Liesl, This is not a mutually exclusive pair of afflictions (torn meniscus and bicycling). I had a pretty bad knee injury that among other damage on the surgeon's list included a meniscus tear. They did clip a portion but felt in that the long term I'd fare better if thy didn't clip all of the way to the base of the tear since it would remove too much useful surface.
Net outcome for me was an occasional situation such as yours, funny feeling, harder to extend and increased sensitivity/ buckling during episodes. Theory was that some less controlled movement (every knee with a meniscus tear has its own sensitive direction of movement which can turn up the tear-lberated flap of cartilage making an unnatural spot of double thick meniscus) turned up the margin and began the period of affliction. Not being as generous as a Rivendell warranty perspective, the follow-on diagnostics of my periodic symptoms have been much less than your work up, enough said. Being left to my own devices and advise of a number of friends closer to the orthopedic or therapy professions than me I have come up with this chain of events; Summer ends, my riding decreased and consequently my leg muscle tone did as well, including that one on the inside of the front of your leg right above the knee. It positions the joint when in extension and bulges when your leg is locked straight. All it took was a little slowness to contract against the precise slop of movement my meniscus free edge took to get turned. Felt like I was limping about several late winters. I got serious about it when it creeped into one spring. I hung from my hands (or armpits for longer periods) trying to relax my legs as much as possible, slowly twisting my trunk left then right while remaining as loose as possible. Over a few days it felt like the folded meniscus unfolded...those things are not instant telegraphed sensations, that's why the moment of offense is tough to pin down. To prevent the tone loss once able, I began a regimen of locked leg lifts from a supine position, beginning barefooted then progressing to incrementally heavier footwear. Having done this to recover from the lower tone of winter I opted to buck up and just keep riding into and through the winter, I'm an outdoor person and my version of hell is indoor calisthenics or a gym. Hieronymous Bosch would've had an LA Fitness in this picture if he knew of them: http://fullyreconditioned.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/bosch.jpg Some may think if you look closely enough you can find a commuter on studded tires in that image, but heck you live in Minneapolis! Hope your medical resources are able to get you out of the cycle and outfitted with steps to keep how you feel now at bay. Andy Cheatham Pittsburgh On Thursday, July 31, 2014 3:39:18 PM UTC-4, Liesl wrote: > > Hi Friends, > > I looked back at previous threads, most notably the link below on short > cranks and knee pain; however, perhaps this question is slightly different. > > Over the past week or a bit longer, I've developed a really pronounced > pain in my right knee. It's on under the front part of my kneecap and is > bad enough that I stopped riding and am limping a bit. I do think it's > riding related. Here's some info: I switched pedals maybe a week or two > ago from thin griptsters to sneaker pedals. I switched back and forth > between seats/seatposts during this time as well, and may have gotten the > height off. The right knee was bothering me a little bit during this time, > but then really got sore two days ago when I rode up a short but extremely > steep hill that I usually walk up (for locals, it was the long bit of > driveway between pleasant and w. irvine ave adjacent to Ramsey hill). I > dropped down to granny gears and sat part of the way and then stood up to > finish the hill. The next meaning I was just about hobbled—but only my > right knee. Left knee is fine as can be. > > Suggestions? Advice? Thanks in advance... > > here's the most previous thread I looked at > > > https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/rbw-owners-bunch/short$20crank/rbw-owners-bunch/vJf-xAPTC-Q/cNWWDMyIb1YJ > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
