Severe knee pain

[Katie_rankine]

After I have ridden, about 5 or so hours later, me knees start to really ache and hurt to the point I’m on the verge of tears, they also ‘pop’ out if I bend my legs especially when wearing long boots and I frequently get cramps and dead legs. This only happens if I’ve ridden during the day and I was told by a doctor it was due to loose ligaments, but think it might be something else.
I wondered if anyone had a similar problem and what they’ve done to help it or anyways I can reduce the pain as really do not want to stop riding!!

 

[ester]

Hi Katie, this might be better in new lounge but hopefully you will get some replies, partly because there are quite a few of us hypermobile people in here. When you stand do your knees bend backwards? If that makes sense? are you hypermobile elsewhere?

My knees do bend backwards but they are better than other bits of my body. My left kneecap particularly pops to the left if other things are awry! Do you get more cramping in the long boots too?

I would suggest that you see if you can find a good physio nearby who is used to dealing with bendy people as they should be able to better work out what is happening for you and what might work solution wise.

 

[Katie_rankine]

They do bend backwards when I stand, and I’m hyper mobile in pretty much all of my joints but none of these cause me any pain or discomfort. The cramping happens after riding usually when driving home 🙈 but when wearing long boots my knees will pop out if I bend them past a certain point.

 

[ester]

Yes it is baffling I have a couple of very bendy friends that get no issues at all pain wise, and all my bendy joints (I get less bendy towards the periphery) give me agro!

Ah I asked re. the long boots as I do find if mine are a bit tight then there is a little muscle at the back of the knee that can often be aggravated on me and long boots can then cause some cramping.

I've been lifting weights for the last year which has made things work better and my shoulders almost always stay put these days as a result but having blamed riding a wonky pony in the past since I had to stop riding my pain issues have been much worse! It doesn't always make logical sense.

 

[ponyparty]

Yep, I get knee pain as a result of hypermobility after long hours in the saddle - I usually ride for up to an hour with no issues, but if I go on a longer hack or do a lot of fast work it starts to hurt. None of my joints have popped out since I was a child, so yours sounds more severe than mine.
Strength and conditioning is the way forward - the muscles around your joints need to be super strong to be able to support the joint, as the ligaments are not doing their job of supporting them correctly.
I would recommend taking up Pilates, and possibly seeing a physio too, to give you some targeted exercises.
Lots of squats (making sure you are doing them correctly - for years I wasn't and it took my physio to help me to do them right) and strengthening your core.
And welcome