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Covered knees = knee pain?

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  • April 27, 2015 at 8:58 am #23860
    sergius

    Something I’ve noticed recently, is that I only seem to get sore knees when wearing full length tights, and seemingly not when wearing shorts.

    I had a bit of knee pain last year, which I got sorted as the summer progressed with various changes to cleat position. Since then I’ve made no adjustments to my position on the bike.

    My knees got a little sore when I picked up the riding again more seriously after Christmas, originally I thought this was just a fitness thing as I was ramping up the mileage. I tend to be wearing full length tights over the winter, as we’ve hit April I’ve been able to switch to shorts and have done numerous 70+ mile rides with no pain in my knees at all – which I figured was my fitness coming back, all good.

    I did a fairly cold/wet Sportive on Sunday, 80 miles long which I wore full length tights for. After 40ish miles I started feeling my right knee a little, not debilitating – but enough to know it wasn’t quite right. I’d done 75 miles of much of the same course the weekend before with no problem, so I was a little surprised and it got me thinking:

    – Is it just the fact that my knees are covered (one assumes movement is more restricted), that is causing some knee pain?
    – Is it a weather thing (sounding like an old man), my joints are just happier in glorious sunshine than on a cold/wet/miserable day?
    – Does the pad/shorts make an appreciable difference (other than comfort on your nether regions) for things like knee tracking.

    Thoughts?

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  • July 19, 2017 at 9:50 am #843619
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    mrseasons

    worth speaking to a phyiso

    worth speaking to a phyiso about this? its really unsual to have such pain as a ‘warm’ muscle

    July 17, 2017 at 2:08 pm #843617
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    Hazzaman

    As some others have said

    As some others have said maybe try warmer tights.  I suffer a lot of knee pain, i wear Castelli I find them pretty good.  If it’s bothering you, maybe get your Knees checked out in case there is a underlying problem.

    July 17, 2017 at 5:21 am #843615
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    PRH

    Yes I agree that your

    Yes I agree that your conclusion is correct, I have had the same issues and come to the same conclusion.  Wearing looser tights or cycling pants, or just shorts, no knee pain, but with tight fitting tights, after 20-30+ km the discomfort will start.  So I’ve stopped wearing classic cycling tights.  If you notice orthopedic knee braces have a round cutout in the middle where the kneecap is.  Just hope that there hasn’t been any permanent damage.  I ride year round and so was in tights 6-8 months of the year.  Probably not many people notice the phenomenon as most people, even professionals, don’t ride much in cooler where you’re going to be in tights all the time.

    April 30, 2015 at 8:47 am #843613
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    sergius

    Thanks folks, some
    Thanks folks, some interesting info there.

    April 30, 2015 at 4:02 am #843611
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    macrophotofly

    Agree with last comment –
    Agree with last comment – seems like it is coming from the knee cap being pushed onto the joint behind. Is your pain coming from behind the kneecap?

    One solution may be to try cycling trousers rather than tights. You can get some fairly good ones from manufacturers like Pearl Izumi, which allow bib shorts underneath, have a longer backside, are stretchy, and remain fairly narrow in the leg while not being compressive

    April 29, 2015 at 9:04 pm #843609
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    ianm

    Sounds like it may be the
    Sounds like it may be the compressive force of the tights putting pressure into your patella. This in turn may cause undue friction on the articular surface of the patella and femur causing discomfort and pain. Much the same as if you had tight quads.

    April 29, 2015 at 8:58 am #843607
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    sergius

    Funnily enough the new
    Funnily enough the new Castelli leggings I wore for the first time last weekend have the windproof/waterproof gore front, so I don’t think it’s that – my legs certainly never felt cold last weekend.

    April 29, 2015 at 1:26 am #843605
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    JonD

    The compression bit’s
    The compression bit’s curious, but as a matter of elimination could you beg/steal/borrow some windproof tights to try out ? I never have a problem with roubaix longs on an upright, even in snow + ice, but on a recumbent I seem to get a lot more windchill and achy kneecaps. On one particularly cold march Friday-Night-Ride-To-The-Coast, London to Southend, I just couldn’t get any warmth into them, took a day or two to stop aching. Solution seems to be gore windstopper-fronted longs.

    April 28, 2015 at 6:36 pm #843603
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    sergius

    jiberjaber wrote:I have this

    jiberjaber wrote:
    I have this issue too, no pain when in shorts and sometimes pain when in longs. It’s as though the material is compressing the knee cap and it feels like it is bruised, but lifting the material off is instant relief!
    Someone suggested to me it was perhaps linked to hydration, which does seem to have some truth in it as I have noticed less “yellow straw” coloured when suffering.

    That’s a good way of describing it, though I’ve not noticed any correlation between hydration and any knee discomfort – only the leggings (and by implication temperature).

    April 28, 2015 at 4:47 pm #843601
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    jiberjaber

    I have this issue too, no
    I have this issue too, no pain when in shorts and sometimes pain when in longs. It’s as though the material is compressing the knee cap and it feels like it is bruised, but lifting the material off is instant relief!
    Someone suggested to me it was perhaps linked to hydration, which does seem to have some truth in it as I have noticed less “yellow straw” coloured when suffering.

    April 28, 2015 at 11:15 am #843599
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    Rod Marton

    I have the weather issue in
    I have the weather issue in one knee, and this is can be worse with the knees covered. The reason for this is that the knees get wetter as the tights hold water (or sweat) in contact with them. However if you had this problem you would probably have noticed off the bike already.

    April 27, 2015 at 5:34 pm #843597
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    OnTheRopes

    Are you wearing tights over
    Are you wearing tights over your shorts? This could be raising your position higher than is good for your knee. Or if your tights pads are thicker than your shorts pad, then the same effect is possible

    April 27, 2015 at 2:55 pm #843595
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    kookenhaken

    I have a bad knee and noticed
    I have a bad knee and noticed whilst doing the festive 500 that if I pulled the tights away from the painful area it would immediately go away. As if it was bruised and the tights were applying too much pressure.

    April 27, 2015 at 2:00 pm #843593
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    sergius

    I tend to err on the side of
    I tend to err on the side of caution weather-wise, I’d rather be hot than cold. I’ll try sticking to the shorts for the foreseeable future, to try and see if I’ve a “weather” issue or a “tights” issue.

    It’s also useful to know that this isn’t a common thing and I may be seeing a correlation where there isn’t one.

    April 27, 2015 at 1:51 pm #843591
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    Al__S

    it would be interesting if
    it would be interesting if the OP has tried riding in “tights” conditions (by his reckoning, which is all that counts) in his shorts? tights shouldn’t (unless sold as compression wear) be tight enough to be causing any restriction

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