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knees

5K views 57 replies 37 participants last post by  Blurr 
#1 ·
Hi all Im 45 years old and i have been mountain biking for about 7 years now and I ride alot of technical switch backs on a trek ex9. My knees do get tired and authrists does come into play to. I just started not drinking sodas and I just started taking osteo bio flex and omega 3-6-9. Is their any other supplements I should take for joint repair. Im trying to cut out sugar in my diet and eat fish daily as this is supposed to help with arthritis.
 
#6 ·
here are my suggestions (coming from a guy 15 years younger but blessed with genetics that yield "bad knees")

- fitment is key (saddle heights, cleat placement etc.) if my saddle is not perfect knee pain comes about within only a few miles, the same holds true for wonky cleat placement

- keep your knees covered when it's not very warm... knee warmers are your friend, cold (meaning under 60*) plus knees/tendons etc mix like oil and water. If I ride in the cooler weather without protection I hurt a day or two later

- stretching/yoga etc. helps keep you flexible. self explanatory :)

- do not... ever... sit on your knees e.g., kneeling for long periods of time, sitting on the couch or office chair with knees bent funny. I am always doing this and I always end up having to wear a brace because of it.
 
#7 ·
I have some major joint problems from injuries, two things that have made a huge difference for me are..... Yoga, hands down one of the best things you can do. It can be brutal, you have to stay consistent and it will work but make sure you don't over do it in class, the point is to come back the next day. Look for a "Bikram" yoga class, 90+ degrees 1 1/2 hours, it changes your body on a cellular level and exercises not only muscles but glands get kick started into giving your body hormones, testosterone, lubricates joints, ect.

Another thing that has worked great for me is an old wrestler/athlete injury rehab practice. Fresh Atlantic Cod Fish Oil every day. You can get it at Whole Foods and organic stores in the refrigerated area. It comes in a big dark bottle like a pint of liquor and you have to keep it cold. Its not cheap but def worth it.
 
#16 ·
Yoga, hands down one of the best things you can do. It can be brutal, you have to stay consistent and it will work but make sure you don't over do it in class, the point is to come back the next day. Look for a "Bikram" yoga class, 90+ degrees 1 1/2 hours, it changes your body on a cellular level and exercises not only muscles but glands get kick started into giving your body hormones, testosterone, lubricates joints, ect.
+1 for good hatha yoga. Bikram's is an awesome beginner friendly class with room for improvement to an intermediate level. No headstands or crazy ****, just core work and stretching in a hot room.
 
#31 ·
Hydration is your best friend, it takes time for your body to absorb water so hydrate two hours before physical activity, second walnuts are natural anti inflammatory and supposed to help rebuild cartlidge, all I know for sure is once I started eating walnuts daily my shoulder which has plagued me with issues since i was 19 quit hurting.
third subject yourself to honey bee stings, these have helped people with arthritas it is called Apitherapy I again used this on my hands as I have suffered arthritas for most of my life and in the cold when snowmobiling I could not even grip the handles, this not only allowed me full function again, but took away the pain.

Alcohol is also an inflammatory so something to think about in that regard if you like your brew
 
#32 ·
Hydration is your best friend, it takes time for your body to absorb water so hydrate two hours before physical activity, second walnuts are natural anti inflammatory and supposed to help rebuild cartlidge, all I know for sure is once I started eating walnuts daily my shoulder which has plagued me with issues since i was 19 quit hurting.
third subject yourself to honey bee stings, these have helped people with arthritas it is called Apitherapy I again used this on my hands as I have suffered arthritas for most of my life and in the cold when snowmobiling I could not even grip the handles, this not only allowed me full function again, but took away the pain.

good luck and remember though there is no magic bullet.
Very interesting advice! I'm gonna get some walnuts today!! Not sure about the bee stings though, but if I get stung, I'll think about it in a different light. Thanks!!
 
#4 ·
my knees are almost 15 years older than your knees, and I find what makes the biggest difference is to make sure your saddle height is perfect. Once you determine the correct height for you, make sure it stays there! I ride a 1x9, and climb almost always seated- I can feel when my seatpost has begun its oh so slow downward creep. Your knees will know as well.
 
