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IT band issues and the way I run? help!
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Hey everyone,

I have been a lurker of the forum but I decided to make an account to ask a question. I have had some issues which has been diagnosed as IT band issues but I think there is a bit more to it. I do a regular strength routine, stretching, rolling, mobility and some days I feel better then others. When I stop doing everything I feel worse. Over the course of a couple years my running and a bit of my cycling has suffered because of this. Pretty much I have a tightness/feels like inflammation on the outside of my left knee. As I run faster or further I get a fatigue feeling through my ankle/peroneal area and then a pain around my fibular head.

The tighter my knee feels the faster the symptoms start. My leg seizes and i lose strength in it. I also run very quad dominant and run very stiff which I think is an issue. On the bike if I put out a high wattage (like a zwift race) and then settle in my ankle and fibular head tightens up and I lose strength in those areas. One day I am holding 306 watts for 15' threshold interval and another when my left leg doesn't feel that well I may only hold 270-280. My TFL also tightens up as I run sometimes and especially after swimming. I have noticed that my back is super tight from swimming, especially on my left side. I wonder since my left side is tight because I only breath to my right side when I swim creates tightness. I am a decent swimmer as I can do 15x 100 on 1:30 holding 1:10 scm and I have adapted to briefing on one side as I am more efficient.

Has anyone had this or has had any success fixing similar issues? I am sick of having this issue and want to run to my potential.
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Re: IT band issues and the way I run? help! [Sb13ky12] [ In reply to ]
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Are you using a foam roller?
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Re: IT band issues and the way I run? help! [jimatbeyond] [ In reply to ]
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Yes I am. I roll most days. I probably miss a day every once in a while and the day after I feel terrible.
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Re: IT band issues and the way I run? help! [Sb13ky12] [ In reply to ]
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sb13ky12,

Welcome. Sorry to hear about these troubles. Pretty tough to diagnose this all via text - prolly best to see a PT who's sports minded and look deeper. I'll want to say this for sure - everything you're doing (and everything we all do in triathlon) is in the sagittal plane - that is to say, straight forward and back. We don't move laterally and because of that our hip stabilizers (abductors & adductors) shrivel up. Because they are week the onus of leg stabilization is put somewhere else: ITU, achilles, etc. You're doing strength - great! Are there exercises in that routine that address these stabilizers - stuff like clam or flying clam, monster walk with bands, straight up Jane Fonda side lying leg lifts, one legged squats, etc?

Ian

Ian Murray
http://www.TriathlonTrainingSeries.com
I like the pursuit of mastery
Twitter - @TriCoachIan
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Re: IT band issues and the way I run? help! [Sb13ky12] [ In reply to ]
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How's your bike fit? I had some horrible IT band issues a few years ago at age 26. I thought I was way too young to be experiencing problems of that severity. It got to the point where I had to take 3 months off of running, it was horrible.

I stumbled upon an article about bike fit, not sure what the magazine/article/website was in retrospect, but it talked about bike fit. What stuck out to me was they noted tons of people putting their seat too high and that it can cause IT band issues. I immediately reflected upon my own position and discovered that my seat was in fact too high. Apparently that tip-toed seat height was just murdering my IT band. I have since lowered my seat and have not had IT band issues since.

I've also found that doing a lot of dynamic stretching before running has been good preventative treatment. I think some static post run stretches have helped as well.

The thought of the IT band injury still haunts me and I still tread lightly knowing that it was a really tough time. I feel for you, it's really tough to get past it. Unfortunately for me, it took three months of no running to get back to normal. I hope your recovery time is faster than mine.

Team Zoot 2023
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Re: IT band issues and the way I run? help! [ianpeace] [ In reply to ]
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Thanks for the response!

I have seen many PT, chiros etc. and usually it's something like IT Band Syndrome, weak glute medias, tight hips and I may see slight improvement for a while and then go backwards again. I do most of those exercises. I do lateral leg raises, clam shells, single leg glute bridges, single leg squats. I also lift twice a week including, squads, deadlifts, core etc.
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Re: IT band issues and the way I run? help! [aerobean] [ In reply to ]
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aerobean wrote:
How's your bike fit? I had some horrible IT band issues a few years ago at age 26. I thought I was way too young to be experiencing problems of that severity. It got to the point where I had to take 3 months off of running, it was horrible.

I stumbled upon an article about bike fit, not sure what the magazine/article/website was in retrospect, but it talked about bike fit. What stuck out to me was they noted tons of people putting their seat too high and that it can cause IT band issues. I immediately reflected upon my own position and discovered that my seat was in fact too high. Apparently that tip-toed seat height was just murdering my IT band. I have since lowered my seat and have not had IT band issues since.

I've also found that doing a lot of dynamic stretching before running has been good preventative treatment. I think some static post run stretches have helped as well.

The thought of the IT band injury still haunts me and I still tread lightly knowing that it was a really tough time. I feel for you, it's really tough to get past it. Unfortunately for me, it took three months of no running to get back to normal. I hope your recovery time is faster than mine.
I have had my bike professionally fit. The seat doesn't feel too high. I feel like if I lowered the saddle my quads would be aching. I haven't taken any time off running though.
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Re: IT band issues and the way I run? help! [Sb13ky12] [ In reply to ]
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Might be worth checking it out, the high seat can be trouble. Other than that, it sounds like you have some decent strength training which is good. Perhaps you need to take it easier and focus more on key sessions than going super hard all the time (somewhat an assumption). I've been doing the Mafetone thing in my build to Texas. After 6 weeks of low heartrate stuff, I went out and did just a little 5k session and found that I was faster than I had been in quite a few years.

So maybe dial back the training? Sounds like you might need some rest to fully heal first before you jump back in.

Team Zoot 2023
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Re: IT band issues and the way I run? help! [aerobean] [ In reply to ]
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Same issues here. IT band, peroneals tightening up, quad dominant, TFL super tight, loss of strength with intensity, fibular head pain, back pain on one side. After 10 months of fits and starts I saw my 4th physio....a hip expert. Apparently my SI joint was involved somehow. 4 weeks of manual therapy and intense core/pelvic stability work and I’m better than I’ve been in a long time. Maybe worth finding a PT that is an expert in hips.
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Re: IT band issues and the way I run? help! [Sb13ky12] [ In reply to ]
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My advice from personal experience with knee/IT band issues was that it was actually caused by weak glutes. The IT band tries to stabilize everything that the glute should and puts strain on the knee where it attaches. Good luck!
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Re: IT band issues and the way I run? help! [Sb13ky12] [ In reply to ]
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I have incredibly tight IT bands. As part of PT for a knee issue, I started doing leg swings. These have worked like a wonder. I can feel the looseness. It takes several weeks but it worked for me.

The leg swing begins around 3:00.
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Re: IT band issues and the way I run? help! [Sb13ky12] [ In reply to ]
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I had a similar issue recently with knee soreness from running and then riding, tightness through the itb, and after seeing a couple of different physios the last one took a better look at my running style and informed me my running gate was too narrow, after focussing on rectifying this over a three month period (wasn't easy to train myself to widen my gate) it seems to have fixed all issues.
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Re: IT band issues and the way I run? help! [Sb13ky12] [ In reply to ]
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Struggled with this yrs ago. I had tried everything to get it under control. Found a good therapist and started working on my hip strength. Took about 6 months but hasn't flared up since.
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Re: IT band issues and the way I run? help! [Fishbum] [ In reply to ]
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Fishbum wrote:
Struggled with this yrs ago. I had tried everything to get it under control. Found a good therapist and started working on my hip strength. Took about 6 months but hasn't flared up since.
what were you doing for hip strength?
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