Hello. Several weeks ago I've experienced some knee pain after one or two hours of simracing, specially on left knee. This pain dissapears quickly, but I think it could be worse in the future. This pain could be something related to the fact that the legs naturally tend to spread outwards, while driving seated on a sim racing cockpit or on a simple chair. At the same time our feet tend to be pressed firmly against the pedals. The outward move combined with the frontal pressure from our feet creates tension in the tendons of the knees, which is where I've noticed the discomfort. The f1 drivers cockpit gave me the inspiration for this trick I'm using and I like to share with you to avoid injuries. When I drive in simracing I use a belt to keep my legs parallel and well alligned with my feet, avoiding my knees to go outwards and erasing the knee pain. I'm using a belt like those ones on airplanes because I have more control with the distances. I see online there are velcro belts that could do the job too Check the image for see what I'm talking about. +1 if it works to for you!
Also, make sure your pedals distance and angle of the seat, does create pressure underside of your thigh/knee. Such issue can absolutely create symptoms in the lower leg and even the knee. The mechanism is a mix of reduced blood flow (arterial/venous) and nerve compression, and both can contribute to pain and inflammation-like effects.
I can totally relate to that, cause I've got a microfissure a few years ago, best would be actually to swap clutch and brake pedal cause I use it very very rarely, or maybe to get a two pedal set instead BUT I've overcame that issue by having a longer break and also by starting regular excercises again - after beeing lazy for some time (gymnastics, isometric excercises and some TaiChi, QiGong ) and of course not racing as obsessive as I once did
1. Reduce the pressure where the edge of the seat and your leg meet. (Seat Edge Problem). Hope it helps...
For me, the pain in my knees after simracing for hours every day, boiled down to reducing inflammation. Cut sugar out of my life and reduce carbs below 50g per day. Never felt better in my life.
That's exactly why people sitting for many hours in an airplane experience similar symptom by having their blood flow being drastically reduced by the pressured caused by the "seat edge".
i based my rig on measurements from a car and dont seem to get any issues even after very long sessions in the rig Andi
Hi Andy. Do you have your seat like the friend @VFX Pro recommends or something similar? What kind of seat do you use?
Suggestion: Make sure you seat (or rig) can adjust the back angle and the angle of seat, this way, you can adjust the angle of the front of the seat itself to avoid reducing blood flow or unnecessary pressure.