I’ve been struggling with some outside knee pain for the past ~6 weeks. Finally went to the Dr’s a bit over two weeks ago, and X-Ray’s were all clear. Sent me to PT for an upper gastroc strain and ITBS. I’m two weeks into PT, and while things have certainly gotten better (especially with my ability to bike), I’m still really struggling with making progress running. The ice, heat, stretching, and strength exercises definitely seem to be helping, however I’m curious if others have gone through this issue before and how long your recovery process lasted? My pain is right where the IT band runs over the femur and terminates on the fibula.
After the progress made this week I was pretty hopeful for a good run today, but the last 15 minutes were torture and now I’m staring at my next 70.3 which is six weeks out wondering if I’ll be able to run between now and then.
IME (several bouts of ITBS through the years), the key is rest (sorry). The first time I got it, I made the mistake of trying to run on it too soon. This just reinflames it and you’re back to square one. I can usually bike on it after about a week, but it’s 3-4 before I can run on it without just setting things back. As with these things YMMV. Since an inflamed ITB will rub more, it’s just a downward spiral; so if you feel it rubbing just shutdown that workout before you make things worse. I had a 10 miler where I felt it rubbing at mile five. Had to walk the remaining five home, but was back to running in a few days vs. weeks.
I’ve found an ITB strap to be helpful during recovery. It reduces the rubbing on the outside of the knee, and helps if you are experiencing ITB irritation during daily activities (ex. walking).
Unfortunately this is the lesson I think I learned today. PT has been allowing me to bike more and more, and even go for a few 30 minute easy runs with minimal pain. Last weekend I was able to ride for two and a half hours before it started to feel tight and hurt, however today’s 45 minute run really feels like I just wasted two weeks of PT.
I battled it for about 5 years and had the release surgery, that was about a year to recovery, but now pain free. I know other friends who have got on top of it with Cotisone injections, I had several of those and spent a fortune on physio, I wish I had done the surgery sooner.
I went through something very similar. About 4 months out from my first 70.3 I had ITBS where as soon as I got to about 20min of running pain would just shoot down the outside of my knee and that would be me done running for a week or so.
After trying stretches and buying bands to go around the knee, nothing seemed to work. Eventually I found the ITB Rehab Routine by Jason Fitzgerald which explained that by strengthening the hips/glutes/quads you could eliminate the pain. So I dedicated myself to the routine every other day (9 exercises and only about 15-20min of actual work) for almost a month before I even attempted to run.
I then went out for a short slow jog with my wife which kept me pain free for an entire 30min. By this point I had about 5 weeks until the 70.3 and so I managed to do a short build and had a longest run of about 14km 2 weeks beforehand.
I still do the routine now, although not as often, and I’ve never had the issue reappear.
I went through something very similar. About 4 months out from my first 70.3 I had ITBS where as soon as I got to about 20min of running pain would just shoot down the outside of my knee and that would be me done running for a week or so.
After trying stretches and buying bands to go around the knee, nothing seemed to work. Eventually I found the ITB Rehab Routine by Jason Fitzgerald which explained that by strengthening the hips/glutes/quads you could eliminate the pain. So I dedicated myself to the routine every other day (9 exercises and only about 15-20min of actual work) for almost a month before I even attempted to run.
I then went out for a short slow jog with my wife which kept me pain free for an entire 30min. By this point I had about 5 weeks until the 70.3 and so I managed to do a short build and had a longest run of about 14km 2 weeks beforehand.
I still do the routine now, although not as often, and I’ve never had the issue reappear.
When you had pain, were you able to cycle? I’ve noticed my tolerance for cycling is MUCH better than running. I was able to ride the trainer this week with little to no pain while apparently my threshold for running is still 20-30 minutes. I found Jason’s rehab routine and plan on starting tonight. I’m familiar with these exercises, we used to do many of them back in the college XC days, and my PT has me doing a few as well.
