Bike Fit | Causes of Knee Pain and Solutions
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- Опубликовано: 5 сен 2016
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So many cyclists suffer from knee pain and often the solution offered through most sources is "raise/lower your saddle".
There is so much more than can cause knee pain, and here I explore many of the causes and solutions. If you have further questions, please post them in the comments and I'll try to answer as many as I can.
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Out of all the videos I watched you're the only one who addresses the how bent the knee is when the pedal is positioned up. That helped all my problems
I have seen so many videos discussing knee pain and saddle height, this is the first I've seen that talks about crank length in that context - which makes a lot of sense.
and hip position and even that it can come from your spine.i noticed my left legs moves very smoothly in straight motion from ankles to hips, and my right leg is moving inwards and much closer to the bike there for iam having lateral knee pain. but i dont know how to correct it.
@@maisetas I have exactly the same problem, but i have medial knee pain sometimes(the inner side). Not really pain, just an uncomfortable sensation of something is wrong. Maybe having flat foot? Anywhere i place the cleat, my right knee always much-much closer to the top tube than the left. The left seems always straight. Its the same effect with flat pedals. My left leg (according to my wife) seems thinner, a bit less muscular than the right. My left calve definitely smaller than the one on my right leg. Weird
@@rcs2003 no i am not flat footed at all, but either running or biking my right quad starts to hurt first and it is visibly larger than the left one.. i also have different pain, i have it on the outter part of the knee, according to my study its the lateral meniscus. as i noticed over time i gain the pain faster if i put my feet inwards and/or after prolonged period of time.i do not have the opportunity or money to visit sports terrapist to asses the real problem. if you find out , please tell abuot it.
At least in my country, I know a lot of people who just buy a bike and start to do long rides. I don’t understand why do everyone underestimate the role of a bike fitter, and why does everyone consider going to the bike fitter only if you are a pro. I believe that everyone who rides a bike, even in daily life should go to a bike fitter. Your health is your priority. Your position on the bike after 10 years will cause you problems that you never imagined. I am very unlucky not to have one in my town. Suffering a lot from the knee pain.
Best vid on youtube about this. Thankyou.
This is the first time of hearing about the crank length being an issue. Thank you for the info and for taking the time to post this info.
Thank you very much! I almost thought my cycling career was over. Thanks again!
Well explained. I need to know more through Physical Therapist. Bike fitters should consider all of this, truly. 👏🏻
Thanks for the video.
best and most comprehensive video on RUclips about knee pain. Thanks
very informative and helpful..thanks .....
Gold.
Thank you. I have lateral knee pain 6mo after moving to a new larger bike, the pain is accompanied by tighter ITB too so wil try lowering the seat. It's actually taken me off the bike for the last 6mo.
Thanks for your vids, been watching for a while and appreciate your efforts
I've been trying to figure out what I did to my knee for a year now and you just answered it. I can't believe I didn't find this video sooner. Thank you sir!
Wow ! Glad I found this. Great video and your the first out many I have watched that mentions the bend in the knee. I use the heel on the pedal method to get my seat height but tomorrow I will now be out in my garage checking out my knee angle. Thank you.
Great video. I've been getting some knee pain recently and now got a good idea where that is coming from. My pelvis is pulled up on the right side according to my Physiotherapists.
Thanks for posting!
My problem was two fold. I have arthritis in my right hip, so in order to ease some of the pain on the up stroke while peddling using the 172.5mm cranks. I had to raise the seat which in turn would cause pain to the back of the knee from being to high. I could never find a happy medium! So for my situation, shorter crank = less rise on the up stroke allowing me to lower seat to correct height, ending back of knee pain! How nice would it be to be able to have a bike made to your body and it's range of motion...CHEAP...heaven! great video btw!
Professional.
He is really professional bike fitter.
No nonsense here.
Thank you!
Much clearer than many others vid relevant to this topic, thank you Sir
Really helpful to learn and adjust little things from my bike fit
Just found you, Have watched a bunch of your videos and you do a good informative job.
Really really really good video. Wow! thank you so much for your video!
Bashir Rostom Thank you!
All these videos later and now I'm just convinced I'll never figure it out on my own. Also great tip in the end about muscle imbalances, one of the first videos where that's mentioned :)
Best video that explained the knee issue
Best money iv spent on my bike completely cured my knee pain
Thanks for posting this video bike fit advisor!!!
