Another knee pain thread....

[Morwa]

Hubbers,

 

I need some advise please! I've changed my frame on me 29er, but the effective top tube length (horizontal) between the old and the new frame is identical. I've had my bike fitted by CycleFit so all the settings between the old and new frame is identical.

 

The only thing that I changed was going from a 110mm stem to a 100mm stem on the new frame. The reason for this was, that I felt that I needed a bit more agility from the handlebars (steering).

 

Since the change has been made, I'm struggling with knee pain (front of the knee, under knee cap) on my left knee.

 

Could the stem change (10mm) resulted in this injury? I'm having difficulty to understand why the stem change could results in this sudden knee pain.

 

I'm seeing a physio today to uderstand the injury, if it's the tendon or a joint injury.

[BergForce]

I don`t think a 1cm shorter stem will cause knee pain, but please keep this post updated on whats happening, I also have a knee pain in the left knee just under the kneecap. Funny enough my knee pain also started when I changed to a 1cm shorter stem. Must be bad coincidence!

[CycleJunkie]

Hi Morwa,

 

Knee pain is be caused by a multitude of factors. In my experience, the 2 most common causes for the type of pain you have are cleat position on your shoes and a musle imbalance between the Vastus Medialis Oblique (The muscle to the inside of your leg that bulges when you straighten your leg and pull your kneecap towards your body) and the Vastus Lateralis (to the outside of the leg, above the knee).

 

As many of these conditions are caused by a combination of many factors, tke an holistic approach.

 

First check cleats;

then check muscle balance at a Bio-kineticist,

Check saddle height and position relative to your new stem.

 

Pain free cycling to you

[Morwa]

TX for all the replies. My cleat position stayed the same....since I'm using the same shoes and cleats relative to my old frame. So I doubt that to be the issue.

 

My old stem had a 0° angle, where the new 100mm stem has a 6° angle which I piointed downwards. That could be a problem, but the height difference would be very small.

 

I agree on the muscle balance issue, but would an "inbalance" occur in such a short tome period?

 

Bergbok.... I'm thinking more in the line of..... ageing is not for "sissies".... in my case!

[BergForce]

TX for all the replies. My cleat position stayed the same....since I'm using the same shoes and cleats relative to my old frame. So I doubt that to be the issue.

 

My old stem had a 0° angle, where the new 100mm stem has a 6° angle which I piointed downwards. That could be a problem, but the height difference would be very small.

 

I agree on the muscle balance issue, but would an "inbalance" occur in such a short tome period?

 

Bergbok.... I'm thinking more in the line of..... ageing is not for "sissies".... in my case!

 

Hahah in my case too, but keep me posted on what the physio says. I hope it is not worn out cartridge!

[Face Plant]

seat height! i don't think that stem length would impact on your knees, if anything the stem length might affect your lower back , generally speaking knee pain would be caused by cleat position as mentioned before or by seat height, but that is assuming that it is cycling related! maybe its something totally unrelated and is only showing symptoms now.

Edited August 20, 2012 by Face Plant

[kennyg]

I battled like crazy when I first moved to the 29er, with knee pain. It was the identical bike to the 26inch version. I then bought a single speed ( also 29er), it was ordered before the injury occured.

 

It too was identical geometry to the other bikes, I found that I could ride the SS without pain on the rides without large amounts of steep climbing. I then actively started riding bigger cogs and the back and found the pain to disappear a few rides later.(increased cadence)

 

I found that combining with some extra stretching and hamstring exercises, lead to a significant increase in power, plus no pain issues now.

Edited August 20, 2012 by kennyg

[Morwa]

OK, thanks for the replies. I'm back from the physio. Her diagnosis is also very vague....and she used a lot of medical terminology which I didnt understand. But the long and the short is lucky for me not a worn out cartridge! It's an allignment issue or muscle imbalance issue as CycleJunkie noted. My muscle on the ouside of my leg, joining at the kneecap is very stiff pulling my patella towards the outside of my leg. That forces the kneecap to "slide" not within the "normal path", causing the pain.

 

The physio also suggested to see a Bio-kineticist to assess the power and allignment imbalances between the legs, and help with stretches. And....the normal "rest" the knee. But that is going to influence my current Karoo-to-Coast training. Now, just to find a "good" Bio-kineticist in the region?????

 

Damn.... I'm going to miss the Myprodol "high's" while training.

 

@FacePlant, thanks for the comment PJ.... but I doubt that that is the issue since my saddle is the same height as the previous frame, but I'll play around with different heights.

[seven]

Reading all the posts I don't think it (posts related to knee pain going from 26 to 29er) is related to bike setup.

 

The effective gearing chages between a 26 and 29" bike because of the bigger wheels. This typically overloads the muscle-tendon system for the Quadriceps... resulting in tendon-related "failure"

Edited August 20, 2012 by seven

[Bicycle Supply Chain]

How fit are you? I get knee pain under my knee cap if I have a long lay off. after i get some strength back the pain disappears completely

 

Also, you using same seat? at same angle?

 

Q factor of cranks???

 

Basiclly is your setup identical?

 

seat to pedals (height) and front/back / tilt?

 

Q factor of cranks

 

seat height to handlebar height

 

Mike

[BergForce]

I think I have the same problem and I suspect it is caused from pushing too big a gear on the spinning bikes. Today I tried a bit lower resistance and felt no pain.

[Trivium]

I had an "imbalance problem" that occurred over night, I went to a Bio-kineticist and then off to physio for Months, In my case it made it worse, the pain was unbearable and i couldn't do any sports. If this is the case go see an Orthopedic Surgeon.Within A month i was back on the bicycle, In the end it was an Infected Medial Plika which had the exact same symptoms as an imbalance within the knee.

 

The Bio-kineticist and physio took 3 years and it only got worse with time, Plus with the pain i gave up and sold all my cycling gear =(

 

Hope this is not the case with you and best of luck and hope you have pain free riding!

Edited August 20, 2012 by Trivium

[Dif-C]

If your new crank arm is longer than your old one it will expose the knee to heigher forces. You will likely have pain in your patellar and quadriceps tendon.

[seven]

Bigger gears/longer crank arm will both lead to overuse, but having the exact same gear/crank arm length but increasing the wheel size (26-29) will have the exact same effect.

Would suggest you stay off hard cranking for a while.

 

*PS. The medial plica syndrome Trivium spoke about is really uncommon, but if the knee pain persists, then have an ultrasound done to look for the plica

[BergForce]

Thanks for the info. I have discovered that the rowing machine at the gym makes it worse, maybe even causing my problem.

[Morwa]

Hubbers,

 

News on the knee. The pain is still there and I'm going to lay of training for the next two weeks. Next race is Karoo-to-coast, so I hope knee will have recovered a bit.

 

I've also redone my bike fit. This time by Retul, so bike setup is spot on. Guys in Woodmead are doing the Retul fit (www.retul.com) in SA. Must say very technical and probably the most comprehensive bike fit I have done to date.

 

I've went to my GP today and had some X-ray's done on the left knee, and I'm seeing a Orthopedic surgeon in October (the quickest I could get an appointment!!!). Surprising result from the x-rays is that my right leg is 11mm shorter than my left leg.

 

Could the length difference of 11mm be the issue? Any Hubbers that are sitting with the same issue? How do I "compensate" for the 11mm?

Edited September 10, 2012 by Morwa