I’m pretty sure I know the answer but thought I’d check if there were any other injuries that occur in this location. I have this localised pain on the outer bony part of my left knee, almost exactly where the central hinge point would be. It’s been loitering for the last fortnight or so but not really too much of an issue. Last night though on a 30min brick it started to flare a bit more and in light of what was meant to be a 2:15 long run this morning I pulled the plug at 10mins. Ultimately I didn’t run this morning because I was worried that with IMNZ 6.5 weeks out I couldn’t afford to make myself lame and decided to ride instead and hopefully make up for it tomorrow or over the weekend. Whilst my stretching hasn’t been great I have occasionally grabbed out the foam roller.
What other possible things could this be? If it is ITB can I really belt the crap out of it with the foam roller and hopefully not miss more than a few days as I had found some good run form and looking to go sub 3:20 ish. Last time I really had ITB was years ago and it was an intense pain like a knife in my joint. This certainly hasn’t leapt out at me like before and is way more subtle but showing signs of more pain. Other than foam roller are there other really good treatment suggestions. I haven’t had any massage in this build and that probably hasn’t helped my cause.
Ice is your friend, dude. You should be icing your legs IN AN ICE BATH for 20 mins after hard workouts if you’re concerned about this.
Also, I have a similar problem, and it seems to be stemming from a combination of muscle imbalance between my hamstrings and quads, and a lingering side effect of a back injury from two years ago. I favored my back for so long some muscles in my back and hips atrophied for lack of a better term. They’ve only recently come back to life with a fullish range of motion and decreased pain upon activation through specific weight training and yoga. Yoga is also your friend, but it may not fit into your schedule too well immediately.
Can’t believe I haven’t got the ice out! idiot Good point.
Yes I too believe in yoga. I used to do it 2xweekly a few years ago and felt bulletproof. I might get out the old dvds and have a crack, hopefully I can get on top of it quick smart.
I broke down badly after a 10k run on monday with the exact pain you are describing (ITBS). I couldnt walk at all for the rest of the day without significant pain
Ice is your friend, and get yourself a foam roller and get started on some self myofacial release. Roll out the offending ITB by laying on the roller and rolling along it until you hit a tender spot. Concentrate on that spot until the pain subsides and move onto the next spot. This will hurt BIG TIME, but you will feel like a million bucks in a day or two.
Worked so well for me that Im heading out for 15k’s in the morning…
Check out the link for some more info on SMR for other bodyparts.
Was your pain in the same spot I referred to (bony ‘hinge’ point of knee)? If so, when using the roller isn’t the ‘tender spot’ that small bit at the knee or do you mean you find spots along the outer thigh that make the knee spot feel sore, or just thigh spots that feel sore (and that ultimately by rolling out fix the knee hot spot)? Little bit confused.
The others have offered great suggestions. This may sound crazy but it works for me. When you are running and your IT band tightens and the pain starts, Find the bony protrution on the top side of your leg below the dimple of your hip, just below this is a muscle (tensor fascia latae) it will be tight and sore. Take your knuckles and moderatly hit the muscle three or four times till it releases. The pain will ease up and allow you to finish your run. Get on the roller or get a message after the run. Works for me.
You may want to lower your seat 5mm or so. Not that a high seat is necessarily the cause in your case, but lowering the seat can take stress off the ITB at the bottom of the pedal stroke while you are healing.
you get lots of very good advice so far in this thread.
but most of the advice are targeting your sympthom… the pain from a thight ITB. The problem isnt the ITB, it s simply the sympthom.
you need to adress the cause. TPmassage tools will do that as they wont only target ITB but they will attack the cause that is most likely at your calf, or in the other legs.
the other part is a stability core program.
I do have a few athletes that have been in the same situation as you, and to solve ITB issue IT take 7-10 days max if you are commited… and you can be back to long runs, and hard running no problem.
Sounds exactly like my ITBS - aka the plague - that I’ve had for a year now. Ice daily, even twice daily, even on days you don’t run or bike. Be wary of flip turns/pushing off the wall too, it seemed to exaberate mine. A chiropractor showed me some great stretches to stretch out my psoas, and the ART really helped. Traditional strengthening of the glute medius works for most, but just makes me unable to walk or run.
Good luck! Take the time now so that you’ll be OK for IM NZ!
Ah flip turns. They look so innocuous, but can be so painful on my knee. Just curious, what do you do when they’re aggravating you? Once I did a set with flip turning before the wall, just in the water. That was fun and easy on my knees, although it was difficult to time off the pace clock.
