Mike....sounds like the IT Band. Check back to last week in forum to get some great IT Band info...streches, etc. It can be a nasty injury if its not attended to.

General IT band pain can come anywhere from mid/upper thigh to bottom of knee or slightly lower. Always on the outside. Generally stops hurting as soon as you stop running (although biking can aggrevate it).

Mike,

I can't tell from your post whether you've had ITB before. What you describe could also be Patellar Tendonitis. PT feels like a pain below the kneecap, but typically "front and center", not off to the side. Happens more often when you don't warm up enough, and rarely bothers you swimming or biking or doing anything besides running. ITB often bothers people biking as well as running, but rarely swimming. Does Ibuprophen help?

Relatively new shoes sounds awfully suspicious. Same brand and model and size and width as your previous shoes? Do these have any less support than your previous shoes?

If it is ITB, a rolling pin on the side of your leg won't help much. The IT band becomes tendon a little below crotch level, and you can only massage muscle, not tendon. The muscle that it attaches into is on the side of your leg above the crotch. When that muscle gets knotted up it pulls up on the IT band which pulls the kneecap out of whack. You'll feel a dull pain on the outside of your thigh a few inches above the knee, and your leg will feel as tight as a drum.

A baseball or softball is the best tool to massage that muscle. Some recommend lying on your side with the ball under you, so you press the ball into the muscle with the weight of your body. I tried that and it hurt like hell, which I guess it's supposed to, but it hurt so much it didn't do me any good. Find a way to work that muscle so that it hurts, but not so much that you tense up from the pain. Stretch stretch stretch. Also work the knots out of the other muscles in your leg that might also be pulling your kneecap out of alignment.

Last: don't stress. If it's ITB, it's because you have a knot in a muscle, and when that muscle relaxes your leg will feel better and work better.

Lee

I've had good success with using a tennis ball. It would have more give than a baseball.

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