I went through something very similar. About 4 months out from my first 70.3 I had ITBS where as soon as I got to about 20min of running pain would just shoot down the outside of my knee and that would be me done running for a week or so.
After trying stretches and buying bands to go around the knee, nothing seemed to work. Eventually I found the ITB Rehab Routine by Jason Fitzgerald which explained that by strengthening the hips/glutes/quads you could eliminate the pain. So I dedicated myself to the routine every other day (9 exercises and only about 15-20min of actual work) for almost a month before I even attempted to run.
I then went out for a short slow jog with my wife which kept me pain free for an entire 30min. By this point I had about 5 weeks until the 70.3 and so I managed to do a short build and had a longest run of about 14km 2 weeks beforehand.
I still do the routine now, although not as often, and I’ve never had the issue reappear.
When you had pain, were you able to cycle? I’ve noticed my tolerance for cycling is MUCH better than running. I was able to ride the trainer this week with little to no pain while apparently my threshold for running is still 20-30 minutes. I found Jason’s rehab routine and plan on starting tonight. I’m familiar with these exercises, we used to do many of them back in the college XC days, and my PT has me doing a few as well.
Zero pain when cycling. Maybe if I went out directly after a flare up I’d have a bit of discomfort but by and large I had no issues on the bike (thankfully).
That’s been my experience as well. Once I got the pain under control to a certain point, I’ve been able to bike. It seems to take about a week of PT and stretching, ice, and heat to get to that point. In the beginning before I started PT I did have pain cycling, but I was doing zero rehab to address the problem.
I have this terrible injury since 05/2021 and tried everything. I can neither swim, bike nor run. Dont know what I can do. Got two injections, tried different PT, gained a lot of strength in the gym. I can do 100kg deadlifts and squats and can do sinlge legged squats. But my whole leg is inflammed without doing anything. I am basically a cripple, cant even hike
I paid $20 one time to read the writing of a doctor who had collected as much of the annecdotal data as he could find and basically he said that lot of different things work for different people but no one thing (except rest) works for everyone.
I’ve had it a couple of times and was able to loosen up the muscles attached to the ITB and get back to running.
When my son got it, he simply had to take time off. The first time he came back too quickly and then he took upwards of three months off. It pretty much ended his running career because it happened a few months into covid and he was never able to rejoin the team.
I once had Illiotibial tract friction band syndrome, which sounds like what you are describing. I could run for about 15-20 mins and then my knee would lock up. This bothered me for a few months. My physio told me to think of it like a big blister that needs to heal completely before running on it. I took some time off to rest and then happened to meet a chiropractor who worked with the national cycling team. He gave me a quick examination where he told me to stand still with my eyes closed, and he watched how I balanced. He then manipulated my back as I lay on a bench - his diagnosis was a misaligned pelvis and he told me he had realigned it and I should take two days off and then start running again. I did this and it never bothered me again - seemed like the chiropractor was right, but could have been an odd coincidence as I had been resting for a few weeks.
I used to suffer terribly from IT pain down the side of my legs when I started running. I had to ease up my routine and get some stregthening exercises going.
The resistance band side step exercise worked really well for me. After a few weeks I was able to get back to running full tilt.
I had awful, awful ITBS problems for 2 years, it had me in tears it was so painful
The ultimate solution was to absolutely dedicate myself to hip and glute work.
Side leg lifts, monster walks with bands, attaching cables to my ankles and working each angle from 12 o’clock to 6 o’clock around
After swimming, i would grab a kickboard and float, meanwhile spreading my legs out and in as fast as possible until complete exhaustion.
I eventually got to the point where I felt i was the strongest guy around hip wise… and my problems disappeared
good luck!
Recently? Zero! Which is probably why I’m having issues now. I trained for my my 70.3 last year and was 100% healthy, but this is the first winter in a long time where I’ve been running (increased volume too).
