IT Band Question

Spareribs · Feb 5, 2011

I have never been plagued with an IT Band issue, but my son Prime Rib, 22, is now going through some problems. Here is what he wrote me:
 
"Dad--
You may know about my IT band flareup. I told mom about some outside-of-the-knee pain and she suggested ITBS. Everything I've read confirms this strongly. It's an acute pain on the outside of my left knee aggravated only by running. I took a day off, and that wasn't enough. So I took 5. During that, I cross-trained every other day on the erg (row machine). This is no impact, no torque. I feel no pain on the erg and have been loving the workout. Today, I tried to run again (though in heavy snow), thinking if I had pain, I'd go row. I hadn't felt anything for 4 days and was so excited to bust 5 miles. After half a mile, my knee was worse than it's ever been, so I went to row at the gym.
I have been Googling this and all I find is a few stretches, along with unanimous suggestions to rest. And many who say that this has sidelined them for months. Do you have any suggestions, or can you raise an S.O.S. flag on one of your forums?
Got about a mile of run/walk today. 3k row, with some weight training. Icing my knee now. I'm very discouraged."
 
If any of you have found relief from some specific exercises I would be grateful to learn and pass them on to him. Many thanks. Spareribs

tomwhite · Feb 5, 2011

...ribbs//.......I'm sorry he's hurting, Ironically this is the ONE injury I managed to avoid....
 
if I had to guess, I'd go-
 
.......too fast
..........too far
.............too hard of a surface
 
seems like it's always one of the three,,,,,,,,and a neophrene bace probably wouldn't hurt either
 
hope he feels better,
 
and
CrossTrains Like a WildMan////

ksrunr · Feb 6, 2011

Did I read the other day somewhere that side planks strengthened and helped with that injury?

Labduck · Feb 6, 2011

Since the IT band is connective tissue and not muscle, it can't really be stretched or strengthened very well. However, the foam roller does seem to help it stay pliable. I've had bouts of ITBS on both legs, and my first go-around made me a DNF on my second marathon attempt. The combination of PT with the ASTYM technique, along with my foam roller got me back on the road again. When I started noticing the signs of ITBS on my other leg, I was able to foam roll it away without the need for PT.

ripvanracer · Feb 6, 2011

The tensor fasciae latae is the muscle that pulls on the IT band. Massage and stretching will help that. Soft surfaces do help some. I had ITband tightness really bad a few years ago when I was doing marthons and ultras. The last marathon I ran, it hurt right from the start and got progressively worse. I thought about dropping out halfway but when I turned around, I decided to run on the grass beside the bike trail we were running on and the pain went away the rest of the race. Of course it came back once I was done. I took a couple months off for that and a stress fracture and quit running long distances and it never came back.

Tamster · Feb 6, 2011

this is the one injury that unfortunately, I'm intimately familiar with. It's what brought my short running stint to a halt when I was 30 and then when I started up again at 40, it was the first injury I got about 3 months into running. The 2nd time around, I sought help from my sports chiro and went to about 3-4 sessions of PT where I was instructed on some rehab exercises.
 
My chiro did a form of therapy on it called 'stripping" - he used all his strength to basically break down the IT band. I had bruising on my legs to show for it. Then while the IT band was healing, I had to actively do stretches each day to try and lengthen it as best as I could, or make it more pliable might be a better term because as Lab noted, since it's a connective band and not a muscle, it doesn't really stretch. But the pain it causes on the lateral part of the knee is where the IT band has tightened up and is rubbing against the bursa. Ask him if it also hurts when he's walking down stairs? I had to walk backwards down the stairs when it flares up.
 
rest is imperative and then when you do start up again, you can't just go out and run 5 miles again. You have to build up slowly, like you are starting from square one again.
 
I have done a variety of things to overcome my IT pain and keep it at bay.
 
I still use the foam roller regularly. this is a must-do in my opinion.
I switched brands of shoes.
I did side planks, leg raises and a variety of other exercises to strengthen all the leg muscles and keep them more in balance. ITBS is often caused by muscle imbalance.
 
I would say in total, I probably spent about 6 months rehabbing the ITBS. I wasn't off from running that entire time, but my running was pretty limited and at times, I would start ramping up a bit too quick, which would aggravate the IT, so then I'd have to dial it down again.
 
ITBS is a fairly chronic running injury, meaning once you get it, you will be more prone to flare-ups again, so it's something you have to really stay on top of and keep consistent on preventative measures, like foam rolling, some deep tissue work on the legs and exercises to strengthen all the smaller muscle, like adductors and abductors.
 
good luck to him.

irunmike · Feb 9, 2011

Ribs, you may remember the Boston I had to drop because of an ITBS flare-up during training. It was painful! I x-trained on the elliptical w/o any ill effects for about 4-6 weeks. But what really seemed to help was going to my PT 2 times per week for 2 weeks. Like Tamster described, she stripped that sucker something fierce. I had bruises all up and down my leg. I also was on an advil course for those 2 weeks. After she broke up all the adhesions I was able to slowly return to running. I haven't had a problem since (2 years), but I do use a roller every so often.
 
I think a major contributor to my problem was running on some severely canted roads, something I try to avoid now. Also, the guy at my running store suggested that some shoes over do the anti-overpronation thing, causing your leg to bow out more and stretch the ITB in an eccentric manner.
 
I hope Prime Rib gets over this quickly. Good luck to him.

SLOjim · Feb 14, 2011

Ribs,
 
Ouch! Sorry to hear about the ITBS. I had a bout a few years ago and it was no fun.
 
The first thing Prime Rib should do is to try to figure out what caused the ITBS so he can change that as he picks up his training again. There's a number of causes.... running too much on canted roads, the wrong shoes.... for me it was too many miles on the track in the same direction. Even after I figured out my problem it was still 4 or 5 months before it completely went away. The foam roller helped some and I also found relief using the Patt Strap. I noticed when I started my training back up that the long distances really aggravated the ITB but running hard for short distances didn't seem to have much ill effects. 
 
Tell him to hang in there ... it will get better!

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