I started feeling pain at the bottom of my quad tendons the last few weeks from my saddle being too low. I hope it's not permanent!
I am curious if I should do anything special in my mechanics or bike set up for being flat footed too.
I ride an mtb btw
Great content. I have a salsa Fargo that has been giving me IT band issues. I tried different seat heights and moving fore/aft. I also recently just switched from 175mm to 170mm and still IT flair up. I have 2 other bikes, giant tcx and revolt that cause me no IT band issues. Both have 172.5mm. Very frustrated because I have actually stopped riding the Fargo because it causes me discomfort and not sure how to which way to go to eliminate IT flair up. Thank you!
Thank you for this advice
Happy holidays J and thanks🙏
Good information
Thank you so much
Very interesting subject
Thank you
It's interesting what you say about cadence. I personally noticed that my knee hurts less if I keep cadence 75-80 rather than above those values
Very interesting video! I love your channel for finding the cause of pain in biking! Helped me with numbness in my hand! Though this video didn't quite help me with my type of knee pain... I have knee pain on my right knee on the outside of it, near the top. I haven't found anything talking about that type of pain. It doesn't happen all the time, but often enough for me to notice it especially when I'm climbing or putting down a lot of power. Do you have any insight to this problem?
thumbs up! i'd love to see something on how fit affects anterior hip pain (impingement)
Great stuff!
Great video!
Excellent stuff. I wish you lived in Scotland so I could visit you for a bike fit.
Hugh Wallace thank you!
Thanks man! Greatly appreciate you sharing your knowledge and expertise and the time to explain this! 👊🏽
Great explanation!
Thank you!
Hey john, I’ve getting back on the bike after a 4-5 mo. Hiatus. I was riding some fairly easy miles and increasing the climbing from day to day I developed a bit of pain on my quad tendon as you put it. The tendon right above knee cap. I did slide my seat forward a bit. That seemed to not help so I slid it back. That seemed to help a little. I still feel it every now and then after some longer climbs, Where as before it never bothered me. My sit bones and the tissue around them are a bit sore on climbs longer 20mins. Also kind of new sensation. Did I really get that soft in those few months. Like your channel!
yes! very interesting. I have battled with lower back pain and saddle height , fore aft etc for over 25 years....curiously, a high saddle (lets call it heel +5mm) is painful when riding but great for my back a few days later, whereas a low saddle (backpedal with heels , hips not rocking) gives me a great ride but pain the following days due to some sort of referred pain from tight hip angles. The former saddle height which is not that high, (nowhere near 0.885) gives me that outer side knee pain.... still trhing to get to the bottom of this!! And before you ask, yes I have tried shorter cranks! Thanks!
Davies Jonathan Interesting. Even though your responses may be seen by some as paradoxical you're doing the right thing by figuring out what does and doesn't work for you.
finally some one that goes into crank length
Very informative...
Eplained very well!!
Excellent video! I see why I have some lateral discomfort. Do most have issues with both knees or are they one sided like me?
Very helpful
I’m surprised you did not mention pedal float among the possible solutions
for knee pain. Many years ago (age 49) I began to have knee pain and switched to
Speedplay pedals, which allow your foot to rotate freely. Thanks to this
“float” my knee pain disappeared. It felt natural from the start. Still going
strong at age 61. They may not be for everybody, but I believe a lot of people
got relief with them. Common sense, or intuition, should tell you that having
your feet strapped to a machine in a locked position parallel to the crank is
not natural. Something’s gotta give. The ankle has little mobility, so the knee
takes over and is subjected to increased torque.
Amazing video
This helped alot
how sure are you about the tibia rotating that way? (when you talk about it at around 6:20 time)
thanks for the video!
regards,
M
GREAT VID!! can you address cycling cleats, necessary or not?
I've got a Trek aero seat post (that won't twist) and a saddle with titanium rails. I keep popping the head off the the screw on the left side (6 times so far) of the seat post bracket/clamp. When I use a saddle with steel rails, the rails eventually get bent so that the saddle is twisted. I already have a cleat spacer meant to make my leg lengths consistent. Is there some other adjustment that can be made?
