I have recently been dealing with ITBS, thankfully that is under control. The question i present concerns ‘‘proper’’ running gait and shoe selection and their respective effects on ITBS. There seems to be a lot of contradictory thoughts on what is the proper running gait or if running gait can effect ITBS. Also, there seems to be a a wide range of opinions concerning shoe selection. Here seems to be the current thoughts,
Shoe selection: most argue that over pronation is a key issue and thus people should try and control the pronation. Yet, other people suggest neutral shoes in opposition to motion control shoes. Finally some pope argue that a softer shoe can help.
What do you say? Thoughts? Opinions? What has worked for you?
I was in a similar boat. I think that orthotics and maybe therefore stability or a control shoe can help some people who have biomechanical issues. Then there are those with biomechanical issues that, with strengthening, will go away (I was in this category) so they no longer need those.
For me strengthening, not overstriding and hamstring activation all had to be achieved before my ITB would go away. Unfortunately it took a while to realise that all three were the cause. My physio correcting my gait had much more effect on me than anything else although glute strengthening is obligatory for me to avoid injury
If you are doing something detrimental in your gait it needs to change. Either through you doing it or something else doing it I guess…
Also … watch out for over compensating. I got issues from continuing to wear my ‘not worn out’ stability + runners after I had strengthened and corrected my gait.
You are right about contradictory thoughts … been there, done that. Maybe the contradictions indicate that it is a grey area and as long as you are in the ball park you will be okay.
impossible to tell without a gait exam BUT, common problems are: weak hip abductors, hamstring tightness, poor shoe gear, and stride. There is no panacea shoe gear, especially if the above apply
Ive had problems in the past with my IT bands and piriformis syndrome and what I found helped me the most was a light stability shoe with the green super feet orthotic. Nothing major, just something little to help keep my feet from pronating so much. Also if I am really ramping up the bike and run mileage and my quads are getting quite a bit more activity than the back side of my legs I make sure to really stretch those hip flexors and do some glute/hamstring activation exercises before i workout. Everything works together and it starts with your feet. Get some light orthotics and stretch religiously. my .02
itbs is a symptom, not a diagnosis, so it all depends on what is causing the ITBS to begin with. It could be related to your foot strike or it could have nothing to do with it.
All of those things you have listed as causes are generally considered bad running form, so it’s probably a good idea to correct them if you have them, but I can’t say that you will accomplish it through some magical shoe or shoe insert.
I’ve been sidelined with ITBS for 2.5 years now and I’m finally starting to get it under control. For me, it has taken a combo of PT exercises to strengthen specific weaknesses and imbalances, chiro and soft tissue work to get everything back into position and ditching my everyday shoes for VFF’s.
After gait analysis on a video + treadmill i tend to overstride/quad dependant, slightly overpronate on the affected leg and heel strike. Also, my hip drops on my injured side, indicating hip weakness. This sounds like i am a horrible runner, but am pretty fast and light, 1:24 13.1, 17:52 5k, hopefully with some changes i can get much faster and healed.
Goal is to work on engaging hips and ham’s more often, slightly bringing my foot strike closer to my body and decrease my heel strike.
I am going to start anew by 10-15min of drills barefoot on grass 5 times each week for 4 weeks, hopefully this will teach better form.
I am going to focus on neutral/slight stability shoe as this fits my foot type, but with added absorption/softness.
Exactly the same issues, exactly the same race times. I am not light though. 180lbs but I am 6’1"
I found hip hikes were great. As were X Band walks or x band monster walks. I have not tried the barefoot run thing but might do just for quick drills. Stability ball single ham curls are good. Basically I look for the excercises I can do at home. Get a whole bunch of those so you can mix them up and not get bored. Do 4 sets every day, three reps of 10 on each one (more on hip hikes) then, after things improved I try and do them at least 3 or 4 times a week. Just 20mins in the evening at home.
Slight stability may be good at first while you sort pronation. I have Zoot Kanes which are nice, might move to the more neutral Kalanai soon.
FWIW, hip hikes made my ITBS worse, not better. Seemed to put more stress / irritation on the IT band on the hip. Leg lifts, plank exercises and also strneghtening the claf and ankle all helped.
