I've really been feeling strong (mid season form I guess) and have been working much harder than normal. The problem is that my right knee lets me know all about it.
After a good ride I ice it down with one of those gel packs. My question is; What is the proper way to ice a knee after a ride?
Direct contact with the skin from the gel bag, or lay down a layer of cotton material first?
How long to ice after a ride?
Ice, then heat?
What have you found that works for you?

I'm pushing 50 and have had several knee surgeries so I'm familiar with PT and stretching.

BT,
I've found 'icing' to be beneficial following long workouts (in the past training for 1/2 ironmans and currently after long rides). Immediately afterward, I stretch thoroughly and then ice. Direct contact with the ice bag is bad as it can damage the superficial layers of tissue. Use a moist paper towel or wash cloth in b/w the ice pack and your skin. 15-20 min is good; essentially until the ice pack is no longer cold. I never used heat following the cold.
More importantly, try to fix the cause of the pain. When I was doing tris it was mostly the running that did my knees in-I stopped running over 6 miles at a time and that has helped tremendously. I wasn't willing to give up biking though. Later, I found that my right leg is slightly shorter than my left; my asymmetrical body didn't like being on my symmetrical bike (or running) for long periods of time. A shim under my right cleat has all but eliminated the pain in my left knee that I was experiencing (assuming I stretch regularly after activity-IT bands especially).
Best of luck,
Aaron

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It is not enough to fight for the West; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it's still here. -Edward Abbey

Best thing I've found is to submerge the affected areas in cold water (50-60 degrees) for 15-20 minutes. It's much less cumbersome than to keep moving ice packs around and covers the whole joint at the same time. An unheated pool or the ocean will do.

One thing that I have always found interesting is there is not a lot of scientific research that has been done on ice or heat technique. So, there are lots of variations.

About 20 minutes on, 20 minutes off seems to be the most common. The sooner you get the ice on there, the better though. How many times you repeat is up to you. For major injuries, it is usually for 1-3 days, which is way more than you would need.

Heat to me doesn't make sense to me post ride, as you are increasing the swelling in the joint (which is what you are trying to prevent along with pain).

Are you doing anything else for you knee? Brace, meds, etc?

Fine print - My opinion, use at your own risk

I've always used plain ice instead of gel pacs. I use a rubber ice bag so I don't need to put down a protective base layer. Followed by some stretch wrap, you know that stuff for packaging (not seran wrap). It keeps me mobile and keeps me from having to keep repositioning the bag.

Each session should be no more than 20 minutes. I then wait 40 minutes before I repeat another 20 min session.

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Best riding advice I ever got... "make sure you have air in your tires"

Thanks guys. Just what I was looking for.

ice and ibuprofen should help suppress the inflammation.

as supple1 said, heat would make that worse. heat is primarily for muscle pain, which doesn't seem to be your problem.

as you're pushing 50 with previous knee surgeries you may be getting a bit of arthritis there as well. ice and ibuprofen should do it for ya. i sometimes take an ibuprofen prior to a ride (when i remember, that is).

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Ambition is a poor excuse for not having sense enough to be lazy. ~Milan Kundera

I'm doing my best to stay away from the anti-inflamatory medications. I was living on Advil for too long. With the new studies showing prolonged use to be harmful, I decided to cut the usage down to 6 to 8 per week.
Now I can't decide if I should use them before rides or before bed!

It wouldn't hurt to ask your doctor, but I can tell you that osteoarthritis has very minimal inflamation involved, so anti-inflammatory meds are not normally advised. Tylenol/acetamenophen is considered the "drug of choice" for osteoarthritis (which has no effect on inflammation). Non-steroidals are sometimes used when tylenol is not enough to treat the pain. But either way, you are only making only treating the pain, not the problem. And all drugs have risks, especially when used for long times. Mixing meds also has its problems (ie aspirin you are already taking/tylenol). Might want to talk to your doc.
http://www.ahrq.gov/research/osteoria/osteoria.htm

*Joe...quit popping the ibuprofen

they're also good for your heart. besides a bottle from costco has about 700,000 pills. what am i gonna do with them all? i don't have enough tequila to give me that bad a hangover.


hey, get back to studying. i think i'm gonna need your help when you get out of med school. my liver should be baked by then.

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Ambition is a poor excuse for not having sense enough to be lazy. ~Milan Kundera

I'm doubting arthritis. Two of the surgeries were to have torn meniscus repairs done, but neither time did they find any damage, so the DR. smoothed out minor arthritis (how the hell he did that is beyond me, but I'm no surgeon.)

I'll try some Tylenol next time just to see.

theres always the ol' saying from first aid classes.

R.I.C.E.

Rest
Ice
Compression
Elevation