Hi wondering if anyone can help or offer some advice.

I ride mtb - mostly cross country trials on a hard tail. For some time I have been experiencing some pain to the left of my right knee (internal side of the knee). It used to start off when doing long haul fire road climbs even in granny cogs but has improved (?) to being the following day after a ride. Like now after only 9km at Llandegla yesterday on the easy route!

I have been told by the present 'other half' that I have a good 'circular' cycling motion so I think my cycling technique is pretty much there. I do use SPD's and have varied the position of these over the last year to feel better.

Historically about 16 years ago in my mid teens I was diagonosed with something that meant my patella on my left knee had gone soft and formed ridges and that I would 'grow out of it'. This diagnosis followed a collapse when playing rounders at school. I hit the ball went to run and just fell over as my knee collapsed under me. I carried on doing sports running half marathons, etc with some little niggles and occasional wobbly knee feelings on the left side.

Is this pain on the other side possibly due to years of compensation? Should I do some other leg strengthening exercises at the gym to help with my knee?

Help please I don't want to give up the two wheels just yet.

for a while last year i was getting knee pain in both knees after rides of only an hour or so, one left knee worse than the other. it usually didn't hurt while riding but kicked in as i cooled down, worst the next day. might not be the same thing but can tell you how i got sorted out anyway...

there is a bunch called cyclefit in london who have a bike fitting service, bit pricey at £130 plus £50 for custom foot beds but it worked so was worth it for me.

they look at all the angles and set up of your bike and shoes and spds and angle of your feet and ankles... turns out my feet are on an angle, left more so than the other, which they corrected by putting angular wedges between the shoe and SPD clip thingy. Also fitted foot beds for better support in shoe and told me the right bike geometry, including seat height, seat fore and aft and distance from seat to bars (i needed a shorter stem). The main difference in the bike was i had my seat much too low, due to lack of confidence in downhill sections, which puts extra strain on knees going up hill.

since their changes i have been fine, pain vanished almost immediately although the extra seat height felt very strange for a while.

so i would suggest firstly checking seat height, and if that doesnt work think of seeing cyclefit or someone else with a similar service... my boyfriend ended up paying for me to see them as he was worried i wasn't enjoying riding any more. But i am fine now even for longer rides :)

I'd suggest you go to see your doctor for a referal to a physiotherapist. Or go to one privately. I was getting knee pains after long days in the saddle - and don't after being given excercises by the physio. There's a lot going on in the knee, so you really should see a specialist.

it may be you need an arthroscopy to look at the internals of your knee it is a minor op nowadays...

Hello,I second the advice to go get it looked at by a Chartered Physio. Strengthening knees can be a tricky business and best get some specific exercises rather that go to the gym and randomly strengthen it. Knees on the whole respond well to strengthening so hopefully you will be queen of the hills soon! good luck!

Links on shecycles to 2 articles by Dr K on knee's...extra info just in case you haven't read them!

Knee pain and what to do:
http://www.shecycles.com/news/article.asp?SP=&v=4&UAN=260

Eccentric Exercises for knee pain:
http://www.shecycles.com/news/article.asp?SP=&v=4&UAN=411

Tracey

So how do you find a good Physio?

Cause i need one!

Thanks for all the advice. Good news on one front - I have an appointment for a biomechanical assessment in a couple of weeks time.

Where do u get a biomechanical assessment done at?

when looking for a physio always look for chartered and mcsp after the name. macp and msc are also useful letters to have. physiofirst run an accreditation scheeme for for physio practices. If you see their logo it means that the practice has had to undergo an inspection and the physios have had to prove their ongoing education.

If you're based near Llandegla Russ and his team at the North Wales Sports Physiotherapy Clinic in Deeside Leisure Centre have seen me through all sorts of injuries including knee pain which had my GP stumped.

For bike set-up advice Martin Early is also excellent - his details can be found in the back pain article in this weeks Cycling Weekly.

I am having the biomechanical assessment at the local hospital (Wrexham) artifical limb centre, sounds a little OTT but they have the kit for the assessment to make sure things are working in line with other joints, etc. It could be that I need some orthotics, so hopefully this assessment will establish if I do and if this has had an impact on my knee. I have this appointment through referal from GP to podatrist then to biomechanical because of a toe problem exaserbated by snow boarding earlier this year. In hindsight not sure why my toe hurt so much I spent more time on my backside. At least the last podiatrist to assessment is less than GP to podiatrist!

Thanks for the physio and set up tips I shall save that for after the assessment. I may need Russ' team after snowboarding too.