So 7 years of using my legs as brakes has finally taken its toll.
At the end of last year my knees became stiff and hard to bend but it wasn’t painful in any way, just annoying. I didn’t ride over the xmas and new year break and stopped for almost 2 months to give my legs a decent rest. The longer I rested the harder it was to bend my knees. Tying up shoelaces became impossible.
On Saturday while walking through my house my left knee gave way and I fell to the floor. The pain was insane. Since that day I’ve been unable to put any weight on my left leg and it throbs while I’m sitting down at work.
Has anyone out in cycling town had a knee injury (non muscular) and made a full recovery or part recovery? had their knees operated on? and what sort of effect does it have on your cycling now if you’re back on your bike?
I have torn medial ligaments three times, once skiing, once mtn biking, once surfing.
I have always had dodgy knees its all about getting a proper diagnosis from a well known sporting specialist.
The second thing is following through with your rehab if you do this you will get back on the bike.
Not sure where you live but find out who does the work for your local nrl or afl team, these guys only use the best.
Gypsy had a meniscus tear i think and he is back into it.
I had a medial meniscus tear in my left knee. Needed surgery to remove the torn section. Even the sports doc couldn’t diagnose it without an mri though.
Follow their rehab advice, but also realise that this shit doesn’t grow back.
Depending on the severity of the tear you might get 99% function back or you might get less.
I tore my ACL clean in half in a motorbike accident and the best thing I did for my recovery was get on a bike.
It will never be 100% but it sure as hell is well above 95% 2 years on and I’m 36 yrs old.
I personally wouldn’t go near doctors that operate on footballers, they charge like a wounded bull (cos the pro’s can afford it) and a 2nd opinion is always a good thing. My 2nd opinion saved me a hamstring graft and 9 months till full recovery. I was back motorbike racing within 4 weeks
Rehab is the key and this is where a cycling physio will be your best bet to get you back on your bike quickly and safely.
If you’re in Vic PM me and I’ll give you my surgeon’s details.
I had cartilage jammed in my kneecap somehow from a motorbike accident. I had an arthroscopy and they were able to fix it all up. I can definitely still feel that it’s not quite as strong as my other knee though, and in the cold I can also feel it. That was ten years ago…
If a section of the meniscus tears away it can restrict the movement of the knee and will require surgery to repair by cutting away. i had a tear, well more of a split really, and recovered with rehab. The major issue with this type of injury is a lack of blood supply to the area makes repair/regeneration really slow. took about 3-4 months.
I had two meniscus tears and two surgeries (same knee). First was 8 years ago, second was last year. Surgeries (Arthroscopies) these days are not too bad and you’re back walking after a few days. Give it four weeks and you should be back on the bike. I have no issues since riding my bike everyday.
Good luck!
P.S: if you’re in Sydney. Andrew McDonald is a great doc to go to. located at the Bondi Junction and the team doctor for the Rabbitohs and knows his stuff!
You have a knee problem and you need to get it checked out. From where I sit it can be half a dozen possibilities with that story. The end result will either be physiotherapy and rehabilitation or having some one poke around on the inside.
Brendan is right ,the MRI is the gold standard thing to do but can take a while to organise and or be costly. As a first step a bulk billing GP could organise a bulk Billing Cat scan and you would be over half way to having an answer to your problem with only some loss in time and a radiation load.
As an aside I do not believe that riding brakeless compared to other activities is hard on the knees long term and I say this from a person with knees old enough to worry about this problem who has done some research.
Would you be able to elaborate on this at all? Lately I’ve been considering switching to a freewheel, not due to any current knee problems but between riding fixed, playing basketball and snow skiing I’m starting to worry that my knees will implode before I’m 30.
Got a GP referral to a specialist to have an MRI of my knee done. Seems like a convoluted way to get a scan done but it means you can claim most of it back on medicare. Turns out I do have a horizontal tear in the meniscus.
The specialist said what I do next is up to me. Leave it and see how I go or talk to a surgeon about arthroscopy. At the moment it’s not too bad I’m back on the bike and the only pain I’ve felt is on cold mornings.
I’ve talked to a few people about surgery and most have said the same thing as the Dr; it depends on whether the knee stops me from doing things I enjoy. I’m walking on it again after 5 weeks and so far it hasn’t gotten in the way. So I’ll leave it for a while and focus on developing some muscle in my legs to help support it. If it flares up again I’ll go speak to a surgeon.
