I have noticed, now that I’ve been able to ride a fair amount (albeit mostly in a straight line), that sometimes my knees get sore after riding, mainly after I practice for an extended period (1-2 hours). They never bother me the day of riding, but usually the next day when I wake up, they are stiff and I have to stand up slow. I am 34, so that may be part of it. However, my knees are usually feeling fine well before evening.
Over the last 2 weeks is when I have noticed this, say on 2 occasions, both after very long practice sessions. I also noticed it yesterday on a short practice session, but I realized I could deliberately take pressure from my knees.
Right now, I’m using a sign to mount and I’m riding. I always seem to be going a bit fast and I tend to lean forward and down, and sometimes that is when I feel my knees subjected to a lot of pressure. When I consciously relax my legs but keep pedaling (and maybe try to sit back a tiny bit more), they don’t bother me.
So, can anybody give me any more tips on keeping pressure off the knees? Is this a danger sign that I am wearing out my knees? It isn’t a problem right now, but I want to avoid wearing them down. Is this something that naturally goes away as I struggle less with riding?
Knee problems on unicycles is caused by the action of the unicycle wobbling
from side to side when your knee is under load. There are several things
that could help you:
Put your seat up to the right height
Warm-up properly
massage your knee cap to expel any excess fluid from below your knee
use shorter cranks.
Knee supports are of limited help for unicyclists knee. Offering only
limited help.
My guess is from what you have said is that your seat is too low.
“Animation” <forum.member@unicyclist.com> wrote in message news:a3oqle$8t9$1@laurel.tc.umn.edu… > All, > > I have noticed, now that I’ve been able to ride a fair amount > (albeit mostly in a straight line), that sometimes my knees get sore > after riding, mainly after I practice for an extended period (1-2 > hours). They never bother me the day of riding, but usually the next > day when I wake up, they are stiff and I have to stand up slow. I am > 34, so that may be part of it. However, my knees are usually feeling > fine well before evening. > > Over the last 2 weeks is when I have > noticed this, say on 2 occasions, both after very long practice > sessions. I also noticed it yesterday on a short practice session, but > I realized I could deliberately take pressure from my knees. > > Right > now, I’m using a sign to mount and I’m riding. I always seem to be > going a bit fast and I tend to lean forward and down, and sometimes > that is when I feel my knees subjected to a lot of pressure. When I > consciously relax my legs but keep pedaling (and maybe try to sit back > a tiny bit more), they don’t bother me. > > So, can anybody give me any > more tips on keeping pressure off the knees? Is this a danger sign > that I am wearing out my knees? It isn’t a problem right now, but I > want to avoid wearing them down. Is this something that naturally goes > away as I struggle less with riding? > > Lewis > > > > > – > Animation > Posted via the Unicyclist Community - http://unicyclist.com/forums
Thanks for the tips. I certainly do still wobble quite a bit, since I am only just in the first phases of being able to ride extended sections in an approximately straight line. So, maybe the wobble is a factor?
As to the height, I do feel like my legs dont feel “right” in the seat. Maybe it is height, but Chris (Rhysling) always says that if anything, my seat seems to high to him; at least when I raise it.
My legs are too short for my body, by like an inch, so maybe that is a factor.
Here is a link to me cycling on saturday with the seat height I have been using. What do you think of the height?
I reviewed your video. The reason your knees hurt is because you fall off the unicycle at the end of the sidewalk. I would recommend that you stop falling off.
The seat height looks OK in that video. Several threads have addressed the issue of seat height so a blast to the forum past might help there.
Thanks for the clip of your mom. You lied to her about what “would not be done” if it were posted on the internet. I hope she doesn’t realize that you were intentionally deceiving her. How many times has it been hit now?
Actually I did tell her that I was going to put it up, that part of the conversation wasn’t in the video clip. I don’t know how many hits it had.
I will note what height my seat is at now so I can return to it, but I may play with it a little more and see if it helps. Otherwise, I will stop falling off.
So, where does falling off end? Where does dismounting begin? The distinction seems fuzzy.
> I have noticed, now that I’ve been able to ride a fair amount > (albeit mostly in a straight line), that sometimes my knees get sore > after riding, mainly after I practice for an extended period (1-2 > hours).
Sounds like your seat height is good. The problem is you’re a beginner and
an adult. Adult beginners usually use too much leg and have to remind
themselves often to sit down.
You just need to sit down.
As your riding improves, you will need less muscle power to stay on. At the
same time, your muscles will rise to the challenge and get stronger. Soon
your knee pain should be a thing of the past.
Make sure you stretch before and after rides. Proper stretching can help minimize or prevent some causes of sore or painful knees. Remember those stretching exercises that they taught you in gym class? If you can’t remember all of those stretching exercises check books, magazines, pamphlets, and web sites for runners or cyclists. A lot of the resources for runners give some good stretching exercises.
Stretching is especially important for us older folks cause we don’t do it enough. The young folks can get away with stretching less because young kids are made of rubber and they usually get some stretching done in gym class.
You are certainly putting a lot of weight on your feet, that weight should
be on the saddle. While you are learning put your seat up by approximately
1" and you will find that will help to keep you weight in the seat and not
on the pedals. If is a good idea to try and concentrate on riding smoothly,
to do this you must push your feet around in circles not up and down. This
will help. Good luck
“Animation” <forum.member@unicyclist.com> wrote in message news:a3ou60$9ne$1@laurel.tc.umn.edu… > Leo and Roger, > > Thanks for the tips. I certainly do still wobble > quite a bit, since I am only just in the first phases of being able to > ride extended sections in an approximately straight line. So, maybe > the wobble is a factor? > > As to the height, I do feel like my legs > dont feel “right” in the seat. Maybe it is height, but Chris > (Rhysling) always says that if anything, my seat seems to high to him; > at least when I raise it. > > My legs are too short for my body, by > like an inch, so maybe that is a factor. > > Here is a link to me > cycling on saturday with the seat height I have been using. What do > you think of the height? > http://www.lwb.org/vault/public/univault/lewis-ride-6.mpg > > Thanks > for the help, > > Lewis > > > > > – > Animation > Posted via the Unicyclist Community - http://unicyclist.com/forums
It looks from the video like you also need more air in your tire. More air will depress the tire less, giving you less friction and allowing you to ride with less effort and less strain on your knees. You may find it a little more “twitchy” at first, but it’ll be easy to get used to. But the harder your tire the more your butt will hurt.
Your seat height looks Ok.
I agree with John Foss that you should sit on your seat.
“Animation” <forum.member@unicyclist.com> wrote in message news:a3oqle$8t9$1@laurel.tc.umn.edu… > > Right > now, I’m using a sign to mount and I’m riding. I always seem to be > going a bit fast and I tend to lean forward and down, and sometimes > that is when I feel my knees subjected to a lot of pressure. When I > consciously relax my legs but keep pedaling (and maybe try to sit back > a tiny bit more), they don’t bother me. > > So, can anybody give me any > more tips on keeping pressure off the knees? Is this a danger sign > that I am wearing out my knees? It isn’t a problem right now, but I > want to avoid wearing them down. Is this something that naturally goes > away as I struggle less with riding? >
I think your observation about leaning too far forward
and feeling pressure on your knees is what’s causing
your soreness. When you lean forward too much, your
natural tendency is to pedal faster/harder to avoid falling face
first. I didn’t think your seat was low enough to cause
you to have sore knees (although it could have been
raised some).
