knee injury

Well, what a difference 24 hours makes. I should be a physio!!
I have had a tight quad right at the top of my thigh, and has been tight and aching for a few weeks now, but noone has given it much attention, ie. physios and sports massurs etc. And to be honest it's not really given me much room for concern as I have been so focussed on the knee. However, yesterday after my sports massage and doing stretches on my hip flexors a thought hit me like a bolt of lightning. This tightness in quad might just be why I am getting knee pain when on the bike. And if it's cold weather it ain't going to help. Soo, last night when walking for the train I kept kneeding my quad and it was damn sore, but as I was walking it seemed to release my knee more. I got to the station and jogeed to my house, about half a mile. Pain free.
Got in. Iced the knee. No pain. Massaged my quad like crazy and stretched out fully. Lots of arnica cream, then heat wrap followed by Voltarol cream on quad. Felt much better, but very sore still. Is sore again this morning. But as an experiment, I warmed up throughly, got a heat wrap around the top of my thigh and got on my bike, only for 1 mile. No pain in the knee. I stretched off, and walked 1 mile from being dropped off in town , into work. No pain in knee.

My conclusion and thoughts at the moment. Knee has healed now. I have obviously had an injury in a tendon coming down from the medial quad. It has settled at last, inflammation gone. Now, the problem is biomechanical. Tight hip flexors and maybe a little stiff in the lower back and tight top of quad(not sure what the muscle is called). Once I can get this right, knee pain will disappear. I am full of confidence now that I can get right and I truly believe that the warm weather in Florida and the relaxed atmosphere, and of course not being at at a desk all day will help get me right. I might not be fit enough to race hard at Clearwater but I am confident of getting round the course pain free. This is the best day I have had in about 8 weeks!

So my advice to anyone who has had a similar injury. Completely rest the knee, and get pain free. Then address biomechanics. I truly believe that the knee is not the source of the injury, it's the result of a build up of other issues, which lead to what is traditionally know as 'overuse' injury. If you are biomechanically perfect then I don't believe in the word 'ovruse'. But nobody is. The human body is designed to be used. I think that because of our modern lifestyles our bodies now lack the ability to re-adapt to activity and it takes time for the body to adjust. This is only my second full season in triathlon, and prior to that I was out of any sporting activity for over 5 years, I smoked and drank heavily and was 16 and a half stone. Of course on my way to getting fit and healthy my body has taken a while to adapt, and I am not surprised that I have picked up these 'overuse' injuries over this period. Once I am fully recovered from this one I truly believe that if I keep strong and flexible I will be able to continue my trianing for years pain free.