What about your knees? Winter is still here in many places but in my world, spring is starting. It is cold, but today it is not bad. No need for tights, but it is not summer either.
It is 62 degrees. Do you wear tights? Shorts? Do you cover your knees?
Most of you probably already understand this question. If not, let me catch you up.
Historically, the ‘word’ was – tights under 60 degrees. Then it was revised to: 65 degrees and under you should cover your knees. I know, embrocation is a thing. Not here though. More on that later.
Why cover your knees if they do not feel cold?
The knee is a complex joint. There are bones, meniscus, muscles, ligaments, tendons, blood vessels, bursae and more. They all work together to have a knee that properly operates. It does not take much to alter that motion a tiny amount and then cause a cascading collection of events to destroy the ‘proper working’ of that joint. Read that to mean – pain and damage.
How? Let us go deeper. Muscles have blood supply. Good blood supply. Ligaments (connecting bone to bone) and tendons (connecting muscle to bone) not so much. Muscles respond quickly to training and ligaments and tendons more slowly. Blood supply. That is why you should move your training miles up more carefully (that means slowly – traditionally increasing not more than 10% a week). Your muscles can respond quicker; getting strong but then stressing the tendons and ligaments because they are slower to adapt. We are not talking about that here, although it is a dynamic that is impacted by these same physical processes. Maybe I will write about that in the near future – let me know if you want that article.
Blood is warm. More blood supply means more warmth. Friction in muscles creates warmth – so as they contract, they create friction and warmth. Since muscles are creating warmth they can adapt better to the cold. Ligaments and tendons have less blood supply and thus adapt less effectively and can be colder. Who cares? Well, in general, when something is warmer it is more flexible. Yes, most anything but here specifically we are speaking of our bodies or more specifically our body tissue. Conversely when body tissue is colder, it is less flexible. Think of a rubber band in the freezer vs on a hot summer day. The butcher with hand problems? Always in the cold and using his hands in the cold. Cold temperatures mean body tissue, including muscles, ligaments and tendons are colder, meaning less flexible but still being stressed repetitively. Put that all together – less flexible and constant stress equals easier to damage.
Same on the bike. Knees have lots of ligaments and tendons. With less blood supply and less nerve supply. In the direct wind – always. You feel your muscles hurt with hot, cold, or damage. Ligaments and tendons are not so sensitive. Put it all together and you have a cold (relatively) and less flexible material that you cannot feel when it is being over stressed (until it is damaged to a certain point) and you are moving it at 90 times a minute for an hour or two or more. Or, maybe worse, less RPM’s but way more force to stress those inflexible (read more brittle) tissues.
Thus, the current thought is to cover your knees under 65 degrees. Cover. I know embrocations make you feel warmer. Where? Nerves? More nerves in muscles and less in … ? Yep, ligaments and tendons. Makes you feel warmer. Might bring some extra blood flow to your muscles. Might help get blood going there (that is controversial as many showing it being skin deep), but not as effective with ligaments and tendons. Alcohol makes you feel warmer (and with enough maybe like Superman) … but are you?
Disclaimer. I do not embrocate. I also hate knee warmers. I wear them. To protect my knees. No, you will not feel that your knees are cold. You will not feel the damage going on there. That damage might not present itself for months or years. That is how overuse injuries work. They occur over a long period of time and then, that straw that broke the camel’s back arrives.
No, when you sat that plate down on the counter and it shattered – that was not what broke it. Years of uneven heating and cooling, banging it around, the time you dropped it and ‘nothing happened’ – stuff like that weakened it. Then, it was weak enough that when you gently set it on your counter it broke. The trauma occurred long before the plate broke. The trauma to your body occurred long before it actually started hurting.
No, I do not work for a clothing company. No, I am not about to get a patent on a new knee warmer. No, I am not in the medical community. I still hate knee warmers; I just have an affection for my knees.
In younger years I was a shorts guy. Now, I (begrudgingly) put on knee warmers. I know, you have been doing XXX for years and it has not affected you at all. OK, as adults we all make choices. Free to make choices but not free of the consequences of those choices.
That guy that smoked his whole life, ‘it never affected him’ until…
That guy that never saved his money did just fine until …
That guy that drove drunk all the time did just fine until …
Often our youthful actions are paid for many years down the road. In finances, in relationships and in our physical bodies. I am just trying to help with information. Decisions and actions are all up to you.
What are your thoughts? Is that info bull? Do you wear knee warmers? Do you have other options?
I run cool anyway so I wear knee warmers, tights, etc. I’d rather be a little too warm rather than cool.
More good stuff from Conner; thanks. When I started riding, the received wisdom was 68 degrees for shorts. That was the early 80s, but I have always followed that cutoff — maybe dropping it down a few degrees for a ride with a long climb or on a sunny no-wind spring/summer day. If there’s any doubt, it’s easy to stuff knee warmers in my pockets. I always shake my head when I see others riding with shorts and it’s like 50 degrees.