In high school I did A LOT of bands and hip/glute work. Never had an issue then, but did have some IT band issues in college when I stopped the strength work. I have historically had weak hips, because I’ve been a runner my entire life and rarely did any strength exercises. I’m hopeful that PT combined with the strength plan mentioned above can get me running by IM Texas 70.3.
I used to suffer terribly from IT pain down the side of my legs when I started running. I had to ease up my routine and get some stregthening exercises going.
The resistance band side step exercise worked really well for me. After a few weeks I was able to get back to running full tilt.
I added the resistance bands into my routine last night. I’m hopeful a few weeks is all it takes.
A little update for anyone else struggling with ITBS. I tried easing up on the running but continued to cycle while going to PT three times a week, but the only way to reduce the inflammation was to completely stop running and cycling. It’s now 10 days since I last biked, and the pain is 90% gone. My knee is no longer sore to the touch, it doesn’t hurt to walk, and thanks to stretching and exercises every night my flexibility has greatly improved. I wish I wouldn’t have wasted ~8 weeks trying to run through this pain. I plan on cycling again later this week, which will give my knee two weeks of rest. If I can do that without any flare ups then I’ll try to run a bit over the weekend. My goal for Texas 70.3 is to now just finish without pain.
How has your recovery been, hopefully you have been able to get back to your routine? Thanks!
It’s been a long and rough road since April, and unfortunately I’m not back to a normal routine but I’m getting there.
I wasn’t even close to being able to compete at the Texas 70.3. I had a cortisone shot right before, and then two weeks later went through PRP therapy (which was very helpful). 6 weeks after PRP I slowly started up again (which was a terrible idea). I had been signed up for Lubbock 70.3 and was trying to stay in somewhat decent shape for that race. I eventually got a coach who has been super helpful in structuring my workouts and keeping me consistent with stretching and mobility exercises. Looking back I should have cut my losses and scrapped Lubbock.
I got through Lubbock with practically zero running and was able to at least finish. However it flared up the IT band again. I got an MRI right after the race and at least confirmed that there were zero other issues besides some nasty inflammation, consistent with ITBS. Since finishing Lubbock I haven’t cycled or ran a single mile, and I finally feel like the knee is healing. At this point I have zero pain or tenderness, but I still have some minor “clicking” as the IT band moves across the head of my femur. Each week I notice a bit of progress though. I will probably start cycling again in October, and until then the only things I’m doing are swimming (a lot), running in the pool, and treadmill walking with 6-8% grade. I also do a lot of hip and glute exercises, along with stretching and runners yoga. My hamstring flexibility has gotten much better, same with the strength in my hips and glutes. Hopefully once I start up again later this year things are healed enough that it doesn’t come back again.
Looking back, my pain started in mid to late January, and until the day I crossed the line in Lubbock I never took more than 6 weeks off, which is nowhere near enough time for an overuse injury.
I’m going to add my N=1 story here, but it’s very similar to other people:
I struggled with ITBS for a long time, in fact that’s why I’m a triathlete… I started out running, and I was training for my very first Marathon, and I just couldn’t get rid of the discomfort from ITBS. I decided that training was more important and I pushed through the pain. Ended up messing up both knees, and not being able to run for about 4-5 months, I could only bike. I’m sure I could have probably start running before the 4 months, but not sure how soon. Where I’m trying to get at is that if you don’t allow this to heal properly, and dedicate yourself to fixing the root cause (ITBS is usually a symptom of something else above like weak glutes) then you will carry this for a while and land yourself in a pickle.
Be patient, stop running, do PT, do the above posted ITB Rehab Routine and you will be OK in a couple of months… maybe.
My experience with recovery has been similar. At the moment my plan for the gradual return to cycling has me going three full months of no running or cycling. But, I’m reassessing every two weeks. It was originally two months but I felt like I needed more. In a few weeks I’ll decide if I want to start cycling in October or wait another 4 weeks. Running will come a month after some easy cycling to see how things are going.
For me, it was very weak hips and glutes, particularly my right side, that most likely led to the IT band problems.