#5 ·
Saddle height's been covered.

I'm not as old as you, but have flaky knees because I'm just lucky that way. Having fancy insoles and shims has helped me a lot. Talk to a fitter about it. If you don't know who to go to, talk to your roadie friends.

If you're just noticing it on steep climbs, try it in a lower gear.
 
#10 ·
My knees are about 7 years older than the op's, had an ACL reconstruction and broke the tibia plateau on my right knee, separate occasions. Luckily they don't bother me much as I also have arthritis in my family. I will second the keeping your knees warm. The only time I have knee pain afterwards is in cold weather.
 
#11 ·
I am the same age. Other than ACL replacement on my R knee ~8 years ago from wasting it on a soccer field, I haven't had knee issues. Started riding single speed ~4 months ago and had heard from many people about knee pain being an issue when you first start riding for like the first 6 or so rides. I didn't have any problem. Only pain I've felt is in my wrists a couple days after more challenging rides (from pulling on the handlebars to hump it up some of the long climbs).

My GF has taken osteo bio flex for years and got me doing the same a while back. If your knees get tired you may want to tweak your setup a bit to see if it improves things. If you are in clipless pedals, might be worth changing the angle of the cleats (bring your heel closer into the chainstay possibly?) or if you run flat pedals, maybe a slightly different saddle position or angle might be worth considering. Depends a lot on your riding style too - on my FS bike, I sit and spin more of the time (particularly on long grueling climbs) whereas on a hard tail or SS standing is more frequent in general. The fit on all 3 of my rides is very close...
 
#13 ·
I was using glucosamine for a while when I first messed up my knees. It didn't seem to do anything. I haven't looked for peer-reviewed studies, but I find a lot of these supplements to be highly suspect. For someone with a non-restricted/non-weird diet, I think it just makes expensive pee.

But if someone less lazy than me finds some articles, I'll probably at least read them. :D

Basically, you want your bike not to force your body to do anything weird. The insoles help me because as I get tired, my form gets bad. Overtraining injuries are often all about bad form. Or to phrase the same thing a different way, good form in almost all sports is the biomechanically correct way to do something, that won't (or shouldn't, anyway) cause injury.

Because the motion in cycling is constrained, you need to cross-train. There's yet another thing that will mess with your joints done with bad form, so it's a good discussion to have with a personal trainer or coach, or your doctor or physical therapist. Anyway, there are some resistance exercises for stability, and there's a strong argument for running to maintain better balance between the quads and hamstrings, since cycling is a quad-heavy sport. There's also a weird little part of the quadriceps, the one to the inside and just above the knee, that sometimes is underdeveloped on cyclists, and is important to keeping a well-tracking knee cap.
 
#14 ·
I have about 8 yrs on the OP and have found that doing a lot of spinning on the road bike helps knee performance and endurance on MTB singletrack tremendously. Spinning lower gears at higher RPMs while riding singletrack, particularly while climbing tends to be easier on the knees.

Joint pain, AKA Arthritis, is simply a case of wear and tear on joints as you get older and effects everyone to some degree. The best thing that you can do to lessen the effects is to keep moving/exersizing to strenghten the surrounding tissues that support the joints.
 
#55 ·
sugar is poison for your bod (so are artificial sweeteners). Quoted from the internet, what happens when you drink soda:
•In The First 10 minutes: 10 teaspoons of sugar hit your system. (100% of your recommended daily intake.) You don't immediately vomit from the overwhelming sweetness because phosphoric acid cuts the flavor allowing you to keep it down.
•20 minutes: Your blood sugar spikes, causing an insulin burst. Your liver responds to this by turning any sugar it can get its hands on into fat. (There's plenty of that at this particular moment)
•40 minutes: Caffeine absorption is complete. Your pupils dilate, your blood pressure rises, as a response your livers dumps more sugar into your bloodstream. The adenosine receptors in your brain are now blocked preventing drowsiness.
•45 minutes: Your body ups your dopamine production stimulating the pleasure centers of your brain. This is physically the same way heroin works, by the way.
•>60 minutes: The phosphoric acid binds calcium, magnesium and zinc in your lower intestine, providing a further boost in metabolism. This is compounded by high doses of sugar and artificial sweeteners also increasing the urinary excretion of calcium.
•>60 Minutes: The caffeine's diuretic properties come into play. (It makes you have to pee.) It is now assured that you'll evacuate the bonded calcium, magnesium and zinc that was headed to your bones as well as sodium, electrolyte and water.
•>60 minutes: As the rave inside of you dies down you'll start to have a sugar crash. You may become irritable and/or sluggish. You've also now, literally, pissed away all the water that was in the Coke. But not before infusing it with valuable nutrients your body could have used for things like even having the ability to hydrate your system or build strong bones and teeth.
 