Riding 5k a year without ever paying attention to cranklenght. Have a 81 inseam and 90GT and was rocking a 175mm crank -.- i was always the first getting out of the saddle on hills. And very comfortable on low cadence 75-80.
Changed my cranks to 165 (allthough im 178 but have short legs) and i can stay in the saddle for longer, my cadence went up drastically 85-90 now and i just feel so much more comfortable. My bikeshop always told me cranklenght doesnt matter you cant tell the difference etc. since i made the change for me it is the single most important measurement after framesize and saddle height.
Omg the back of my knee was starting to hurt. Put my seat down the pain is go.Thank you
Hi John, I agree that crank arm length could cause knee flexion problems. How mch difference would a 5mm longer crank length make?
hi bfa, I usually don't have much knee unless I tick them off lol by mashing. It happens when the rider in front of me accelerates and I mash down to grab the wheel. Would shorter cranks make a difference or should I get out of the habit of mashing? TY and awesome video!
Thank you for the video. Off late , I am experiencing pain in my right leg shin especially when I am doing 50 km plus rides. I had adjusted my right shoe cleat to make it align with the centre line. Both my cleats are attached far back on my shoe. Could you offer any remedy. Warm regards
Hey i just watched your video to try and fix an issue I have. I have pain on my inner knee when i only ride one of my bikes. Maybe you can give me some ideas on how i could adjust my cleats because i think its a cleat issue.
Hi John. Thx for this fine video. Here is a relevant problem: when pedalling, I feel that my right foot does not fit well in the shoe; I feel that it is "in the air" inside the shoe and that it would need to go "forward" in the shoe to feel "right" and better step on the pedal. To solve this I tried adjusting the shoe cleat, the saddle and also the straps on the shoe, but the feeling of the foot " in the air" stiill remains. This does not happen with the left foot. Is this a cause of the shoe size? the cleat/saddle position? my position on the saddle!? the muscles of the right leg being less strong than those of the left leg? or my anatomy (right leg slightly shorter than left leg)? Would I need to add an insole in the shoe or a wedge between the cleat and the shoe? Or to strengthen the muscles of right leg so that they become as strong as those ofcthe left leg? Please advise. Thx, Laz.
crank length， this is quite a useful information
What about pain right below the head of fibula (outer lower leg) on the peroneus longus. Does it have to do more with saddle height, cleat angle or pronation vs. supination? Thank you in advance, your help is much appreciated.
Bit the bullet a few months back and switched my cranks from 172.5 to 165 mm... Amazing, what a difference.
Huge difference, right? It's amazing what a profound effect it can have. Thanks for watching!
how long do you are?
Hi. Thanks for the vídeo. I’ve got a question. I realize that I am getting a bit of a discomfort inside my left knee. I realize that when I ride I am hitting the end of the float moving clockwise. So moving the heel out and front of foot in. To the point that the the Clip occasionally even comes off the pedal. Should I try moving the cleat horizontally (q factor) more towards the outside to get the knee closer to the bike? Or should I try first moving the angle of the cleat towards the small toe (in order to then have the front of the foot pointing more to the right). I have the tendency of moving my feet inward (heel out) and is hitting the stop end of the float angle. FYI. I am using SPD cleats.
Thanks for the tips. I have front of knee pain my the height has been correct. I will look at crank length and try to do higher RPM instead of more power. See if that help. Thanks!
great vid.. also leg length can have a big part of pelvis rocking. i ended up with 5mm of packing under the left cleat so my left leg isnt reaching for the pedal.
Спасибо!
I have experienced pain at the back of my knee (hamstring) and I belive it was too much cycling caused the issue (overload). I teach Spin 3X a week and cycle outdoor 3 days a week. So, could this be true?
Awesome!
Hi John I have been getting knee pain when climbing, on a long climb the pain gets worse and worse until it nearly unbearable and the it suddenly goes and the process starts again, its below the knee cap when riding and to the inside after a ride, any ideas?
Andy
Thank you for the video, I have a question.
I started cycling on a road bike last year. I cycled about 1000km with clipless pedals and road shoes (also had a bike fitting done at a local bike shop, nothing pro though) and my back of the knee hurt. It hurt when I bent the foot at the top of the pedal stroke.
