New shoes = knee pain
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TRHuston
Posts: 69 Member
Dear fellow pedalers, does this ever happen to you? I just got the women's Sidi Dominator 5 mtb shoes and I love them. They are really comfy to walk around in, but today, I took them on their maiden voyage and came home in quite a bit of discomfort.
I am nervous that I may have placed my cleats in a bad position. They are symetrical (as they were in my previous shoes) but I moved them further forward to be more directly under the balls of my feet therefore enhancing power transfer. My right leg feels fine, but the outside of my left leg was feeling "clicky" and very wrong after about 15 miles.
According to my husband, I have very straight pedal strokes when I ride, so I don't think I'm throwing something off spontaneously, but I am concerned. Everything I've found online so far has said Ileo-tibial band syndrome. I don't think that is it because I always stretch and it wouldn't make sense to have just one side be symptomatic.
Also, the advice on the interweb said I could have muscle atrophy resulting in pain from over-use. I try to be good about "rest days", but I'm sure I wouldn't hurt like this after 15 miles when I did about 25 last week and wasn't bothered.
Please let me know what you think, or if you have any insight. Thanks all and happy trails!
I am nervous that I may have placed my cleats in a bad position. They are symetrical (as they were in my previous shoes) but I moved them further forward to be more directly under the balls of my feet therefore enhancing power transfer. My right leg feels fine, but the outside of my left leg was feeling "clicky" and very wrong after about 15 miles.
According to my husband, I have very straight pedal strokes when I ride, so I don't think I'm throwing something off spontaneously, but I am concerned. Everything I've found online so far has said Ileo-tibial band syndrome. I don't think that is it because I always stretch and it wouldn't make sense to have just one side be symptomatic.
Also, the advice on the interweb said I could have muscle atrophy resulting in pain from over-use. I try to be good about "rest days", but I'm sure I wouldn't hurt like this after 15 miles when I did about 25 last week and wasn't bothered.
Please let me know what you think, or if you have any insight. Thanks all and happy trails!
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Replies
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If it's appeared only after swapping your shoes, then I'd lay money that it's related to either the shoes themselves or the cleats. You say your pedalling stroke is straight now - was it before? as if you're body was used to a bit of a wobble before, it can take a while to accomodate straightening up. Also - what shoes have you replaced with the sidi's ? Some cycling shoes, like certain running shoes are suitable for people with high arches, where others are better for flatter feet. Specialized for example make footbeds that have different arch-profiles, and also have varus/valgus adjustment wedges which allow the pedalling stroke to be balanced and evened up...
http://www.specialized.com/us/en/bc/SBCEqProduct.jsp?spid=579940 -
Does it hurt in the back or the front of the knee??
I came across these articles a while back..
http://www.bicycling.com/maintenance/bike-fit/fine-tune-fit
http://www.bicycling.com/training-nutrition/injury-prevention/knock-out-knee-pain0 -
It certainly sounds like IT band pain. Moving your cleat position probably subtly changed the angle of your pedal stroke to cause this. IT band pain can happen despite stretching. I would take it seriously and consider taking a break from riding clipped in for awhile. I had very similar pain last year (also just in one knee) and tried adjusting my cleats with no improvement and kept riding and pushing past the pain and riding long distances (taking lots of ibuprofen) and it eventually got so severe that I had trouble walking without pain. Since then I've ditched bike shoes completely and haven't had a problem.
The other thing that seemed to aggravate my IT band symptoms was riding lots of hills and pushing up the hills instead of spinning up them in a lower gear. Were you doing a lot of climbing on the day with your new shoes?0 -
Thanks all for the input. I took into consideration that I was super excited over my new shoes and acted like Bambi frolicking all over the meadow. Yes, I did hammer it up quite a few hills, and yes, I pushed myself to ride faster than normal. (passed a bunch of roadies, clocked 20 mph for 5 miles in a row, pretty proud of that) That is a bit harder than I normally ride, so yesterday I took it easy, tried my left foot in a few different positions and wound up being most comfortable where I was originally. I logged about 15 miles yesterday and felt fine. Being overzealous can be painful. Thanks again!0