#19 ·
My girlfriend and I have had 7 knee surgeries between the 2 of us (each with 2 ACL repairs) and we don't do much other than ice after each ride. We avoid ibuprofen because it's been known to not be the friendliest drug towards cartilage. I tried supplements for a couple of months (glucosamine) and didn't notice any positive result so I just stick with trying to keep an overall healthy diet and working on keeping a strong and healthy core. The physical work and care seems to be far more effective than chemically trying improve your joints IMO.
 
#22 ·
Great thread. I hate my knees too. :(

I've been taking Glucosamine as well (I need a new bottle) and it has helped a lot.

I think the main thing for me is making sure i'm not in too high of a gear because i like to sit on climbs. Also spinning is important too, like on platforms making sure you are picking your feet up on the backside of the spin.

The other thing I've noticed for me, some frames naturally have me in a not so good pedal position (fore/aft) without a lot of correction. I'm getting rid of one bike because it would take too much change to it to get it right (the BB was too far forward).
 
#23 ·
Andrwswitch touched on this earlier, but there is no definite proof that glucosamine helps. I've been taking it for a while though, but can't really say it's done anything for sure.

I spoke to my doctor about it recently and she reiterated the same: probably no harm, but no proven benefits. Instead, she told me to look at curcumin which did have some positive study results, especially in terms of managing inflammation.

I haven't tried it yet, but I intend to.
 
#25 · (Edited)
Agreed, maybe no proven scientific evidence, but seeing it work for 2 of my dogs, and for my shoulder is proof enough for me.
Think the key is to take it with meals, think dinner is best, and take it along with some fish oil. The fish oil has many benefits, not only for joints, but it helps your body absorb the gluc. Also, double up the dose, meaning take twice a day, for the first 4-6 weeks. Udo's flax seed or one of their other plant based blends is good stuff too.
Maybe try some BIG platform pedals like Atomlabs Pimplite to get more freedom/adjustment of movement.
Also, don't know your stats or bike set-up, but maybe a shorter crankset will serve you well.
 
#26 ·
I am 46 and although I don't have the problems some of you have mentioned, I have had issues from long backpacking hikes. I found on my last fully loaded hike into and out of the Grand Canyon a few years ago that my knees were not what they used to be. I tried the Glucosamine/Chondroitin products out there with no discernible difference.

What I have found, like others have stated is, regular exercise, stretching work wonders. I am also a firm believer that if you want to get better or stronger in a certain activity, the best way to do that, is to do that activity. I would also add that along with proper seat height, proper cleat position, if you are running clip less, will relieve stress on your knees as well.
 
#27 ·
One thing not touched upon is lateral cleat placement on the shoe. I went from Shimano to Giro shoes and the cleat is more laterally centered; sure, you can use wedges all you want but unless the pedal has lateral support it will be a waste of time.

Road pedals are different and wide flats are wide and flat. The SPD cleat system is lateral support disaster so having it in the right place to wobble on matters. The downside of the Giro shoes is that you lose some ankle clearance.

I wouldn't have thought that what happens at your foot would have so much effect on knee tracking. I won't say no knee problems but they immediately went from getting worse to getting better and I can ride as long as I want. I think Specialized shoes are similar to Giro but haven't checked. With a road cleat you can do lateral adjustments but SPD is just fore and aft so you've bought the lateral with the shoe.

Having a pedal with support for the shoe pontoons and pontoons hard enough to utilize it are considerations. I've finally been able to ditch my road pedals and use SPDs on the road with a combo of ATACs and Giro shoes. Mo bettah in the coffee shop and they're always right side up.
 
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