OldTryGuy

At least your solution seems to be far easier than the solution for my bone on bone knees. Happy continued riding.

Jumpski

Doing the ice, rest and hops and barley rehydration therapy along with some advil. Just bummed because this weekend it is going to be 80º. (I'll probably ride anyway, or at least try.)

Damn, you turn 65 and everything falls apart.[/

Listen to your body, and rest. Taking a break from the bike is key here. Hopefully, it’s minor and you’ll bounce back in no time.

work4bike

This guy (Dr. Jonathon Sullivan) is so freakin' right... "...medicine is just as prone to mythology and folklore as any other human enterprise..."

bblair

Rode Tuesday after taking Monday off. Cold and windy. Of course I wore tights, but knee got sore again, although not nearly like before.

Conclusion: cold weather sucks and we need to get out of here in the winter. Now I know why my older relatives used to take off the day after Thanksgiving and not return until late spring. Next thing ya know, we'll be having dinner at 4pm.

easyupbug 

72 and dealing with a knee since 1973. Latest help has come from reducing crank arm length. I always ran 172.5mm and a few 175mm and have moved several bikes down to 165mm and 160mm and they are the only bikes I am currently riding do to that knee. Your milage may vary.

bblair

Yesterday's ride, after 4 or 5 days off. About 52º at start, headwind on way back. Damn knee again! I am going to continue with the stretching and exercises and try lowering my seat a few mm, even though nothing has changed in years. Plan to ride tomorrow.

Carbonfiberboy 

Ah, so no resolution yet. Let's try a primitive diagnostic test, see if it's a swollen tendon sheath (tendonitis) or a damaged tendon attachment. Here's my recipe: Take 600mg ibuprofen every 6 hours (except when you're asleep) for 5 days in a row. be religious about it. It it's inflammation, that'll knock it out, knee pain will be gone, though it could come back of course once you stop the ibuprofen. If it's a tendon attachment, the knee pain will still be there, a little diminished maybe, but definitely not gone. It'll take some time to reverse the damage either way.

If it turns out to be tendonitis, what works best is to stop cycling and walking, that low intensity stuff, and instead work the tendon with heavy weights. You can feel the tendon with your fingers and see what lifts in what ranges of motion work it the most. Do those. If it's an attachment issue, the only fix is rest. Absolutely do not do anything that causes pain.

I wouldn't use a knee brace. Doesn't seem like it's a thing where the problem is the joint going out of its normal range of motion and that range of motion needs to be restricted or the motion of the kneecap needs to be restricted.

The pain is in the front of the knee, for which the usual rec is to raise the saddle. You want to decrease the tension and range of motion of that tendon.

work4bike

Did you try the Asian squat or Ass-to-Grass (ATG squat)?

I know the video is a little goofy, but it is an important test (but not the only one) for checking out the health of your knees. There are other things you can do to check the health of your knees, but simply doing an ATG squat is one of the quickest test.

Bald Paul

I had major knee surgery in 1976. I've been dealing with pain on and off since then. Every winter in Massachusetts was awful - the pain never stopped.
We moved to SC when I retired.

bblair

[QUOTE=work4bike;22494576]Did you try the Asian squat or Ass-to-Grass (ATG squat)?

I know the video is a little goofy, but it is an important test (but not the only one) for checking out the health of your knees. There are other things you can do to check the health of your knees, but simply doing an ATG squat is one of the quickest test.

We visited China a few times, so.....yea, I know how to do that. Kind of awkward, but when ya gotta go, ya gotta go!

bblair

[QUOTE=Carbonfiberboy;22493584]Ah, so no resolution yet. Let's try a primitive diagnostic test, see if it's a swollen tendon sheath (tendonitis) or a damaged tendon attachment. Here's my recipe: Take 600mg ibuprofen every 6 hours (except when you're asleep) for 5 days in a row. be religious about it. It

Yea, back on the ibu. I have had back problems, and chronic ibu does a number on my stomach after a while. But for a short course, I am going to give it a shot. Thanks.

work4bike

The problem is that our bodies start falling apart in our 30's https://www.health.harvard.edu/stayi...ir%20lifetimes.

