IT band flare-up 3 weeks before AG Nats! HELP!

Haven’t had an ITB problem in years, but on Friday’s long (1:30) run it started twinging after about :45. Of course, being far from home, I did the stupid thing and kept running for another :45.

Iced/stretched/Aleved last night and it was ok for a 60 mi ride this morning but only 5 minutes into the scheduled 20 min transition run it was really hurting. Being smarter than yesterday, I stopped immediately and I/S/A.

Now I am seriously depressed. The next 2 weeks were supposed to be for fine tuning my run for Nats. What to do? Rest? Drugs?

How much would I really have gained in the 2 weeks? Or, how much will I lose if I’m stuck on the darn elliptical trainer till the race?

Should I just plan on staying home?

G

First, I wouldn’t plan on staying home - at least not yet.

Second, I’m not sure what drugs will do other than mask the pain if you continue to push things while the ITB is “active”.

Third, rest is good, but I’m not so sure about getting on the elliptical trainer. I think of the elliptical as a great option for impact problems, but I don’t think ITB syndrome falls into that category. I can still imagine the ITB doing its bad thing, flopping and flipping over that lateral femoral epicondyle (I think that’s what it’s called).

Now for the potential positives. Get ye to a decent therapist, especially one who practices Active Release Technique. If you can’t find one of these people, search out a recommended sports massage therapist. As for an A.R.T. person, I think they have a list of practitioners on the activereleasetechnique.com website. (Or try michaelleahy.com)

Also, look into purchasing a Cho-Pat ITB strap. This is a simple device that afixes tightly around your lower thigh, about 3 inches above the knee, and serves to “anchor” the ITB so that it doesn’t slide over that epicondyle knob. Road Runner Sports sells these (“IT Band Compression Wrap”), but you also might want to just go to the Cho-Pat website. If all else fails with finding this strap, write back and I will be happy to send a brand new one (a “just-in-case” purchase) to you to try out and maybe help you make it through the a.g. nats.

Finally, the only time I had an ITB problem was in 1998, and it flared up at about mile 10 of a marathon that I ended up limping through to the end. I then spent a couple of days trying to run on it, but it hurt too much. Then I went to a massage person, and lo and behold, three weeks later (after the marathon) I was back running. It sounds like you got on yours really fast, so with luck and proper attention to the damn thing you just might be okay. Good luck! (And let me know if you need that strap!)

Dude

Three letters - ESW - Extracoporeal Shock Wave Therapy - do a search on the web for a clinic near you - had Plantar Fac. for about 4 months - tried the night stretch, stretched continiously during the day, anti inflam - even the cort. shot in the sole of the foot and not a damn thing worked - until ESW - one treatment a week for 3 weeks and things were just dandy again - felt major relief after a single treatment. I suffered on and off for 3 years with ITB before resorting to ITB release surgery - with limited regrets - wish I had of know about ESW before hand…

I recommend finding an ART provider in your area (who treats lower limbs). I frequently receive ART treatment and find the ITB treatment is by far the most effective treatment. It’s close to instant!

Grant

Don’t panic. It is most likely caused by your Tensor Fascia Latae muslce.

The following is cut and pasted from the forum on the Julstro website (www.julstro.com/18.html)

"The TFL is a small muscle that is located between your hipbone (pelvis) and the top of your thighbone (femur). This muscle merges into the ITB, which then goes down the lateral side of the thigh and inserts into the knee joint. But the fibers of the ITB are just strong, slightly stretchable, fibers. The real source of the pain is a spasm in the TFL. A second piece to the problem is because the ITB travels over the lateral borders of the quadriceps and the hamstrings. When the ITB is pulled tight by the TFL, it causes both the quads and the hamstrings to contract under its fibers.

Here is a good treatment (when done correctly): lie on the floor, on your side. Place a tennis ball directly under the TFL and roll your bodyweight onto the ball. You will feel the spasm, and it will really hurt so regulate the pressure you are using. It should always “hurt so good”; too much pressure will cause a problem. However, not enough pressure, or done for too short a time, will be ineffective as well. Many people shy away from the pain caused by the ball. It should hurt, but still be tolerable.

Next, keep rotating your body around so you find all the spasms in the hip area. You’ll know exactly when you are on one. You’ll feel it. You need to stay on the spasm for 60 seconds or it will come back as soon as you stop pressing on it.