After few months of pause, I put normal pedals and cycled about 6 months (2000km) with normal shoes with no pain. This was until end of May this year. Start of June I bought new shoes (cause last didn't fit too well) and after a good month (and a bit more than 500km) the same thing happened. Pain in the back of the knee (only on left leg).
I'm 164cm and my inseam length is 74cm. My crank length is 170mm, frame size is XS. What do you reckon could be a cause to this problem?
Thank you.
As the video says: is your saddle too high or your cranks too long. Not an expert myself, but it seems like those are two possible options.
Hi. i feel th pain on the outside of the thigh. from knee to around 10cm higher. ive tried to chnge i think everything. Probably u know what can cause that sharp pain wich is lastin for allmost 2 years now.
Sir can a knee osteoarthritis patient do cycling ? please guide me
It's really helpful in a professional way. Thank you. But I have a big problem, I mean as you can see from my text, my english is very poor (specially when I listen). So could you help me how can I get this video with subtitles. I know you are laughing now but when you t inish laughing, please write me back something. Thank you.
how to change gear during race
Hi, ive had an encounter with overuse of my legs causing ITB pain (could barely walk normal). I gave a few days and it seems normal until after my rides when it becomes inflammed. Ive tried ice, foam roller, stretching, and trying to adjust my cleats. I cant seem to figure out what keeps causing it. The pain is not as severe from the first encounter bt it still comes back. Do i need more rest? Could my cleats be too outboard? I keep changing the turn of my cleats but never the side to side movement, and i just read about lateral cleat misalignment causing IT band pain. My saddle is also definitely at the right height.
It seems like a shorter crank length would be the safer option to avoid knee pain. I'm guessing there's a tradeoff in power or something. As someone who's trying to get past some knee pain I would definitely like to go with the safer option.
Is there a kind of thumb rule to set the correct toe down ? Often, after pedaling over 80km under a strong pace, my IT band hurts but it feels better if I tilt down my feet. However, I don´t know if I shall do it all the time. I use to set the saddle height to the upper limit to mitigate fatigue.
nice man i shared twice
I just discovered your channel and this video is great. My knees are causing me lots of pain but it's more in the front towards the inside area of my quads. The left is worse than the right and this possibly because my one leg is supposedly slighty shorter, though it may be more due to contracted quadratus lumbarus back muscles (as shown on an MRI scan) pulling my hips out of alignment. I'm going to try shorter cranks to see if that helps.
CarbieGirl I have two videos coming out (hopefully tonight) that talk more about short cranks so stay tuned. Thanks for watching and if you think someone else might benefit, please share...it really helps.
Bike Fit Adviser wow thanks for replying. I'll be sharing this :)
I bought a new pair of riding shoes, cleetless pedals, and my hamstrings and gastric cramped on me so bad. I hurt for two days afterwords. My old shoes didn;t casue this to happen. I do have knee problems when not on the bike. Chonamalica and calification of the meniscus. How do I adjust the cleet to take care of this problem?
Cranks typically run from 170 to 175mm. I don't think 5mm is going to do much for maximum knee bend. For my height, I'm supposed to use either 172.5 or 175, so that's a 2.5mm margin, which will have even less impact on your theory. Saddle height is by far the most important fitting motive for knee pain, not crank length.
You'd be surprised how such minor changes have dramatic impact.
My right hip is lower and my right leg is shorter. Only thing that stopped knee pain in the past was using a 165mm crankarm on the right and 170mm on the left side. Bought a new crankset in March, both are 170mm, and my right knee is back at creating pain! So I have to buy a whole new crankset so I can have a shorter right crankarm.
I'm always getting lateral pain during long rides. How can I avoid it? I hope you could help!
Thank you for the video, it's very helpful! I have had knee pain since I started cycling a few years ago, I've tried changing saddle height alot of times and nothing seems to help, the only thing that helps somewhat is riding without clipless pedals. It was interesting to hear about the cranck lenght, maybe that could help me. How do I know which size is best for me?
That's a good question and it'll depend a bit on how big you are and what length of crank you've been riding up until now. In my experience most people that really struggle with front of the knee pain need to drop at least 15 mm in their crank length, but sometimes up to 30 mm is necessary.
