[GuruAtma]

Last weekend I did my normal hard loop (about 25 miles) twice. All week my knees have had that clicking/cracking thing and feel really tight. This is more of an annoyance than a problem, but is it an indication that I need to recover more before doing a hard ride?

thanks

 

[Captain Snakebite]

Last weekend I did my normal hard loop (about 25 miles) twice. All week my knees have had that clicking/cracking thing and feel really tight. This is more of an annoyance than a problem, but is it an indication that I need to recover more before doing a hard ride?

thanks

I have that same problem / annoyance also. its been going on for the last two rides. The thing that worries me is that its happening all the time (non-bike related) at work and so on... any help would be GREAT

Thanks

 

[Kallisti]

I'm no doctor so...

of course take what I say with a proper grain of salt.
That said:
It's possible that you are overtraining/overstretching some muscles groups specific to cycling, causing imbalance.
I've had issues with my knees before because of this, and the answer is to crosstrain.
Hiking is excellent. GuruAtma, in Kundilini, they do frogs (28, 56,128 reps) which have definitely helped my knees in the past.
Stretching is important, but keep it light, and don't bounce, don't overstretch.
Hope this helps.

 

[GuruAtma]

Ah, the dreaded 128 frogs in 3 minutes. I haven't done those lately. Boy when you look up "clicking knees" on webmd.com, you get some pretty scary results...

 

[bulletbob]

Get thee to an orthopedo...

It's possible that you are overtraining/overstretching some muscles groups specific to cycling, causing imbalance.

Imbalance is right on track, no pun intended...

I'm not a doctor either but I'll relate my knee "issues". Both of my knees crunch like celery and, up until a month or so ago, both knees clicked/popped rather noisily. I finally got fed up with some pain in the left knee and went to see to the doc where he me told I have a thing called 'chondromalacia' which is basically a degradation of the cartilage under the kneecap. Oh yea I also have some scar tissue under the left patellar tendon in front of my knee to. Nifty eh?

After a month of PT working my left knee, it doesn't pop nearly as much because the VMO muscle that makes up part of the quad is pulling the kneecap back in it's track more normally now. The VMO is that muscle that's just to the inside of the center line down your quad, right above the kneecap and sort of sticks up by itself when you're pushing down and the one that usually burns first to. Yea that one. That's the imbalance part because the quad is made up of 4 separate muscles and the VMO has to 'fire' first when you clench your quad. Am I listening the therapist or what?

Anyway, long story a bit shorter, you might have a/both kneecap(s) tracking a bit out of the groove it's supposed to ride in but not as severely as mine do. Here's a link to a description: http://www.arthroscopy.com/sp05032.htm. With my knee, the doc will almost surely have to go in and scrape the cartilage on the bottom of the kneecap to clean it up. Sounds lovely doesn't it? I just hope I can get through the summer without too much more pain.

Oh and that clicking sound, at least in my case, dunno about yours obviously, is the kneecap tracking so far out of the groove that it actually pops over the edge of the femur.

Don't want to scare you because my symptoms are pretty far along but you might want to have a doc and/physical therapist look at your knees so you can avoid future problems.

Questions: are either of you guys flat-footed or over pronaters (your instep rolls in noticeably)?

 

[bulletbob]

This might be helpful...

Just found this page that details it pretty succintly: http://www.rice.edu/~jenky/sports/pfs.html.

I'm not to sure exactly what "poor pelvic control" is but I may have to find out...

 

[GuruAtma]

Yeah, I'm flat footed, and I've had condromalacia in the past, I think from hiking down steep step-trails with too heavy a pack. It used to be quite painful but biking had made it better until I biked too much without a rest last week. I think I'll take a rest for a while and ask a doc. thanks for the advice.

 

[kapusta]

Imbalance is right on track, no pun intended...

I'm not a doctor either but I'll relate my knee "issues". Both of my knees crunch like celery and, up until a month or so ago, both knees clicked/popped rather noisily. I finally got fed up with some pain in the left knee and went to see to the doc where he me told I have a thing called 'chondromalacia' which is basically a degradation of the cartilage under the kneecap. Oh yea I also have some scar tissue under the left patellar tendon in front of my knee to. Nifty eh?

After a month of PT working my left knee, it doesn't pop nearly as much because the VMO muscle that makes up part of the quad is pulling the kneecap back in it's track more normally now. The VMO is that muscle that's just to the inside of the center line down your quad, right above the kneecap and sort of sticks up by itself when you're pushing down and the one that usually burns first to. Yea that one. That's the imbalance part because the quad is made up of 4 separate muscles and the VMO has to 'fire' first when you clench your quad. Am I listening the therapist or what?

Anyway, long story a bit shorter, you might have a/both kneecap(s) tracking a bit out of the groove it's supposed to ride in but not as severely as mine do. Here's a link to a description: http://www.arthroscopy.com/sp05032.htm. With my knee, the doc will almost surely have to go in and scrape the cartilage on the bottom of the kneecap to clean it up. Sounds lovely doesn't it? I just hope I can get through the summer without too much more pain.

Oh and that clicking sound, at least in my case, dunno about yours obviously, is the kneecap tracking so far out of the groove that it actually pops over the edge of the femur.

Don't want to scare you because my symptoms are pretty far along but you might want to have a doc and/physical therapist look at your knees so you can avoid future problems.

Questions: are either of you guys flat-footed or over pronaters (your instep rolls in noticeably)?

My problem was the exact one you describe. My outer quads were pulling my kneecap off track, and strengthening the VMO was what helped alot. There are certain exersises I do on the floor with ankle weights that help, but what really did it for me was running. Not much, just 2 miles once or twice a week. Also, I found the seating position of my road bike does not aggravate the problem as much as MTB. The clicking is largely gone, now.

It is really important that you see someone about this if it does not go away soon, but don't panic. Mine felt pretty bad at one point, on and off the bike, enough to make me wonder if I could continue to bike anymore without surgery. I am much better now, and it did not require surgery, just some extra work on my part.

The running was my idea. I noticed after my first run that the very muscle I was trying to work with my ankle weights was sore as hell, so I figured it was getting a good workout.

Good luck.