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Nathan Winkelmann 250+
Joined: 01 May 2003 Posts: 667 Location: Huntsville,TEXAS
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Posted: Sat Feb 17, 2007 10:29 pm GMT +0000 Post subject: knee overuse? |
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I've been asking around, seeing if/what is wrong with me. I hurt my knee about a month ago. It hurts on the inside of my kneecap, on the left knee. It hurts "on" the kneecap. I've taken off the bike for 3 weeks now, just doing the 12hr and New Branfels crit. The week before those races I took off, it felt beter. Then it hurt about lap 2 in the 12 hour race. Haven't ridden since. It feels good now, but I think it might be lingering.
What to do?-wink[/u] _________________ Winkelmann Training Fundamentals-
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The Bike Doc 250+
Joined: 08 May 2003 Posts: 1398 Location: Corpus Christi and Warda, Texas
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Posted: Sun Feb 18, 2007 7:44 am GMT +0000 Post subject: |
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Nathan:
You may have inflamed the inside of the knee cap cartiledge from the increased intensity of your training and racing over the last few weeks. Hammering big gears and hard climbing can percipitate knee pain on the front inside of the knee. Have you done any recent changes to the set-up of your bike. Knee pain on the inside of the knee cap can be triggered by a saddle height that is too low, too far forward or cranks that are too long.
An evaluation by a physical therapist my help determin possible causes. Sometimes there are issues with the knee cap (patella) tracking to far to the outer edge (lateral tracking) with flexion of the knee. Strengthening the muscles that can help the patella stay more midline when flexing the knee. Exercises of straight leg lifts with the knee held straight then gradually progressing to knee extension exercises with partial flexing of the knee from 20-45 degrees of bend with gradually increasing weights may be helpful. Again, a physical therapist can be invaluable in helping you develop a good knee rehab program. On the bike, keep the big gear mashing down. Look at going with shorter cranks (most MTB come with 175 crank arms) such as 170mm or even 165mm to help decrease the bend of the knee when you reach the top of each crank stroke. You will need to readjust your saddle hieght upward when you go to shorter crank arms as your foot will be higher when you reach the bottom of the pedal stroke effectively making your seat height too low. The shorter cranks will help you spin at a higher RPM more smoothly and you also gain an advantage of higher clearence of the crank arm when you are pedaling through the rough. (Just don't let your competitors know this secret weapon... oops they just read it! )
Thanks, _________________ Paul K. Nolan, MD
AKA: The Bike Doc |
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xl_cheese 100+
Joined: 01 May 2003 Posts: 223
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Posted: Wed Feb 21, 2007 9:44 pm GMT +0000 Post subject: |
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I feel your pain bro. I was out for a long time last fall because of injury. I still deal with it, but it's getting better.
I'm not an expert, but make sure you stretch all of those muscles. expecially your ass muscles. _________________ http://www.hammerheadbikes.com/team |
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Anonymous Guest
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Posted: Mon Feb 26, 2007 12:14 pm GMT +0000 Post subject: I have the same thing |
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Hey Nathan
I have a similar pain nuisance.
It's on the inner upper part of my right knee cap right in that groove.
I'm guessing its right between the Patellar and the Medial Condyle.
It only hurts when riding, after a couple minutes into the ride.
If I stop and rest it goes away and some times does not come back it I concentrate on form..
This only occurs while riding though I ran 3 miles Wednesday after Terlingua and no pain. Went snow boarding a month ago and not a sign of pain.
It's very intermittent I think it's related to seat positioning and maybe lifting too hard on the pedals and pointing my toes/not ankleing enough. |
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