Core stability and deep massage have really been neglected to date. I’ll make them a major focus from here on in (so hard to fit in all this training with work!). Good to hear that your athletes have managed quick turnarounds, it’s reassuring to me as I have started seeing good form in running and want to maintain it.
In response to other comments: Not sure about lowering the seat, I’d be worried about a recurrence of type of quad pain I was getting on the bike that I believe was from the seat being too low Flip turns … can’t do them anyway, but I know what you mean about pushing off the wall, though in my case it usually just triggers off calf cramp late in the session and brings on the dreaded ‘drag the anchor’ leg kick (90degree foot!). Though I might get dragged away in the white truck I’ll keep in mind bashing my leg if caught out on the road. I’ll ensure to scream out ‘bad boy, bad boy!’ as I do so.
Thanks all for the advice.
Mike
Sounds exactly like my ITBS - aka the plague - that I’ve had for a year now. Ice daily, even twice daily, even on days you don’t run or bike. Be wary of flip turns/pushing off the wall too, it seemed to exaberate mine. A chiropractor showed me some great stretches to stretch out my psoas, and the ART really helped. Traditional strengthening of the glute medius works for most, but just makes me unable to walk or run.
Good luck! Take the time now so that you’ll be OK for IM NZ!
Rachel
I’ve suffered several boughts of this. I’ve used ASTYM to get things turned back around but what I think has kept me free of IT band problems is:
Foam roller. Really, I just use a 4" diameter length of PVC. This hurts, but works so well. That foams stuff just gets too soft.
Keeping the gluteus medius strong. I remember a study that found nearly every runner that has IT band problems have relatively weak gluteus medii and those who strengthened them not only recovered, but prevented future occurences. I have big “rubber band” that I put around both ankles, get into a squat stance and walk sideways to one sied and also the other. Also front and back. Keep your butt down. Found a cool demo here:
Looks like some great ideas so far. In addition to those, make sure you stretch the hip flexors, particularly the tensor fascia latae (TFL) because it has a large connection to the ITB. I’ve yet to find one ITB stretch that works for everyone so you’ll have to find as many as possible and try them all. As suggested, strengthen the gluteus medius well but don’t forget to involve the motion of hip external rotation instead of focusing solely on hip abductor strengthening. Joints don’t function in perfect planes, like straight forward and backward, so it’s probably not a bad idea to work both the external rotators and abductors to control hip internal rotation and adduction. You might want to make sure you are compensating at the foot appropriately. Though I don’t like to prescribe them unless absolutely necessary, orthotics may be in order to control excessive pronation and tibial internal rotation during cycling and/or running. You may need to investigate your cleat position and compensate for varus/valgus of the rearfoot/midfoot with shimming on the bottom of your cycling shoes. You might need some real specialist help with that one. Hopefully you aren’t intentionally holding your knees close to the top tube or away from the top tube throughout the pedal stroke. You’d be amazed at what a small fore/aft and up/down seat position change will do to change the load on the ITB.
Was your pain in the same spot I referred to (bony ‘hinge’ point of knee)? If so, when using the roller isn’t the ‘tender spot’ that small bit at the knee or do you mean you find spots along the outer thigh that make the knee spot feel sore, or just thigh spots that feel sore (and that ultimately by rolling out fix the knee hot spot)? Little bit confused.
I’ll check out the link.
Thanks
MikeYes, my pain was in exactly the same spot you described. But the really tender section when rolling was at my hip. Had others as well, but that was by far the worst.
And yes concentrating on the tender spot near my hip sorted the pain at my knee.
jonnyo,
I realize this thread is a little old, but I am going through some ITBS woes right now, and came across this post. When you said that your athletes can overcome this in 7-10 days, does that refer to 7-10 days of Rest and Rehab, or 7-10 days of rolling/massage/anti-inflams with continued/reduced training?
I am really curious b/c I am about to see a PT for this pain and I would love to know if there should be a rest period (no workouts, or maybe just swims) involved.
7-10 days under my supervision, doing a strengh balance prograam, doing my training schedule and run every second day, make sure run as short but at higher pace so the form stay better and itb dosnt flare up…
Tp massage is essential, when a athlete dosnt want to do it, i know he isnt motivated. Not many athlete are sincerly motivated to get rid of ITBS and willing to put the effort but when it become a mission, terapy, training, rehab all put together is very demanding aand very effectivve!
