Help - about to quit if this is not resolved

Pain behind the knee could suggest that the saddle is too high.

In moving a saddle forward or backward, you are changing the distance from the pedal to the saddle.

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Thanks, in this case should I move the saddle a little bit forward?

I know most of you will suggest for proper bike fit but I’m trying to tinker a bit first before decided to spend considerable amount of money for the proper fitting so kindly bear with me here

I’m not a bike fitter so don’t want to advise but I’m happy to say that pain behind the knee after pedalling suggests that the leg is stretching too far.

If you have moved the saddle forward or back, then you may need to compliment this with a height change.

Saddle moved forward, height may have to increase.

Saddle moved rearward, height may have to decrease.

Please note, this is just my personal experience and I am not qualified in any respect.

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The problem here is that it’s really hard to give and receive any sensible advice over the internet. It’s hard enough to figure out problem like this in real life even when you have normal interaction with patient in the clinic.
IMHO You should perhaps go and see a good physiotherapist who has a good understanding of anatomy. The physician (I presume general practitioner) does not usually remember all the muscles around the shoulder, not to mention dermatomes or cutaneous nerves. He/she is not going to be interested as this condition is unlikely to get you killed. No disrespect to physicians, my wife is a GP. I don’t think any orthopedic surgeon would be interested - doesn’t sound like there is any role for surgery here.
I have a musculoskeletal medical background but I can’t really tell what’s going on from your description. We are missing so much data here. Exact location of the pain, radiation, triggering/relieving position, your age, medical history, surgical history, neck ROM, wasting, position on the bike, screen position frequency and duration of symptoms. It sounds like some kind of neuropathy (perhaps compressive) but it’s hard to guess if it’s radicular or more distal or is it actually a chest pain :scream:. Your description is just not precise enough.
Photos of you on the bike in relation to the screen + marked area of tingling on AP and lateral body pics could shed some more light on possible cause of discomfort

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Totally agreed with you on that. It is not a life threatening situation for me. Are you willing to give some professional feedback if I posted my pictures as well as the troubled area on my shoulder? Understand that it will be just unwarranted feedback. Thanks

On the other hand, last night after the ride, no more symptoms except back of my kneecap at the joint slight pain, adjusting the position of saddle today and will try again and see if the back of kneecap pain goes away.

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Moving the saddle forwards or backwards is only to get your position relative to the pedals correct.

distance from saddle to handlebars should be changed by changing the length of the stem.

trying to move the saddle to get the correct distance to the handlebars will cause knee pain. As a very general rule of thumb you want your knee cap to be in line with the pedal spindle when the pedal is in the 3 o’clock position.

I should say I am not a bike fitter so take what I say with a pinch of salt.

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Tonight I did another ride. My friend whom is a much more seasoned cyclist and someone who has medical background is watching me and my posture on the trainer. I think he nailed the culprit. According to him I rested my palm too much on the handle bar because my saddle is too far to the back. That way I pinched the nerve on my palm (right palm especially) thus the symptom appear.

After some on the fly adjustments on the handlebar and saddle position, my knee joint pain goes away. The shoulder tingling leave to be determined whether it also goes away, should know by tonight, cross fingers. If this goes away, next challenges is how to keep it this way as i tone up my effort. I’m still not at my normal effort on the trainer due to this problems and somehow still recovering from covid early this year.

But thank you to all of you folks that have pitched in and motivate me to find the solution. Guess I’m back into the game

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i’m not fussy about bike fit, but for avoiding acute injury it is better to have the saddle just slightly too low than slightly too high. i would lower it

i used to get numb hands which i solved by turning my hoods in half a cm. that will take some pressure off the outside of your palm and should relax some tension in your shoulder blades. you can maybe try that before opening your wallet

if you are setting up your own bike fit, make sure that whatever you change about your fit, you only adjust one thing at a time, that way you can be sure what is helping you and what isn’t.

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I’m happy to give you my options if your problems are not resolved. Sounds like you’re making good progress with someone being able to assess you. Let me know if you want me to have a look at your position but I would also need to see the distribution of ā€œtinglingā€. Good luck!

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I’m late to this but you should consider a rocker plate. It transformed my riding and doesn’t keep you in a static position.

Toss a riser block under the front tire, to reduce some of the forward lean to the bike. That should take some pressure off the hands, since your body is not leaning forward as much.

Searching for the word ā€œtiltā€ in this thread yielded no results yet so I’ll add this datapoint: tiny changes in saddle tilt can result in a shift of weight distribution between saddle, pedals and arms/hands. Nose-down results in more weight on hands. Optimal is probably somewhere between ā€œlevelā€ and 1-degree nose down. Much variation from that - all things being equal - hints at a fit issue.

I second the other recommendations of a professional bike fit. I’m also suspicious your saddle may be too high as others have suggested, and agree ā€œbetter too low than too highā€. Check this video out: How To Set your Bicycle Saddle Height - YouTube

The whole ā€œBike Fit Tuesdayā€ series is fantastic.

As an aside: after a professional fit, I was shocked how much more comfortable I was on my bike.

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Hi, When this problem first started, it was after you had been lifting weights, so I understand why you went to your physician. From your description, it sounds like you have nerve damage, which can be caused by things like lifting weights, heavy use of arms, or poor posture. It can take days for the nerve to recover, so the sensation you describe can persist for a few days. It may help to work with a physical therapist who can help you with proper posture so that this sensation doesn’t occur.

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Apologies for replying this late, things been starting to get busy for me as the world starting to opens up. I’m happy to report that the symptoms are gone for the past couple of weeks. I consulted with my bike fitter and she told me to adjust the hood a little bit inwards and handle bar a little bit downwards, after some trial and error, the symptoms disappear. I have ride up to 35km or 90 minutes without any symptoms. Still on the way to build up my stamina and see if any symptoms appear on longer ride. But so far so good.

According to her, I rested my palm too much on the handle bar thus the pressure on the resting affect my nerve. Probably a pinched nerve.

Last but not least, Thank you very much for everyone for your kind advice.

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Thanks for the update, I’m very glad you were able to get it resolved!

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