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If you want to be healthy, you must have an anti-stress strategy in place. Just like you plan your diet, your weekends, and even your retirement, you also need a solid plan to reduce stress in your life. In fact, your health pretty much depends on it. As a society, we generally don’t handle stress very well … it handles us. And it does quite a number, leading to a host of health problems.
So, next time you’re faced with a stressful situation, ask yourself these questions. It may be all in your head…really.
Cycling Knee pain has a number of potential causes.
A thick band of fibrous tissue (iliotibial band) runs on the outside of the leg from the hip to the knee. When cyclists start a training program, they tend to ride a little fast. As a result the band becomes tight and rubs over the bony surfaces of the knee causing knee pain. If you are inclined to push to excessively high gears while cycling, it could lead to discomfort in the calf muscles causing cycling knee pain.
Weak quadriceps (muscles in the legs) can also be responsible for cycling knee pain. We use these muscle groups to straighten our knees when pumping our legs whilst cycling or going upstairs. The short section of the tendon below the kneecap is prone to inflammation. This can be caused by doing a lot of cycling. The position of the knee is determined by your anatomy. Ideally, your knees will be directly over the pedals while cycling. But if you are bow-legged, your knees will tend to be off from the top tube. This puts a strain on your knee and may injure the ligaments and tendons in the knee joint.
You have to adjust the saddle height to suit your anatomy. If the height of the saddle is not at the correct level for your height, you are likely to experience cycling knee pain. You may also experience pain if the crank on your bike is too long.
The height of the seat needs to be adjusted to suit your knee and may ease the pressure. If the seat is too low, stress is placed on the knee below the patella. If the seat is too high, pain may develop behind the knee. This can lead to cycling knee pain.
While riding a bicycle your hips should not rock back and forth. Saddles that are towards the back make the cyclist reach for the pedal thereby stretching the iliotibial band and causing cycling knee pain.
You can reduce the discomfort of cycling knee pain to a great extent by strengthening the quadriceps muscles (which run along the front of the thigh and stabilize the kneecap). Avoid repeated bending of the knees which causes damage to the tissue behind the patella (kneecap). You can also reduce the incidence of cycling knee pain if you widen the stance on the pedal when you next go on a cycling trip.
Knee pain due to running is caused by the relatively high impact of the feet landing on the ground and transmitting this shock through the knees. It can cause serious damage to the knee joints. Irritation of the tendons that attach your muscles to the bones can cause severe pain or swelling around the kneecap particularly when you are running, jumping or doing activities that require climbing long distances. This is the cause of a condition known as knee pain due to running especially in athletes such as long-distance runners and professional cyclists.
Keeping the various muscle groups in balance is important to long term knee function. Strong outer thigh muscles can overpower the muscles of your inner thigh, a consequence of this can be a dislocation of your kneecap causing the condition known as knee pain running as this creates friction and wear on your cartilage. If you ignore the symptoms put out by your knee in this stage it may even lead to osteoarthritis.
Are you at risk of knee pain due to running? The elderly and people with excess body weight and athletes need to pay particular attention to their knees. They have to take definite steps to protect their knees. Exercises may be useful for strengthening the joints and helping the muscles around your knee to work together more effectively reducing your risk of being affected by the condition.
When excessive pressure is exerted on the knee, the cartilage that is present around the kneecap swells and this is the first causative factor for the condition known as knee pain due to running. Strenuous exercises and continuous running over a long period may lead to pain in front of the knee. In the field of surgery, the greatest advances have been in joint replacement, keyhole surgery and the use of biomaterials like artificial ligaments. The advantage of artificial ligaments to be used to alleviate the suffering of people affected by knee pain due to this running condition is that no healthy tissue from elsewhere in your body is lost.
When knee pain occurs there will be a restriction on the movement of the knee. Pain may be experienced more intensely while walking up and downstairs as it becomes difficult to bend and straighten the knee. A physiotherapist may advise specific exercises that aim to strengthen the muscle groups that function as a support system and help to move the knee joint.