Finally, take an 18" length of dowel (closet pole or broom handle) or a rolling pin (don’t let it roll, hold it steady) and from a sitting position, place the dowel at the very top of your leg. You need to put it where your leg meets your trunk. Then push it down toward your knee. Don’t go over your knee joint or kneecap. Cover your entire quad this way - lateral, middle and inner thigh.

While it will hurt, you should always feel like you are doing something good for your thigh/hip/knee. You’ll know if you are right."

I find a tennis ball to be a bit soft, but any hard rubber ball that size will work. I use a baseball but you need to be careful. You can bruise the muscle with something that hard.

Good luck. OH… Do it at least three times a day, for the next couple of days.

Why would you do a 1:30 run and 60 mile ride to fine tune for an oly dis race? You should be working on speed for that race not endurance.

See… http://www.runnersworld.com/home/0,1300,1-78-169,00.html

The best thing I have found is a foam roller sold at www.performbetter.com

It is better than a massage therapist and only $14. I had a flare up doing a half marathon. Now anytime it starts to get sore I use the roller and it takes care of it.

in early November. These were my last long workouts until after Nat’ls.

Hi…

Since i had the same problem just before a big race at the start of the season, here are my recomendations:

ICE ICE ICE… do it trough the day. i have done sets of 3x(7min ice 3 min rest) with 15 min betwenn each one.

I did stop running for a week or so but when i started running i did it on grass with just a few minutes (progressevely increasing the time). I also used a special strap around the knee that isolated the hurted area (and i can tell you that that strap really works). a photo of me that illustrated how the straps have been used can be seen here:

http://sergiomarques.home.sapo.pt/fotos.htm

hope that helps

and sorry about the pour english :wink:

G,
I started feeling my ITBS since may13th ( Sao Paulo Marathon… ) I thought that two week would be enough to heal… but unfortunately I suffered until the end of july…

I learned that not everybody has the the symptons and definately there is no miracle protocol to heal…

The foam roller is a fantastic tool but you have to strenght all the muscles involving the knee to get real cure… The strap is a very helpfull tool as well… but the strap itself will not cure completely as well… PT usually speed up recovery ( ultrasound, deep heat, schocks… )
Each one of the treatments has better results for different people… so I did all of them at the same time…
The best advice that I can give you is: DON´T DO FREQUENT TESTS…
For sure… I delayed my recovery because I was pushing my body to heal faster… and I always did test to see if the ITBS was there…

This is a type of injury that will heal with time and patience…The FL and ITB are very poor irrigated with blood… so all the vitamins( that are essential to cure ) has a lot of trouble to get in there…

There a lot of good sites on the internet :

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/itbs

http://www.itbs.info/

http://www.physsportsmed.com/issues/2000/02_00/fredericson.htm

If you need anything else … just email me…

Luiz

Hi G,

The ITB is actually the tendon for a muscle in your hip called the tensor fascia lata. When the muscle goes into a spasm it will pull up on the ITB and will cause spasms to happen all along the lateral border of the quadriceps, and also put pressure on your lateral knee joint.

There are two things you need to do to release the tension on the ITB, first treat the tensor fascia lata (TFL) and second, press out the spasms that have formed on the quads. Both treatments are really easy to do. To treat the TFL lie on the floor and put a tennis ball directly on the muscle that is between your hip bone and the top of your thigh bone. To find the right location just look to see where the side-seam of your pants is located, then feel the two bones. The meaty part in the center is the TFL. Move your body around until you find the right spot. When you do it will hurt a lot, that is the spasm. Keep the pressure at a “hurts so good” level by adjusting your body so your full weight isn’t on the ball at first and than just add weight as the spasm goes down.

The second part uses a dowel (clothes pole). Sit down and place the dowel at the very top of your leg, where your thigh meets your trunk. Press down and slide (don’t roll) the dowel down the outside of your thigh, stopping right before you get to your knee joint.

You can read a lot about why this is happening by going to www.julstro.com and then to the section called “muscles and pain”. Also, the website has a really active forum that talks about every kind of muscle/joint pain you can imagine. You can “lurk” and find a lot of answers to questions.

I’m 99% sure that you can get rid of this pain very quickly and get back to your full training within one or two days. Give it a try, you have nothing to lose. Good luck at your race.

Wishing you well,

  Julie Donnelly