Front knee pain

[kreuzberg]

Hey
So I've been riding for a few years, have never had knee trouble before. all of a sudden in the past two days, my left knee has had a painful twinge in the front towards the bottom of the kneecap. It hurts when I walk upstairs, downstairs, significantly bend my knee, and sometimes when i pedal. Three days ago my cleat came loose so I took it off to tighten the base (I have speedplay pedals) and maybe I put it back on different, that is the only thing I can think of. Anyway, I 'm just wondering if this is serious. I tried to move my cleat but not quite sure where it was before. I'm icing a few times today. Also I have a race tomorrow. What do I do to make this go away??? I don't want to end up getting a chronic injury. Or am I overthinking this?

thanks.

[kallee]

I had a similar knee pain when I got a new bike. I tried lifting the saddle higher, but it didn't really help. What helped in the end was moving the cleats back about 1 cm. The knee pain went away and I could lower my saddle to a more comfortable position.

[kreuzberg]

I had a similar knee pain when I got a new bike. I tried lifting the saddle higher, but it didn't really help. What helped in the end was moving the cleats back about 1 cm. The knee pain went away and I could lower my saddle to a more comfortable position.

So once you changed your cleats it just stopped hurting? Did you have to take a few days off the bike?

[kallee]

I did not take any time off, but I wasn't riding every day anyway. The pain slowly went away. After about one week there was no trace of it.

I had the knee pain for almost a year. I tried various things, moving the saddle up, down, forward, backward, paid a chunk of money for a professional fit, tried different pedals, but nothing really worked until I moved the cleats.

[kreuzberg]

Thanks for posting back. I looked at my shoe and realized my cleat was like 1.5cm too far forward! imanidiot- glad you mentioned this. I moved it and pedaling didn't hurt, just waiting for the rest of the pain to fade.

[tsunayoshi]

reading this just made me remember I had a loose cleat as well and I had to put in back in place. That was a few weeks ago.

2 weekends ago I developed serious pain in my left knee 9.5 hours into a 12 hour endurance race and had to quit. I had the same symptoms as the OP. I had written it off as over use injury do to length on the race. Now I'm going to check my shoes to see if that might have been the issue.

[NJcycler]

i had the same problem this season after a hard early season ride. i actually did get some fluid in my knee above the knee cap also.
moved my cleat back, raised my seat a couple mm up and continued to ride. i rode through the pain and iced after each ride and i am now just about 100% recovered. took several weeks. i am riding every day and my avg ride distance this season is around 38 miles a ride. if you can rest your knee it would speed up the recovery time for sure.

[Andrew L]

I just replaced my cleats and I guess they didn't get back to exactly where they were because I just developed a similar pain in my left knee. I mirrored the right one and noticed it was 4 mm forward and a few mm to the left. I just adjusted them...hopefully it helps!!

[vontress]

I did same last year. I got a silver marker and traced my cleats. That should cure that.

[Andrew L]

Has anyone tried leukotape or kinesio tape while the pain is going away? I had a pretty rough ride this morning...

[sunnyside]

I just ordered my tape from Amazon today. [Hard to find good medical tape local] I have been suffering from chondromalacia [inflammation under the knee cap] since June, I have taken the last 2 months off the bike, my knee feels better but I still cant kneel on it without pain.
I went to see one of the BMC team doctors and he recommended the McConnel taping method, it essentially makes your Knee cap track to the side a little. You can search U tube to see how. I hope it works for me.

[Hooben]

Front knee pain is sometimes related to cleat positioning. Sounds like you tightened up your cleat in the wrong position. re-evaluate the cleat position and the knee pain should go away.

[Clyde250]

If it's local pain on the bottom of the patella itself, I would say bursitis. If it's right below the patella, patellar tendonitis. The pain in both area's can take a long time to heal. Moving the seat forward, raising the saddle, shortening the crank arm are all options for treatment.

[c-lo]

you should get your knee looked at. sure messing with your cleat/pedal position will help, tape will help, but get it looked at.