After fighting knee pain for over 2 months, I finally went to the doctor who confirmed it was indeed ITBS. He recommended I start an ibuprofen regime of 3 x 600mg per day, so 3 200mg tablets with each big meal, while continuing my normal exercise schedule for at least 3 weeks. I’m a small guy (120 lbs) and 2 pills will calm any pains for half a day so I was worried about the high dosage, but he didn’t seem to think it was a big deal, nor was exercising while doing so.
I’m no doctor, so he said to do it and I’m doing it. Just wondering if anyone else has had experience with high dose NSAID treatment for ITBS.
That’s the same ibuprofen regime I was on for ITBS. I tip the scale at 148 lbs & never had any ill effects, if you cant take it with food at least have a big glass of milk.
Good luck,
Travis
www.dumbfocus.com
I’m right in between you guys and have been taking 800 mgs 2-3 times daily. Lord knows what my liver looks like, but I haven’t seen any ill effects in 3 mos of this.
You might want to do some research and back off for a week or two. I wouldn’t recommend keeping your normal sched… I’ve been out off and on for 6 months now with ITBS. If you rest now, you might not end up as SOL as me. Good luck!
I’d recommend taking the meds as prescribed but also doing something more beneficial for the long haul, like massaging/rolling that ITB with a foam roller and stretching it with some nice aggressive stretches. Since having my entire left leg cut open (right where the ITB runs) 6 years ago for bone surgery to remove cancer I’ve fought a tight and irritable ITB on and off for a long time.
With the roll thing my PT told me to do this for 30 seconds 4 X a day. Warning, this will hurt like hell and you will wonder if you are doing some damage. Your knee will thank you after though. As far as the stretch I do a complicated one lying on my side (affected leg on top) and loop a big rope around my foot and then bend my knee and pull the rope over my back shoulder and let my knee/leg “drop” and stretch the ITB from the hip.
Good luck.
I’m a small guy (120 lbs) and 2 pills will calm any pains for half a day so I was worried about the high dosage
Ibuprofen does two different things to help you: reduce pain and reduce inflammation. Just because you’re not hurting anymore doesn’t mean that the inflammation has gone down. 600 mg is generally the minimum dose needed to get the anti-inflammatory results that you’ll need for ITBS even though the pain can be reduced with a lower dose. I was doing 800 mg for my ITBS last year. As long as you don’t do this for the next three years, your kidneys should be fine.
ITBS is no fun at all. I remember when I had it for over 4 months…the only thing that got me through even the sprint distances was ibprofen. I would have taken till I passed out if it meant I could run more than 2 miles w/o pain lol
That being said, I hope you bought a foam roller. I had ITBS for 4 months. I caved and bought a foam roller. Used it twice a day for 6 days. Never had a problem since…even ran a 1/2 IM less than a month later ( : Miracle cure.
I’ll say it again. Miracle cure.
Hm the roller idea intrigues me…
Where can I get a good one? Does it come with some simple instructions? Because I borrowed a small one from a friend for a week or so when this all started, and lack of proper direction was probably the reason why I didn’t notice any results.
I got mine at Target…I don’t really think you have to spend $$ on a fansy one.
As far as directions, I learned that you should take it REALLY, REALLY slow from hip bone to knee (varying the amount of body weight depending on how much you can handle) like 10+ seconds rolling each way and only roll it up and down twice (4 lengths total). I hear doing much more than that is actually regressive…I also rolled on my other side to even things out and every once in a while did my calves, hamstrings, and quads. If you are spending more than 5 minutes on this thing that it’s probably too much. I’m certain that you could youtube a video of somebody properly doing the foam roller.
Try doing it 2-3 times a day. I wish you the best of luck!
Just my 2c but wouldn’t it be best to find out the cause of the ITBS and fix that?
If it’s causing you pain it’s obviously inflamed and continuing training is only going to make it worse long term.
Ibuprofen may mask the pain but is it really worth it?
I know it can be very frustrating but sometimes its just better to rest and let the thing die down then get to the root of the cause and try to correct that.
I’d get yourself to the physio and get it sorted. Otherwise it’ll probably just go on and on…
Hm the roller idea intrigues me…
Where can I get a good one? Does it come with some simple instructions? Because I borrowed a small one from a friend for a week or so when this all started, and lack of proper direction was probably the reason why I didn’t notice any results.
I would order one from Clint Verran. He’s a PT in Michigan who also ran on the Hanson’s team. His costs about the same as the ones in department stores but the DVD you get with it explaining all the ways to use it is the best I’ve seen.
fwiw - I found that I’ve gotten better relief for my ITBS since switching to Alleve vs. Ibuprofen (on the advice of my sports medicine specialist). Additionally, I’ve been going to PT for the last 2-3 weeks and the combo of streching, massage / ultrasound, and strengthening exercises finally have gotten me back to the level of training I want. Now its time to test things out and actually race on Sunday at Philly OLY. Not quite sure how hard / fast I’ll be able to go, but glad to be out there again!!
All medications have potential downsides but ibuprofen is pretty safe. Many people eat it by the handful and do fine…all that being said it does kill people every year (mainly silent ulcer that bleeds in the older population). I think the liver/kidney stuff is in general overblown.
They say you get max pain benefits from 400 mg/dose ibuprofen (adult does).
They say you need to approach 2000 mg/day to get anti-inflammatory effects but NSAIDS are pretty weak anti-inflammatories.
People now argue whether ibuprofen helps or hurts healing. Some people think the prostaglandins are key for bone/soft-tissue repair/healing and tell you to stay away from it. I doubt it matters much - but I only take ibuprofen for pain. If I have an over-use/acute injury - I don’t think of ibuprofen as part of the cure.
Regarding training - I’d be fine taking ibuprofen during regular training. I would not take any during any super long races or extreme training where I might get sig. dehydrated or over-heated. Ibuprofen can mess with heat/salt/fluid balance.
I vote with the other posters - fix the underlying problem - I doubt meds would play a sig. role in helping you.
Dave
I’ve had this pain for about 3 months, which demolished my race schedule and training. I went to the doc the other day because I just came off 6 weeks of no running - only stretching, icing, and strength exercises. And after all that, still at around 25 minutes the pain is back. I saw an orthopedic doc, not a PT, but he said that high dose NSAIDs over the course of a few weeks can reduce and prevent inflammation, and may be what I need to have the IT band heal. I think I exaggerated when I said continue my normal workout schedule - right now I’m doing very little running, and I’ll probably stop running entirely for the next 3 weeks (and possibly pick up a foam roller).
I do need to look into physio, but my insurance plan is mediocre at best 
I’ve seen foam roller video’s on youtube. Check that out first. Just buy the cheapest foam roller you can and use it. No need to spend a ton of money or order a special one from so and so. Just go to target or something and grab one. I’ve dealt with ITBS before and ultimately it came down to changing my shoes. This was my underlying problem. Ice, vitamin I (ibuprofen…any kind, it doesn’t matter) and a lot of stretching. I also got some PT (sonication) as well but in the end it was a change of shoes and stretching. Pretty much the same in most of these overuse running injuries.
Hey art
The roller will really help I got one online and it’s a 8” diameter one.
I have a good friend that is a PT and she told me to work up to 2 min of rolling. And also work on your ham strings that will also help.
Get a roller and roll on it EVEY day it’s a must IT probs.
Dan…