If all we do is one exercise, say running (I don't want to pick on cycling) our bodies are very good at becoming proficient at that exercise, but it's not exercising the entire body, so the parts being less exercised are getting weaker and the parts being exercised are staying strong, if not being overused. This results in imbalances and those imbalances can cause severe pain and degradation in joints and connective tissues.

There is no pill to cure this problem. Pills can provide some relief of pain/discomfort, but it's NOT correcting anything. Taking a pill, in the long run, only worsens the problem. The best medicine is to exercise the weak areas that have been underused. The most effective way of doing this is thru weight training.


This Doctor calls it the Barbell Prescription....

pbass

Everybody's different of course, but FWIW, the older I get the more I have to work on staying loose - foam rolling and stretching. I have very tight hips, and if I don't keep things loose, my left hip invariably starts to pull my left knee out of alignment. Any time I've ever had a knee issue starting, that has been the culprit. I've had PT guys having me do all kinds of stuff focusing on the knee, and it never worked. A myofascial release therapist figured out it was starting upstream with my hips - the fascia was locked up and pulling things out of whack - and fixed it in a 1/2 hour session. Ever since that revelation I can maintain it myself with foam rolling and 2-3 simple yoga stretches, everyday, often twice a day if I've ridden.

zandoval 

New pain after a two week rest and no changes in bicycle setup in many many years.

Well maybe ya just over did it. If I go a few weeks without ridding it can be at least one week for me to get back where I was at. That is do to my age at 68 and the fact that I am even more beat up than I look... Ha

Also, as you age things do change. Bars go up a little. Seat gets adjust forward a little. Seat height goes down a little. And when I say a little I mean just millimeters change can make a big, big, difference.

Of course you know this...

bblair

I think you are right. Yesterday I rode 56 miles, 1900 ft of climbing with no problems at all. I dressed a little warmer than usual and kept to a conversational pace. Couple of Ibu before the ride and ice and more ibu after. Rain the next few days, so a forced layoff.

jamesdak 

Hmmm,,,,, just tried the asian squat thing and no issues, seems like how I've always squatted. But man the knees sound like rice krispies when I go down and come back.

I'm envious of all of you 70 year olds just starting to have problems. I've been bone on bone in my right knee since my 40's and now the left is even worse. I'm at the point now I can't stay on my feet for more than 10 minutes or so without significant pain and swelling. Hiking is now out, heck there's day I dread the walk from my office to the restroom at work. Biking is the only time I'm pain free. Unfortunately I'm also a disable vet who uses the VA. While the VA has basically been great everyone seems stuck on me reaching the age of 65 before replacement. To hell with the fact I can't even keep my own house and yard kept up due to the pain. Last set of "3 month" cortisone shots worked for maybe two weeks. A month from now I go for synthetic cartilage shots. If they don't work I'm going to war against the VA system for knee replacements. I'm tired of the constant pain and having no life. About to cancel my yearly trip to Montana again because if I can't hike in carrying my photo bears to shoot wildlife what's the point?

Anyway, rant over, take care of your knees!

EddyR

I went bone on bone for several years on my right knee until i no longer could walk 100 feet. Had knee replacement three months ago and now walking is coming back slowly but bike ridding came back fast. Bike riding does not hurt the replaced knee. You can walk a long time when pain in on inside of knee. If it goes to the lower outside more than likely your knee is worn out. My knee looked good to me in the xray until the doctor showed me there there was no padding left between the bones. He showed me how much my legs had bowed because of loss of cartilage.
Ed

jppe

Were you wearing either knee or leg warmers when the pain surfaced?

bblair

Medium weight tights. My past rule of thumb was to cover my knees below 60ºF, but as I get older that gets a little higher.

No riding this weekend (rain Saturday, Mother's Day events on Sunday), so maybe the rest will do me good.

jppe

This probably sounds strange but sometimes I'd get knee pain from wearing something covering my knees. I'm not sure why but it would trigger the irritation.....

bblair

I am (unofficially) calling an end to my problem.

Rode Monday about 45 miles at a brisk, but not too intense pace. No problems.
Saturday, 77 miles, 4000 ft of climbing with some real tough ones.83ºF at end and again, no problems.

My conclusion is that it was a combo of conditioning, a 2 week layoff and cold weather. At least I hope so because milage and difficulty is getting ramped up.

Thanks for the help and support.