rmr1923

Didn't want to hijack someone else's thread, but I was hoping to get some advice from people who've experienced knee pain, IT band syndrome in particular (carbonfiberboy seems pretty knowledgeable, hoping he'll chime in here). I believe I have ITBS, most of the pain I experience is sort of an ache on the outside of my right knee, some days it doesn't hurt much, and some days the pain radiates down below my knee and all the way up to my hip (occasionally I feel the pain up as far as my lower back, in the area of my sciatic nerve I believe). And yesterday (this was a first, and kind of unusual) I had a bit of pain on the back side of my knee (in the middle) and up into the lower part of my hamstring. It wasn't a sharp pain, just a real dull ache.

I'm not sure if I should just keep resting and icing it until the pain goes away, or if I should be doing stretches and/or exercises, but I've been off the bike for a little over a week now and the pain still comes and goes with everyday activities. Should I just take some ibuprofen and start stretching and riding again, or is it time to see a doctor?

Rick4036

I had the same type of pain a few years ago! I went to my doctor who had me see a specialist who worked with our local pro basketball team. X-Rays, MRI's, revealed nothing out of the ordinary. Anyways, I spoke with a guy I work with and his suggestion , since he runs marathons and road bikes, was to wrap it real tight and resume my workouts. I did this for a few weeks and the pain and swelling went away! Now, I am not saying you need to do this but do go see your Doctor first and if all is OK, wrap it up and maybe, just maybe, the knee muscles and joints just needed to be conditioned. On a side note, I have logged in over 10000 miles running and biking since then and just completed 4 road bike centuries back to back! Good luck!

____asdfghjkl

go see your doctor first!

i really wouldn't advise wrapping it to resume working out. that's just like suppressing the pain. what happens when you unwrap your knee?

rmr1923

i didn't go see my doctor, but one of my college roommates is in his last year of medical school (specializing in sports medicine actually, he's worked with the Texas Tech football team), and another of my college roommates has been a physical therapist for the past 4 years so i talked with both of them and they didn't seem too concerned. they both recommended to keep it wrapped, put it on ice at least twice a day, and keep it elevated whenever possible (i.e. when i get home from work).

i do remember several years back having some issues with my right hip that caused some aching down the side of my leg, but never as far as the knee. i mentioned this to my PT friend and he suggested doing some stretches and exercises for my hips. turns out i think this is the root of the problem, not the knee itself.

after just my 2nd day of stretching and doing some exercises, the pain was nearly completely gone. my PT friend said he's seen this in athletes countless times already, and it usually is the result of a lack of flexibility and/or starting a new training regimen at too high of an intensity, both of which i'm guilty of. i'm working on my flexibility and doing slower-paced rides and every day it feels better than the day before. i just need to resist the urge to ride too hard too fast, so i took the batteries out of my bike's computer and just ride at a pace that feels comfortable and focus on keeping a high cadence. it's tough getting passed by everyone on the bike trail, but i'm just putting my pride aside so i can get back into shape and hopefully avoid having this issue again.

Carbonfiberboy 

ITB syndrome is one of the few problems I haven't had to deal with. It sounds like you have a good handle on it, and have had some recent good advice. Here is the best article on the subject I know of: https://www.aafp.org/afp/2005/0415/p1545.html
Other sufferers on this forum have reported good results with the sort of stretches shown in this link. Also see links to hip abductor exercises on this page: https://www.exrx.net/Lists/ExList/HipsWt.html