Leg Warmers & Knee Pain

[BrianI]

Since it was somewhat Autumnal on my club ride today, I put my leg warmers on under my bib shorts.

For most of the ride I ended up with painful behind-the-kneecaps, as if the leg warmers were constricting the knee caps in some way.

Coincidence? Or was it the strong coffee I had at the cafe aggravating the knees? Or am I just becoming Gammy of Knee again? It was only a 30 mile ride today. 

[rafletcher]

Coincidence

[T42]

Depends how tight your knee-warmers are.  I had a pair that tried to put the kneecap where the cruciate ligaments didn't want it to go: they hurt.

AFAIK coffee will only irritate your knees if you spill it on them hot.

[DuncanM]

Cruciates don't affect the kneecaps, they make sure the tibia and femur are attached properly.
There's a layer of cartilage on the back of the kneecap that allows it to slide smoothly as you bend the knee. If you have any restriction on how you knee moves, or an imbalance in how your quads operate on the kneecap, you can end up with it not tracking quite right. If that happens, you can put too much pressure on this structure and it can hurt. I am susceptible to tracking problems - I find that if I put my legwarmers on a bit wonky, or if they are mega tight, then I get knee pain.

[T42]

Cruciates don't affect the kneecaps, they make sure the tibia and femur are attached properly.

Thank you sir. Obviously, I did not know that.

[BrianI]

Thanks for all the replies.

I think it is kneecap tracking issues again, which seemed to be aggravated by my wearing knee warmers.

Perhaps time to visit the physio again :-(