AS others noted, there is no magical cure. See what works, take that and discard others that don’t. Adapt from there.
I had improvements for over 2 months and was back running and it has flared up again, just in time for an OLY race on Sunday. Joy. I’m gonna do the Aquabike instead and bandit the run. That way if it flares up, I won’t really have sacrificed anything…
I’ve had ITBS on a couple different occasions. One I attribute to too many laps around a 9 lap / mile track. The other instance I attribute to too much running on an paved road out of town, due to the curvature of the road. I always ran with the same leg slightly higher then the other.
Interestingly enough, I was ITBS pain free for a while running in Vibrams. I left them at my girlfriend’s place on the other side of the state and was without them for a few weeks and forced to run in my old Brooks ST4s. Instantly the ITBS pain returned, however, my first run back in the Vibrams had zero pain. Shows how shoe choice can influence little things like that as well.
My ITBS went away with a switch to Vibram Five Fingers (KSOs). I’m also not quite at the volume I was at when I had ITBS issues, so it could just be that, but so far everything’s good with the KSOs.
I’ve had ITBS on a couple different occasions. One I attribute to too many laps around a 9 lap / mile track. The other instance I attribute to too much running on an paved road out of town, due to the curvature of the road. I always ran with the same leg slightly higher then the other.
Interestingly enough, I was ITBS pain free for a while running in Vibrams. I left them at my girlfriend’s place on the other side of the state and was without them for a few weeks and forced to run in my old Brooks ST4s. Instantly the ITBS pain returned, however, my first run back in the Vibrams had zero pain. Shows how shoe choice can influence little things like that as well.
I found the same thing when I switched to VFFs though now I do my longer runs in the Hattori. I don’t think it has as much to do with the shoe as it did correcting my form. I went from overstriding hard heal striking to shorter, mid-foot striking and I believe this is what did it for me.
Did your stride/landing/gait change when you went back to the Brooks? I notice mine does when I go back to my Nike Free 5 if I don’t concentrate on proper form.
I’ve had ITBS on a couple different occasions. One I attribute to too many laps around a 9 lap / mile track. The other instance I attribute to too much running on an paved road out of town, due to the curvature of the road. I always ran with the same leg slightly higher then the other.
Interestingly enough, I was ITBS pain free for a while running in Vibrams. I left them at my girlfriend’s place on the other side of the state and was without them for a few weeks and forced to run in my old Brooks ST4s. Instantly the ITBS pain returned, however, my first run back in the Vibrams had zero pain. Shows how shoe choice can influence little things like that as well.
I found the same thing when I switched to VFFs though now I do my longer runs in the Hattori. I don’t think it has as much to do with the shoe as it did correcting my form. I went from overstriding hard heal striking to shorter, mid-foot striking and I believe this is what did it for me.
Did your stride/landing/gait change when you went back to the Brooks? I notice mine does when I go back to my Nike Free 5 if I don’t concentrate on proper form.
Not that I was aware of. I still run in them on occasion with no issues. However I have no doubt it changes a bit. That example with the Brooks was in a close time frame to when I had the ITBS issue due to the road curvature, so it was sensitive. I am wear testing the SKORA shoes now, and absolutely love them. I’ve worn the Hattori before, and feel like the SKORA shoe I have is similar, but an improvement to that shoe.
Not to highjack the thread but I’d be interested in something that improves upon the Hattori. For me they just wear too fast. I get maybe 250 miles before the sole is worn
That was the reason I sent the Hattori back, I felt like it would wear too fast and I did not even want to try to get too many miles out of it. I’m wear testing one of the new shoes by SKORA. It reminds me a lot of what I wish the Hattori would have been. A bit more down below so it lasts more miles, a bit more above so it has more support and the upper will last longer, I feel like these are easier to get on and off, and a better strap system as well.
As long as nothing drastic comes up I plan on using them for a 100 mile ultra at the end of this month. I have been running in the VFF for my last 3300 miles, but the Skoras are fantastic, and about the only shoe I have worn since switching to Vibrams that I would run in full time. (The other shoe are the Newtons)
