triguy10

So I am doing my first ironman in september and I am having this issue with my it band. When I get about 3-6 minutes into a run the outside of my right knee has a sort of dull ache, it continues to get worse to the point where I cannot finish running and have to walk back. This happened 4 weeks ago. I decided it would be a good time to just focus on swimming and biking. When I bike I have no IT band pain whatsoever. Well now almost a month has gone by and my IT band is still not any better. Same thing, about 5 minutes into the run its really painful. Should I see a chiropracter? Massage therapist? Stop biking for a week and see what happens? Any insight besides the usual stretch, ice and advil would be great. Thanks guys!

tajsss

I had the problem as well. I could take IBP before running and be fine. This was definitely not a good fix though. I am lucky and my wife is a massage therapist. So very religiously for about 2 weeks or a bit more, I stretched quite a bit and my wife massaged the bad leg nightly. I ended up getting really bad blisters in a race so I also took a solid week and half off of running. I slowly have started running again and haven't had any problems so far.

Massage or chiropracter are going to do about the same thing except the chiro has a few more gizmo's to use. Chiro may be cheaper if it is covered by insurance though. I would choose whichever you prefer. Also be sure and stretch religiously daily. Be sure and look up specific stretches for the IT band.

Good luck and hope it gets better before your race.

rplong

Stretch it out, work on your balance on both legs. Such as one leg lunges and balancing on one leg, and bending it and such. I had the problem about 2 years ago. My bad pain did not go away for about a year. I can feel it tighten up every once in a while, but just stretching helps it out.

Dalai

Just about everyone who runs gets ITB troubles at sometime, especially if upping the mileage in the lead up to an IM.

Just to confirm, is the pain where the ITB attaches to the knee or is the pain under the kneecap itself? If under the kneecap it could be a patella tracking issue.

If it’s just ITB inflammation; Rest, Stretching, massage to stretch the ITB once the inflammation reduces is worthwhile though painful as ITB's are difficult to stretch.

Also post training, a good method to ice and stretch the ITB is prepare Ice blocks in Styrofoam cups. Then rub the ice block along the ITB towards the knee with the block till melted.

If the ITB's are still okay on the bike increase the ride mileage, drop run mileage and to keep the running neuron pathways working substitute a weekly run session with a deep water running session.

4 months prior to my first IM, I ended up being diagnosed with a Patella Tracking issue on both knees. Reduced run mileage (back up to only ~50km per week) with both kneecaps taped in place during runs, plenty of icing and strengthening exercises to rectify the imbalance with the VMO got me to the event and they held together for the race.

Best suggestion after all that is get it checked by a medical professional. If it's still at the inflamed stage, get a sports doctor or physio to check. Impossible to try and give a diagnosis online without seeing gait, muscle development etc (not to mention not being a medical professional )

theShiba

When I injured my IT before my first marathon, I had to take almost a month off from any sort of distance running. I swam mostly, and kept my runs very short.

The best thing I can say is, really listen to your body. Don't ignore the feedback that you IT is giving you. It's just not one of those injuries that you can ignore. Work on balance training, like one one of those balance balls, or a plank. Anything that you can do to strengthen your leg muscles is great. I like to practice some yoga moves that focus on stabilizing, and work out all my leg muscles.

I also know that everyone says Ice, but I was told to do ice for 15 minutes then heat just until you get that tingling sensation of feeling returning to the area, then ice again. I did this about three times in a row, every night. You just have to be careful with the heat though, so that you don't increase the inflammation. Again, the purpose of the heat is NOT heat therapy. You are just simply returning blood flow, and getting your leg ready to be iced again.

hope this helps.... get better soon, man. If you take it easy, you should be getting back into those long runs in no time at all. After I took this time off to rest, and strengthen I haven't had any more problems....

best of luck to you.

dogpound

also, check your positioning on your bike

longslow

I like to use a 5-6 inch foam roller that I got at fabric store. Lie on your side with the foam roller below your hip, keeping your legs straight....roll down to your knee....you will feel the stretch

good luck but injury is part of training

further

I irritated my ITB a couple years ago when I upped my bike mileage. Thought I could tough it out and ended up having trouble getting up from a chair. Four months of three times a week physical therapy and it is usable but will never be good as new. Don't ignore what your body tells you.

Rowdy

Two things I do in my training to avoid running injuries. I have been running injury free for over three years. With the ITBS the stretch I like to do is sit with my legs crossed in front of me and lean forward. I will then move over to the right and left. This gives my hips and hamstrings a great stretch.

I always end a run with some time running barefoot. You might want to warm up barefoot. Find a nice park or field. Walk the route your going to run to try and make sure it is free of debris and go for it. Run about a mile and hopefully you will see some improvement.

drthos

I've had this on both sides; both times when upping the mileage while training. I've fixed it each time by cutting back (sometimes stopping) for a while, stretching religiously, getting massage from a professional used to athletes, and then slowly starting again.

I think one of the things that really predisposes people to this is weak hip abductors, which leads to increased work for the ITB (which incorporates the tensor fascia lata muscle, which also abducts the hip to some degree.) I don't think this has been studied properly, so it's a bit of speculation, but presumably the fix--core strengthening--is good for all your sports anyway, so no risk in floating the hypothesis.

Good luck.