Cycling to treat Runner's Knee?

Be very careful... if you spend significant time on the bike, make sure it fits you properly. Having the seat at the wrong hight/position could inflame the patellar tendon even more, it's one of the more common cycling injuries as well.

I too am curious about this.

P.Whelan wrote:

I was thinking that since Runner's Knee is a tracking issue, and strengthening the quad is (supposedly) a good way to address that issue, cycling would be a good type of cross training to do.

Absolutely not.

Runner's knee is a tracking issue, so the remedy is to remove the cause, and allow the tissues to heal.

Putting more pressure on the knee while it's injured is likely to prolong the injury and could make it worse.

You're not going to get a straight answer as to the best way to rehab runner's knee, just a bunch of anecdotal evidence. Its causes are too varied. Current research says that in some the presentation the maltracking is due to muscular imbalance (thus quad strengthening through activities like biking or squats can help). For others, with the exact same presentation of pain behind the knee cap, it can be due to timing issues in your medial quad (VMO). I would be sure that you are dealing with true runner's knee (patellofemoral pain syndrome), and not just pain in your knee due to running (which honestly can be due to just about anything) before embarking on a rehab program. Taking significant time off can actually make some of these problems worse.

i'm a triathlete dealing with some sort of lateral knee pain while running. i can ride 400 miles a week on the bike with absolutely no issues. i would point out that while cycling may not aggravate the cause of your knee pain. i'm beginning to think it needs total rest for a week to really clear up. i'm able to run 60-80 mins without pain but i'm not running everyday. just 10 miles 3x a week until my knee starts feeling stronger. I cut my mileage down from 60-70 when I started having issues with the lateral knee pain 3 weeks ago.

Like someone said everyone is different. Last summer and fall I ran the highest mileage I had in 25 years despite having knee tracking issues. I never had any pain running unless I took a day off. If I missed a day everything would tighten up and I would have a bad run and cut it to 2 or so miles. The day after hobbling 2 miles, the tightness would be gone and I would go 5 and then back to full mileage. This winter I have tried a three separate 10 day rests and the issue is still there every time I start back. Good luck.

I wouldn't use cycling to treat it. Unless the bike is properly fitted (and most are not - and as has been stated previously) you will most likely make it worse. Try squats with your legs shoulder width apart, close together, and far apart (sumo squats). Get someone that knows what they are doing to show you how. That should work all portions of the quads.

I used an indoor bike trainer to help me get through runner's knee this winter. It' worked incredibly well. I will say that I biked in easier gears at higher RPM's. When I'd try to spin in the harder gears the knee would act up. I'm now back to running with no pain whatsoever. Was it the bike? Who knows. I do know that mentally it helped me a lot, and my fitness is still strong.

Have you ever had you gait analyzed and been fitted to a proper shoe? If not, then definitely do so. You might not be getting the right alignment. Also I suggest when you are at the running shop, have someone check to see if you are heel stiking. Sometimes you do it, and have been forever, but just don't realize it. I would also talk to someone about a knee band that might give some of those tendons a little more support. As long as you don't become fully dependent on them, they should help, but ask someone to help you figure out which one to use, since there are differences.

As for cycling, make sure the seat is high enough and that you don't find yourself swaying on the bike. Otherwise your knees can become worse, not better. It is not too hard to find someone to help fit you to a spin bike, though those can be ridiculously monotonous.

When you are coming back to running, try doing 1 or 2 mile runs, instead of getting straight back into the longer stuff. The pounding on your knees when they are not used to it can cause "runner's knee".

Good Luck!

As someone pointed out, cycling can aggravate your knees, the most common cause being riding in too high of a gear and hills. I would recommend trying to ride a comfortable gear with a cadence of 90+ and stay away from hills.

Yes, I used a stationary bike (high RPM, low resistance) to stay in shape and rehab a bad case of Runner's Knee. It was a long time ago, but I recall being off running for about a month. I also did lots of quad stretches, as well as "negatives" on the leg extension machine (using my arms to lift the weight, and my legs to lower the weight).

The bottom line is that all of this worked, though years later I can still feel the stiffness in the knee a bit. But not during running!

I prefer the elliptical. It's as close as I can get to the motion of running without actually inflaming the knee. Boring as sin, though

Impact aggravates most running injuries and I find deep water running to be one of the best rehab Xtraining to keep running fit.

a good rule of thumb for working your way through runners knee is- if it hurts it is making your runners knee worse.

Cycling is is ok if it doesn't hurt and usually the only way is wont hurt is if you use little or no resistance, meaning you don't really get a workout anyway.

I always prefer full rest for runners knee until the pain goes away. Lift weights, do quad excercises, etc, then start with light jogging on the treadmill once you are pain free. Supplement your jogging with elliptical workouts until you are sure its 100%, then get back to your usual routine.

Truthfully, Runner's Knee is typically the result of imbalances, tracking issues, etc. Riding a bike, although it may seem fine, will most likely tighten some other muscles that could make the problem worse.

Best thing you can do is rest with rehab. Maybe some of the smaller muscles in the quad region aren't firing in sync and you need to retrain them to do that. You never know.

I just did 3 hours and my last hour i was pushing the 53-11 hard around 65-70rpm @ 275-300 watts and it did not bother my knee. the first 2 hours my average cadence was 100rpm with average watts being 200. no pain either way. maybe i don't have runners knee?

one legged squats. when those become easy, one legged squats on a bosu ball. I did this for 3 weeks and my runner's knee went away and hasn't been back since.

yeah if you can do that you its probably either because you don't have runners knee or it is healed to the point where it doesnt hurt. Have you tried jogging? Does that hurt?

I've never found that rest helped at all. You've got to address the core issue that's causing the runner's knee, whether it's a muscle imbalance or bad shoes or tightness or whatever.