Knee cap pains

[jamesld8]

no doubt been asked before, but googling hasn`t come up with any help so:

I`ve started to develop occasional pain on both knees that is located along lower front of kneecap, if you imagine drawing a U over kneecap facing forwards then pain / discomfort is located around the curve of the U.

I wonder if it is arising due to pushing a gear harder since started using a SS bike (65" gear) when at times I`m moving forwards in saddle to power gear around. It seems to have arisen around same time, but have also slightly (3 mm) raised saddle on winter bike as it felt too low cf SS bike position.

any suggestions, exercises ?

thanks

[Frank9755]

Pain there is usually associated with the saddle being too low.  Moving forward in your saddle might give a similar effect. 

Does your SS have shorter cranks?  If so, that might be why it felt too low.  You would need to raise it by the difference in crank length (probably 5mm or more) to achieve the same leg position on the downstroke.

I conducted more research into low saddle height and knee pain than I ever wanted to during the last PBP.  I dropped my saddle slightly at half way but failed to tighten the seat clamp fully.  The saddle dropped gradually by 3cm over the last 600km.  I was fine when I finished the event but was in a lot of pain the next day, and for several weeks after.  Had to wheel my bike across Paris to Gare du Nord as I couldn't ride!

[Pedal Castro]

Could be a tracking issue? The bone runs in a groove under the kneecap and if this doesn't line up properly it can cause sharp pain under load. I used to get this a lot, the doc sent me to physio who gave me exercises to strengthen the right muscle to pull it straight. That didn't work but I thought maybe stretching the opposite muscle might work, which it did almost instantly. Now if ever I get a similar pain the first thing I do is stretch and invariably the pain disappears.

[Kim]

I've had tracking issues.  Exercises to strengthen the quads helped, but not as much as discovering SPDs, very precise cleat alignment and riding my bike a lot (avoiding overly high gears).

[hellymedic]

https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=93636.msg1930669#msg1930669

[jamesld8]

Thanks for link useful info