a specific area can often sort the problem.
  Have fun and remember...pain is weakness leaving the body :-)
• brynd

  September 2012

  Ed,
  
  Just to make a suggestion: my Dad has always had back problems and when he started doing rides upwards of about 2 hours he got similar sounding knee pains. His physio suggested he join a Pilates class and this has helped him massively. He has found that being generally stronger/more supple has really helped his ability to ride for longer periods of time and has helped erase many of the little niggles he used to get. Might not be the most stereo-typically manly solution, but an idea.
• Mark H

  October 2012

  I can absolutely recommend Pilates. I have a class once a week and it has pretty much cured all my ailments!