But since your pain subsides when you ride flat pedals I would look first at your cleat position. It could be that the rotation or medial-lateral position of the cleat is forcing the knee one direction or the other. Or perhaps the flat pedals allow you to ride with your feet much further forward on the pedals (so that the pedal axle rests more in the middle of your foot) which can allow your knee to extend more at the bottom of the stroke AND this position can help recruit the gluteal (or butt) muscles more and decrease the stress through the front of the knee.
Thank you so much for answering! Now that I think about it, it does seem that when I ride with clipless pedals I always feel like I want to move my feet forward on the pedals. I used the common rules to install my cleats but clearly something is wrong since my knees are always suffering. I'm 1.61 meters tall and my mountain bike has 175mm cranks while my road bike has 170mm, the pain always starts earlier on rides with the mountain bike though. I never really thought about looking at the cranks lenght until I saw your video! So thank you, this way I'll have another thing to work out and try to figure out how to solve my problem :)
I have excessive Anterior Pelvic Tilt off the bike and I totally fail the "thomas test" (my legs are 45% pointing towards the top). I have anterior knee pain for almost one year now.. should I work on my body off the bike since it's clearly not a bike fit issue, but there are options to use more posterior chain muscles on the bike (hamstrings, glutes) by moving the saddle more back right? I do ride an kind of aggressive position with only one spacer below the stem so hip angle is also an issue..
Great question, and yes, you should probably work on your body off the bike. Certain position changes CAN facilitate some posterior chain engagement but the body can be naturally inhibited to engage these muscles especially with movement patterns like you have. Along with (obviously) needing to work on your psoas (hip flexors) I would also take a look at the rectus femoris given your knee pain.
Good luck!
Echoing so many other comments already, but great video as always. I'm trying to find just the right fix for my RT Lateral Hamstring tendon pain. The pain starts within the first miles of a ride and is pretty consistently annoying. Not enough to make me stop, but always there while riding. I pull up quite hard on the pedals when I sprint or dig for power, and I'm wondering if that might be causing some issues. It is only on the right side, but as you said in this video, everyone sits a little differently (and rarely squarely) on the saddle.
Brad Taylor I'd be very curious as to what position your foot/ankle are in at different points in the pedal stroke. If you haven't seen it you might check out my video about doing an accurate DIY bike fit with some basic video motion capture (ruclips.net/video/dBcaE2IOvcw/видео.html). It might answer a few questions for you
How do I know if my knee flexion is not excessive? I am asking because sometimes I have top front knee pain. From your description it seems more the quad tendon connection to the knee. It is obviously exacerbated when I go too hard too early (from a period of inactivity). This only happens on my left knee. My left leg is visibly stronger than my right one, and my left foot is one size larger than the right one. This is the only discomfort I have on my current set up. How do you suggest I start investigating? I just found your channel, great videos, thanks!!
Good question. To determine whether the knee flexes too much in a reliable way you need to do a little testing and a little experimentation.In the member's section of my website I have a free tutorial on how anyone can get some basic numbers on their bike fit with some widely available tools (since it's much easier to get our hands on some sort of digital camera that records at 60 frames per second or higher these days) and some free software. You'd be especially interested in your knee angle at the very bottom and the very top of your pedal stroke. This can seem daunting at first, but I have a pretty step by step guide that can help you through it.
This will go a long way toward telling you where you're starting at and might provide a framework for moving forward -- perhaps you need to raise your saddle, or move it aft, or change cleat position slightly, or maybe even try a shorter crank.
amazing video on this. love to see someone who really knows what they are talking about!
Would love your thoughts on my predicament.
my gf and I have just begun our cycle from Alaska to Argentina, but only made it 2 days before I had to stop with a knee injury. we didn't do any training as we only got the bikes a few days before we left....bad idea i know.
We then left anchorage on our hard tail mountain bikes with panniers and frame bags and way too much weight. we cycled 70km the first day and 60km on the second.
half way through the second day my knee became extremely painful on the interior top part of my patella and the inside of the tendon joining the patella to the quad.
We didn't do a bike fit at all and I'm sure it was due to the massive increase in volume and weight to an extent but I think mostly the riding position.
We've rested for 5 days now and are keen to get going but it's still a bit painful when I cycle. we've had a bike shop take a quick look at a fitting but there aren't many places here that specialise in fitting.
what would you recommend we do? do you think spds would help as now I just have flat mountain bike pedals?
apologies for the super long message, but wanted to give the full picture
Thanks
George
+George Beesley Wow! That is quite the trip you have planned. Super exciting.
