How to alter the position of the knee.

coma

My wife has started cycling with me (mountain bikes) , and we have done some hilly, but pretty simple trails.

My wife then felt fit enough to cycle to work, a 40 min ride along gentle hills. She developed ITB syndrome, although she has rested it has recurred.

We have had the bike fitted, however i feel that as she is of asian descent the shorter legs:longer torso ratio makes fitting rather different then most fitters are accustomed. I have watched her ride and have noticed she pivots her knees inwards as she rides. This is am sure is increasing the tension and bringing back the ITB Syndrome.

She has standard flat pedals, and rides in sneakers, is there any way of altering some part of the bike or shoe (there is no pronation in her walk) to get her to pedal with her knees at least in line with her hips and the pedals?

Thanks

Marx SS

I'm no doctor & know nothing about ITB syndrome until 5mins ago http://www.drpribut.com/sports/spitb.html , but from the brief description you gave I would offer the following:

Check the seat hieght, if she rocks her hips when pedaling, she is either too high up & over extending therefore rocking her lower leg down or maybe she is not utlising the full extention of her leg - having it bent at the knee or over-bent at the ankle - to not take full advantage of leg extention/leg stroke (hope this makes sence).

Also it might be a good idea to ensure the candence (pedal revolutions) isn't too low & therefore putting extra load on the knees/ankles when bent. A higher candence (faster pedaling) can help with joint issues. Sure anyone can pull a higher gear but this isn't a great idea for long periods.

Also I'm not sure of her experience with cycling. If you guys are just getting into it, you might find all sorts of pains proping up first off on a bike. A personal technique/approch is developed with exp/time.

coma

Thanx for the reply,

Well, i have paid a lot of attention to her style of riding, although she knows how to ride a bike well, i feel she isnt confident at all times.

I have done as much reading about the ITB syndrome, as well as bike fittings, as i can, one thing i will try is lowering her seat slightly, or getting shorter cranks so that her leg isnt fully extended on the downstroke of the pedal, in an attempt to reduce the friction her ligament is experiencing as it passes over the knee.

It is odd that she does pull her knees inwards during the revolution, and i am trying to make sure its not the bike that is "making" her do it.

There is a good chance that it is just a bad habit she will have to break.

If anyone has other thoughts pls let me know.

Thanx again marx ss

Postie

Hi coma.

Bike fitting is huge. However the formula to fixing ITB syndrome needn't be simple. I don't think being of Asian decent comes into play, however physical biogeometry definitely can. Some people bring it on themselves, however many just are built in such a way that they will be prone to have a much greater problem. To have this properly assisted you'd need an athletic therapist to look at her and come up with a program that will help reduce the ITB problem. Physical aspects that come into play are pronation, hip antiversion, and excessive Q-angle.

Here are some things you can do:

1) Learn how to stretch the ITB and do so regularly after exercise.
2) Ensure the seat height isn't too high. ...however, on this one it's important to ensure the seat height isn't too low because that can cause very serious knee issues.
3) Ensure the fore/aft of the seat is properly adjusted in conjunction with seat height. I use the plumb line method that you'll find in many posts on this forum as well as "Cycling Training".
4) I don’t know a lot about this one, however in this forum a fellow named jhikers describes ways to massage or "dent" the problem to help. I do know that many people have success with a program like this.
5) Bad pedaling form is a problem, especially when the person doesn't know what "right" feels like. In this case I'd recommend a free float clipless pedal like Speedplay Frogs or Beebops.

ITB is not the worst thing that can plague a person. The hard part is minimizing what is aggravating it the most.

It’s important to note that there are two issues at play. Healing and prevention. Something like massage is a method of healing. Something like bike fit and technique fall under prevention. Both aspects are important.

Good luck.

coma

Thanx for the advice, its all a work in progress and we will try it one step at a time.

Thanx again.

coma