Knee Pain - Physio or Bike Fitter?

A physio appointment at my local physio is £35 for 45 mins. I would imagine you could get a couple of appointments for the price of a bike fit? A good physio would well identify other issues such as tight muscles that may be contributing factors and then do something about them (get the thumbs in!). You might end up seeing a quicker improvement than a bike fit allowing you to complete your sportive and then save up for a bike fit afterwards.

Ask around your cycling / running mates for recommendation for a local physio. I did and got loads of good references.

In my experience, pain on the outside of the knee *could* your IT band - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iliotibial_band_syndrome - which is more common with runners. Rest is the usual treatment.

I'd probably try and do this on the open road rather than a closed system like the turbo if it was me. You don't get the shifts of body position and the use of cleat float on a turbo that you do when actually riding.

I basically spent a Saturday afternoon riding lots of 7 mile loops around my house with tools in my pockets. It's also important to note that your cleats may be slightly different between your feet. For me it was just my left knee playing up, so I left the right alone. Lots of tiny adjustments is the way to go - but don't slack on the internet research beforehand.

This chap is a bit of a guru - his articles are well worth studying before you start making changes:

http://www.stevehoggbikefitting.com/articles/footloose/

I've never gone down the physio route when I've had knee issues. I did try the bike fit thing which wasn't any help at all.

For me, internet research, understanding the bio-mechanics of pedaling and lots of micro-adjustments for trial and error were what I needed.

I had something similar to you last year caused by a couple of things; ramping up the mileage quite quickly as a new road cyclist and fiddling with my saddle position to fit a new saddle bag (not a mistake I'll be making again).

I "lost" a couple of months to knee pain, I tried all sorts. Bike fit, 2 weeks rest, three weeks rest - the pain would consistently re-appear after 30-40 miles.

It didn't stop me doing a couple of long rides (80+ mile Sportives) but it certainly hampered my enjoyment of them.

The solution for me was lots of micro adjustments to my cleat position until the pain went away.

If it hasn't settled down or began to then I would see a physio. Has this been a problem for some time or just popped up?

fitter most likely. lateral and medial pains are often shoe/cleat related.
have you changed anything recently ?

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/article/take-care-of-your-knees-part-2-17445/