The most common approach would be to make sure your saddle height is high enough. Saddle being too low is the most common source of front of the knee pain. That said this usually creates pain in the patellar tendon and your pain is coming from the quad tendon. Still good to try though...go slow and don't raise it too much at any one time.
Another thing to make sure is that your hips are far enough behind your feet...you can do this by scooting the seat back a little on the seatpost. This can help to make it more likely that your glute muscle (butt muscles) are doing more work versus the quads.
You may need to shorten your stem because moving the saddle back increases the reach of the bike and while you're doing that make sure you don't need a stem with higher rise. If you're having excessive hand pressure or numbness this increases the likelihood you need a higher rise stem.
I have had many clients with this problem -- one that was riding the Great Divide Trail -- and sometimes a little relief can be gotten with a simple neoprene knee sleeve.
Finally, a bike change that could help is going with shorter cranks -- but bear in mind this isn't a cheap solution and is no guarantee. A new crank could cost $150-$400 and it might only be an incremental help.
Good luck and let me know if any of this didn't make sense...
Patellar tendonitis? That is the exact pain location I had in my knee after intensive cycling. I was diagnosed with Patellar tendonitis and it took a physical therapy regimen to resolve my knee pain. Patellar tendonitis manifests as pain (low constant pain all the way through debilitating crippling pain (11 of 10 on pain scale)) on the inside outer portion of the knee cap running vertically.
My saddle height is not too high still I feel ITB pain?
I have pain in both knees, it all started this year with a bike which I bought last Autumn. I don't remember having the pains last year but I also only rode 5 times before the winter. Now starting this year around April after approx 10 trips (15km each) both knees started hurting like a bitch, especially when starting to pedal when I'm not warmed up and when I'm off the bike it hurts when I get up from a seated position (couch, bed or chair). Pain is coming from the front side of the knees. I suspect my cranks are too long, 17.75cm and my height is 185cm. Could that be the case or it's probably something else?
Great video! I have a question if you don't mind. I've been fiddling with saddle inclination for a while, until I found that the most efficient for me is almost completely flat. However I did experience som discomfort, like the front of the saddle kind of applies some unwanted pressure to the perineal area. To counter that, I moved the saddle forward 5mm, without making other adjustments. It solved the problem but now sometimes I have some odd pain on the inner lower side of the knee cap. I think that maybe it was caused by moving the seat forward, but I'd like to keep it that way because otherwise I'd get saddle sores as I said. How would you go about that? I don't wanna risk messing up too many parameters all together by myself because the fit is otherwise good for power and control, and my back feels fine even on long distances, which is rare these days...
You're right to be cautious about messing with too much. I admit, I'd be guessing to some extent without further information, but a couple things you might look at: Because the knee pain started after you slid the saddle forward, it may be the result of the hips now being just slightly too far forward relative to your feet. This has the possibility of upsetting the balance of the glutes and quadriceps. You might be able to adjust this out two different ways -- either by bringing your cleats back slightly on the shoe (which will move the foot relatively forward and therefore the hip is now relatively back behind the foot again) or you could maintain the reach to the bars AND get the hips behind the feet more by shortening the stem by the same amount that you slide the seat back (ostensibly to its original position). Any way you go, make the changes small and give it a ride or two.
make sense? Good luck.....
Bike Fit Adviser Thanks! I think I'll go the stem route because the cleat position was already the result of a laborious process I went through some time ago in order to solve some forefoot numbness issue I had months ago, so I wouldn't touch that for now. I don't have a shorter stem lying around now, so maybe I could try rotating the bars back slightly to artificially decrease the reach, at least when riding in the hoods. Then I guess a couple short rides could confirm that it's worth investing in a shorter stem. Could that be a good plan? Thanks for the help!
I think that's reasonable. Rotating the bar won't be an exact replication of what you're trying to do but it should be enough to give you an idea if you're heading in the right direction. Good luck!
Bike Fit Adviser Hi, I just wanted to update you on the whole thing...apparently the shorter stem was a good a idea, because with bars rotated back (thus allowing shorter reach to hoods) I instantly felt it was much easier to sit back on the saddle, so switching to a 90mm stem from the 100 I had I was even able to slam it back again where it was at the starting point, thus eliminating any trace of knee pain and the saddle sores issue at the same time. Thanks a lot again for helping me navigate through these issues!
