Biking can really be hard on your knees, but adjusting the seat height may be able to help reduce the knee pain you’re experiencing, and can also have an impact on discomfort in your legs and back as well.
Knee Pain: How Bicycle Seat Height Affects Your Knees
Seat Positions: Having your seat in a high position causes you to rock your hips from side to side so you can extend each foot to the bottom of the pedal rotation. If it’s low, you’re forced to keep your knees bent at all times. However, your legs are actually strongest when they’re almost completely straight, rather than bent or when the knees are locked straight. When your legs are bent or locked straight, you are keeping yourself from having maximum riding power.
Effects: When your saddle is set too low, the cartilage in your kneecap is being damaged, causing patellofemoral pain. On the other hand, when your seat is too high you could overextend your knee, which irritates the iliotibial band. With this injury, you will feel pain either above or below your knee, which is sharp and intermittent but eventually turns into a dull ache.
Solution: To make sure you have the correct seat height, you may want to head to a bike shop or sports medicine clinic for a custom fit. Or, from home you can stand in a doorway with your bike and mount your bike while using the doorframe for balance. Put your feet on the pedals, and pedal backward until one of your feet is at the bottom of the pedal rotation. Have your friend examine your leg angle to make sure it is 25 to 30 degrees. Then, dismount your bike and make adjustments as needed.
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