IT Band Injury?

[professor]

I concur with chomp - ITB band tendonitis, if not dealt with immediately and completely, can be a long term problem. When I was in my mid-30's, I was training for a marathon, and refused to take it easy when I started to have pain along the outside of my knee. It took me nearly 3 YEARS of stretching, physical therapy, massage therapy, chiropractic, voodoo, high colonics (well, maybe not the last two, but you get the picture) before I was able to return to any level of physical activity. At this point, I maintain a regimen of daily stretching and massage therapy once every two weeks in order to keep the tightness which causes the tendonitis at bay. Good Luck!

Another interesting observation: I was chatting with some of my students who were runners, and who occasionally suffered from (usually) milder versions of ITB tendonitis. They claimed that their team doctor had told them to run in the middle of the road when running on the local dirt roads (traffic permitting, of course), or at least alternate sides of the road on a regular basis. The dirt roads up here in Vermont, which are otherwise excellent for runners, do have the drawback of being much more highly crowned than paved roads, and thus running on the right side of the road constantly can inflame the IT band due to the fact that your left leg is usually an inch or two lower than your right leg. I have not confiirmed this with a physician, but it makes sense that this might not be good for your legs!

 

[Gator]

Another interesting observation: I was chatting with some of my students who were runners, and who occasionally suffered from (usually) milder versions of ITB tendonitis. They claimed that their team doctor had told them to run in the middle of the road when running on the local dirt roads (traffic permitting, of course), or at least alternate sides of the road on a regular basis. The dirt roads up here in Vermont, which are otherwise excellent for runners, do have the drawback of being much more highly crowned than paved roads, and thus running on the right side of the road constantly can inflame the IT band due to the fact that your left leg is usually an inch or two lower than your right leg. I have not confiirmed this with a physician, but it makes sense that this might not be good for your legs!

Hmm... I got an internet diagnosis of itbs this spring. No one mentioned this part as a sure sign, but I definitely think running on the road was a major factor. I used to trail run and never had problems until this year when I was running roads.

Mine definitely flares up on downhills. That's what the giveaway was. Multiple people were quite positive I had ITBS when I told them this.

I basically just stopped running. I play ultimate frisbee, but no running... definitely not on the road. On long hikes mine bothers me a bit once I start heading downhill, but it's not that bad at all.

It's definitely one of those things that's probably going to keep coming back if you don't constantly perform the right preventative maintenance.

 

[Peakbagr]

Spaddock,

I've had 3 occurences of it. The first, but carrying a HUGE overnight pack from Elk Lake to Keene Valley over every peak inbetween.
The other 2 reoccurences were due to increasing my running mileage too quickly/speedwork.
If you continue to really irritate it, it can be a nagging injury that can take months of inactivity to recover from. PM me. I have a PhD in this syndrome.

Alan

 

[truepatriot09]

I'm doing the Core Performance workout by Mark Verstegn. One of the flexibility exercises you do involved a piece of tubular shaped foam that you place on the floor, lay on the foam on your side just below your hip and roll your body down to your knee slowly. This acts as a deep tissue massage for your ITB's. At first it hurts like hell, but if you do it regularly your bands stretch out and it helps with flexibility.

The workout also has you do this with your hamstrings, quads, glutes, lower and upper back. You feel weird doing it, but it works.

Here's the website for the workout:
www.coreperformance.com

 

[Hank]

What I have learned

As a mens senior veteran runner, overuse/repetitive syndromes are always lurking in the backround. I have managed to keep injuries to a minimum by this policy: If I begin my run and I feel a pain I had the day before, I don't run that day. And, if I feel it on the next day, I don't run for a week. I can keep aerobically fit by cycling while I recover from my running problem. We tend to err on overdoing, making mentally it hard to back off. But the time lost to injury is the greater evil. Once an injury becomes chronic you are dealing with a whole new ballgame.

Another point made earlier on this thread. You will never overcome this problem until you get a diagnosis on what the precipitating problem was that caused it. All these people who are relegated to stretching for the rest of their life might not be getting to the root of their problem. Ed Whitlock, the world's oldest, fastest marathoner (sub 3:00 at 72 or 73 years old ) does not stretch, yet runs 3 hours a day. If it turns out to be a muscle imbalance, you must rectify it or you are play chess one move at a time. And that means you get checkmated. IT band problems can result from too much too soon. Are you a weekend warrior? If so and you want to do this kind of hiking on weekends, you would be well advised to keep up a training program during the week.

 

[The Sikes]

Where does the pain occur? Just curious.

 

[spaddock]

Where does the pain occur? Just curious.

For me it is below the knee on the side of my calf.

-Shayne

 

[DougPaul]

For me it is below the knee on the side of my calf.

Lateral aspect (outside side), I presume.

Doug