Great video. What are your thoughts on KOPS? Is it a Myth? I always strive to perfect my fit and still find myself making minor adjustments. I have always used KOPS but came across an article by Steve Hogg which talks about your center of gravity (COG) over the pedal a more important method. Basically a good test would be to pedal with your arms swung back behind your hips and if your saddle height, fore/aft, and cleat placements are good you should be able pedal at the same cadence (even faster) with no arms on the bars? Have you heard of this method and is this more accurate?
kiball09 I do believe KOPS to be a myth, yes. I think I went into this in more depth on one of my Q&As. I often use a test similar to the one you mentioned and I go over it in this video:
ruclips.net/video/OyE67jKp1To/видео.html
This is going to be more reliable for getting your hips in the right place. Good luck!
What about inner part of the knee ?
I am trying to solve the knee pain mystery. I rode my trainer all winter then took my bike off the trainer onto the road and developed medial pain in my first 2 rides in the bottom of my Vastus Medialis very close to the Patella. One interesting clue is that the pain starts at around the 1.5 hour mark in my ride. I go from feeling no pain to significant pain after a few minutes at around the 1.5 hour mark then I can barely ride. Both of these rides had significant climbing and a lower cadence than my winter cadence on the trainer so at first I thought I had strained a muscle but it does not bother me off the bike or after the ride. I have a 100k in 7 days and am racing to figure it out.
I have inside knee pain , what s that ? Cleats miss alignment?
Ok. So i had pain in the upper front of my knees, it definitely was the quadriceps tendon.
I was riding 32km, 5 times a week, low cadence, flat feet angle, hard gear ratio and low saddle.
I changed my gear ratio to make it easier to pedal so now the force i have to apply to the pedals is lower. But after watching this video i can now notice that at the top of my pedal stroke my knee angle might be too bent and my feet tend to be flat at the bottom.
So i'll play with increasing saddle hight and pointing the toes down at an angle and see how i do.
I havent experience pain in the back of my knee luckly.
Thanks for the tips.
I have similar pain...but i didn't understand how to control the knee flexion which he spoke about...i mean how to control the excessive flexion
Hello,
You were demonstrating an internal rotation of the tibia when the foot is inverted, could this be a mistake? I thought the tibia did an external rotation when inverting the foot? If I'm right, this still might have an important influence on the ITB I guess, but maybe not by stretch?
Gr, Miel (graduating student physical therapy dreaming of a job like yours)
MielR yes, the tibia does externally rotate when we look at the arthrokinematics in relation to the tibia/ankle , but it's externally rotating in relation to the ankle or talus. What we're concerned about it the relation of the tibia to the femur and at this articulation it can be rotating internally relative to the femur.
Now just like most things that apply to real movement in the real world, it's not quite this cut and dried since there are a lot of different motions occurring all very quickly (and cyclically), but in general we can expect these types of movements.
Great question though!
Could a bike fit fix my knee problems ( I have chondromalacia ) ? I ride a track bike on the streets, sometimes I have to grind on steeper bits. So I can't really set my cadences.
I'm wondering as well, anyone with advice?
Too bad you're not in the NYC area, I really need a good bike fit. I'm having too much knee pain on my bike.
I keep trialling to resolve pain in calf, only outside of calf
Hi, I wonder if you could advise, I have medial knee pain on my right leg and lateral on my left after about 15 miles, this happens on my road bike (clipless) and my mountain bike (flats) could this be something simple to look at? Great vid btw. Many thanks
Hey Paul, I have been dealing with medial knee pain in both of my knees for months now and have been diagnosed with Plica Syndrome. What is your medial knee pain like?
Hi Andrew, I only ever suffer while on the bike that's why I initially thought it was a cleat problem. This also only began after a professional bike fit so now I'm in the process of trying to reverse what was changed and go with what I used to be comfortable with. I've never heard of Plica Syndrome but I will certainly look into it. The pain I feel starts off as a dull type of pain but rapidly becomes a sharp pain which almost becomes unbearable if i have to put any considerable force through my knee, for example going uphill.
Thank you for taking the time to reply
Nice👍👍👍👍