Anterior Knee Pain Cycling - Causes and Solutions

Anterior knee pain cycling is pain on the front part of the knee and can be caused by improper saddle height, fore aft saddle position, crank arm length, cleat positioning and gear selection. The ultimate reason you feel pain on the front part of the knee is due to injuries called Patellar Tendonitis or Patellofemoral Syndrome. We will help you solve the anterior knee pain cycling by discussing how to isolate each cause to find out what your individual problem really is and then we will tell you how fix it.

Reasons

Patellar Tendonitis

Patellar tendinitis is an injury to the tendon connecting your kneecap (patella) to your shinbone. The patellar tendon works with the muscles at the front of your thigh to extend your knee so you can kick, run, jump and bike.

Pain is the first symptom of patellar tendinitis, usually between your kneecap and where the tendon attaches to your shinbone (tibia).

The pain in your knee may:

At first be present only as you begin physical activity or just after an intense workout
Worsen until it interferes with playing your sport
Eventually interfere with daily movements such as climbing stairs or rising from a chair

Patellofemoral Syndrome

The cartilage under your kneecap is a natural shock absorber. Overuse, injury or other factors may lead to a condition known as patellofemoral pain syndrome.

Patellofemoral pain syndrome usually causes a dull, aching pain in the front of your knee. This pain can be aggravated when you:

Walk up or down stairs
Kneel or squat
Sit with a bent knee for long periods of time

Causes & Solutions

Saddle Height

Cause: The saddle height is too low putting unnecessary pressure on the front of your knee.

Solution: Raise your saddle to a proper saddle height.

Saddle Fore Aft Position

Cause: The saddle is too far forward.
Solution: Move your saddle back to its ideal aft position.

Crank Length

Cause: The crank arms are too long.
Solution: Replace your current cranks with ones that are 2.5mm shorter.

Leg Length Discrepancy

Cause: Your seat is set for your shorter leg
Solution: Either raise the saddle height to set your saddle height for your longer leg or purchase orthotics or shims to put on your shoes.

Cleat Positioning

Cause: Your foot is too far forward on the pedal.
Solution: Move your cleat position so that your foot is set further back on the pedal.

Gear Selection

Cause: You are pushing too big of a gear, straining your knee.
Solution: Stop thinking you are Jan Ullrich and increase your cadence.

Overuse

Cause: Increasing intensity, duration and/or volume by too much.

Solution: Take a rest for at least 3 days. While taking a rest, make sure to speed up the recovery process by icing and heating your knee to stimulate blood flow to the area and potentially taking anti-inflammatories. Stretching can also help accelerate recovery. Start by doing 25% of your regular cycling routine and build back up to 50% over a period of 1 week. Assess the pain each ride and determine whether you should continue to build back up or take a longer break.

Assessing Anterior Knee Pain

Self assessing the root of the knee pain is extremely important to a speed recovery. Start by treating it as an overuse injury and taking a rest for 3 days, while icing and heating the area and perhaps even take an ibuprofen. Then make sure to test only one variable at a time. Perhaps you think it is due to a low saddle height, raise your saddle height a small amount and then get back on your bike and test out your theory. Make sure to not increase your training load to more than 50% of what it previously was until you have isolated the root cause of the knee pain and fixed it.

Do You Have Knee Pain In Another Area? Check these links below for the causes and solutions:

General Knee Pain Cycling

Medial Knee Pain – Pain on the inner side of the knee