Okay, I won't go into as many details as my first post on these forums, but basically I have Chondromalacia/patellofemoral pain syndrome in both knees (wearing away of the cartilage) caused by running. However, even when it has been extremely painful to walk, cycling has not caused any pain thus far.
From reading a few websites, it seems that the reason for this is that runners generally experience the pain/cartilage wear on the inner side of the knee (almost at the edge of it), whereas cyclists feel the pain directly behind the patella (kneecap). Can anyone confirm this from a cycling perspective? I have not felt any pain directly behind my kneecap, so I think my cartilage there is still doing alright.
As I am purchasing a new bike at the beginning of May, I went to my LBS a couple of days ago for a test ride. I'm pretty much settled on the CAAD10 4, however, the employee at the shop noticed that my knees bend in a lot when I pedaled. Of course, the pedals were made of disposable plastic used for test rides, but I think my knees bend in regardless.
Anyway, I am trying to minimize anything that could possibly cause further knee pain. I don't want to lay down a lot of money (from a college student's perspective anyway) for a bike just to get injured midway through the summer.
So I guess I'm looking for advice from anyone who's had a similar issue or is knowledgeable on this subject. One thing that I think will help will be getting a professional fit by the LBS when I purchase the bike, but more generally I think I need to err on keeping the seat higher, pedal at a higher cadence -- and should I get a compact instead of a standard so hills won't be as taxing? Before my injury I used to pedal-mash and stand up on the bike going up hills, but I have completely stopped this.
Are there any sorts of special pedals that can help to minimize knee injury? I have recently gotten orthotics from a podiatrist to put in my regular running/walking shoes, but can these be transferred over to bike cleats? And since I'd like to keep my aerobic fitness up the best I can, I'll be training about 4-5 hours a day over the summer (I don't have anything else to do each day). With this much time, is there something else I need to be doing to minimize injury from cycling?
Thanks a lot!
From reading a few websites, it seems that the reason for this is that runners generally experience the pain/cartilage wear on the inner side of the knee (almost at the edge of it), whereas cyclists feel the pain directly behind the patella (kneecap). Can anyone confirm this from a cycling perspective? I have not felt any pain directly behind my kneecap, so I think my cartilage there is still doing alright.
As I am purchasing a new bike at the beginning of May, I went to my LBS a couple of days ago for a test ride. I'm pretty much settled on the CAAD10 4, however, the employee at the shop noticed that my knees bend in a lot when I pedaled. Of course, the pedals were made of disposable plastic used for test rides, but I think my knees bend in regardless.
Anyway, I am trying to minimize anything that could possibly cause further knee pain. I don't want to lay down a lot of money (from a college student's perspective anyway) for a bike just to get injured midway through the summer.
So I guess I'm looking for advice from anyone who's had a similar issue or is knowledgeable on this subject. One thing that I think will help will be getting a professional fit by the LBS when I purchase the bike, but more generally I think I need to err on keeping the seat higher, pedal at a higher cadence -- and should I get a compact instead of a standard so hills won't be as taxing? Before my injury I used to pedal-mash and stand up on the bike going up hills, but I have completely stopped this.
Are there any sorts of special pedals that can help to minimize knee injury? I have recently gotten orthotics from a podiatrist to put in my regular running/walking shoes, but can these be transferred over to bike cleats? And since I'd like to keep my aerobic fitness up the best I can, I'll be training about 4-5 hours a day over the summer (I don't have anything else to do each day). With this much time, is there something else I need to be doing to minimize injury from cycling?
Thanks a lot!