I love riding my bike, but always struggle to find time to get out on it regularly through the week. Last weekend I had a great bike ride. I went further and a wee bit faster than my previous ride. I was psyched.
I also was clipping in and out of my pedals more than usual because of traffic. (I have issues with staying on the bike while stopped and still clipped in). An hour after my ride I felt the inside of my left knee starting to complain. It got progressively worse throughout the evening and the next day I opted out of my ride because I couldn't lift my knee without pain.
Being a fan of corrective movement, I started testing out what motions hurt and what felt better. I found flexing, abducting and externally rotating my hip didn't feel right. I started poking about my knee and finding that I was sore from the inside of my knee up to mid thigh. I could tell that there wasn't any structural injury from the positions that helped and hurt: worse when it was hanging free and mid stance(suspension) through to push off (propulsion) of the gait cycle.
Eventually with some massage and then some weight shifting in different phases of the gait cycle, I was able to walk more comfortably. When I got in my car Monday morning I realized my knee pain was gone completely.
I'm a PT and am always learning about ways the body moves and recovers. I know I tweaked my Sartorius ( muscle when coming out of my clipless pedals by flexing, abducting and externally rotating my hip while internally rotating my knee. I know that the lack of ankle mobility on that side, the fit of my bike shoes, and the fear of traffic fed into my knee pain. I am SO lucky that I can figure out movement deficiencies to help me move better.
In this video, Dr. Kathy Dooly, from Immaculate Dissection, talks more about the Sartorius (since meeting Kathy I now sing Notorius every time I say "Sartorius" :) ) and how to effect a change in medial knee pain.
I wish she had posted this last weekend...but then, I am always learning. Playing with my movement and palpating skills provided me with a whole lot of insight into my own body.
It is important to get assessed by a qualified professional if you have pain. It's also important to be aware of what aggrevates and what makes you feel better. It's important to know what doesn't feel right to touch, yet makes you feel better when it has been released. When something persists, find someone who uses movement to analyze where your pain is coming from. When you can make it feel better by working into those "good" pain motions, allowing yourself to move through those patterns, being aware of those painful vs non painful positions and allowing yourself to rest, you just may note a decrease in pain and return to full mobility.
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