Cyndie left a comment asking how my IT band was doing and if I had any pointers.
I had to jump on the opportunity to share what I have found out and what I am doing about it.
Heres what I have been doing:
1. Rest : I taken quite a bit of time off of my running and have seen no change. I can run but mile four hurts ALOT.
2. Foam Roller: I make sweet passionate love to the foam roller daily ;) Seriously, I try to roll out my entire leg 5-10 minutes 3 times a day. It hurt in the beginning ALOT , but the pain ( from rolling )has gone away. Im not sure if that means the knots in the band have gone down or that my roller is not as hard as it should be. They say the foam roller gets in like a deep tissue massage and helps break down the scar tissue that is causing friction on the tibia. I also make sure I get my butt on the roller and roll out that piriformis muscle.
3. Stretch , Stretch and Stretch : I stretch ALOT. They say that is the #1 thing you can do for ITBS ( IT Band Syndrome). Around 4 times a day, and whenever I'm on the floor playing with the kids.
Here are the stretches I do: ( click on name of pose for directions )
All stretches and exercises from RUNNINGTIMES
4. Ibuprofen Regime : To reduce inflammation where the band is rubbing on my knee I Have just decided to start this. I had been only taking ibuprofen after workouts but I think I need to do this seriously. Also just made an appt today with the Dr. to talk about a stronger dosage and how a cortisone shot could help with the area. I'll let you know how that goes. Appt is set for Monday morning.
5. Physical Therapy : Some of you know I did not want to go to PT because I thought it would be a waste of time ... it is. A already see a trainer that has me exercising my hip and my trainer and husband both (occasionally) give my leg a deep tissue massage. When I do go to PT that is all I do get, my massage and thats it. They only told me what I already knew :( Update 4/23/10 : Went to the physical therapist today and she showed me some hip exercises I had not seen. Why do they seem to know all the great exercises?:) Also got an intense DEEP rub. VERY painful, but its helping. Guess I have to give the PT more time :)
6. ICE ICE BABY : Have to ice after every workout out. Its a lil painful but then you get over it and it helps the knee.
7. Run To The Finish : Amanda at RuntotheFinish also posted a great blog on ITBS.
So thats what I have been doing. I feel as though I have been following the rules to the "t". Getting very frustrated though. Oh , I am also suffering from "short leg", the injured leg is shorter than the other. Due to pregnancy my hip bones are all over the place and do not stay aligned. So I have my hubby and coach "pull" it back into place before workouts. It really makes a difference. It has to be done alot and the only thing that will make it "stay" is strengthening the hip. Has anyone seen a chiropractor about that? Thats the next thing on my list.
I hope this helps some of you . Its the basics.
Tonight I'm going to start back up with Bikram Yoga, lets see if the hot and humid air with DEEP stretching will help. I'm positive that I will see some difference.
Do you do something different? Do you have the elixir to fix this? If so let me know asap, I've become a desperate runner!
Awesome! I have been stretching but not consistently. I ran a half marathon last weekend and the pain has not gone away on my knee. It was brutal and could only walk the last five miles. I'll do the different stretches and the yoga thing looks like it will work out well too. I heard that orthodics help sometimes too.
ReplyDeleteIt had this issue most of the beginning of this year. PT chiropractor did active release and Graston a lot on the IT band. It took about 8 sessions to finally get all the scar tissue broken up (it doesn't hurt when you run) to start strength training. Strength training was 3 sets of 12 reps each leg of one leg pistol squats holding on to a stationary overhead rope for support. Also the same number of reps of single leg lunges (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OHPQ-zgi4c).
ReplyDeleteI hope you get to feeling better soon.
There is only one ACTIVE RELEASE guy here in Monterey and doesnt take my insurance ;( But I did forget to mention that I did buy new shoes and get POWERSTEP insoles!
ReplyDeleteIf your knee pain is related to IT Band Friction Syndrome, you should definitely check out the website: http://www.bulletproofknee.com . Good luck!
ReplyDeleteI go to a sports chiro, in addition to what you've listed here, he does this scraping thing that releases the adhesions and REALLY helps a lot. He also does active release, ultrasound treatments and kinesio taping. He was a physical thereapist b4 becoming a chiro and he really worked with me on a hip and quad strengthening program. The primary things that I did on my own were stretching, stretching and more stretching, foam rolling and icing, etc. In addition to your stretches I added the "Folding Pigeon" and the "Figure 4." It was a long slow process (about 4 months 'til I didn't have issues with my ITBS anymore), but so worth it. I'm still pretty religious with my stretching and foam rolling routine, and I find if I start slacking on it I get that old twinge of ITB pain... Good luck and heal-up soon!
ReplyDeletei'm a very new runner and only began running at the end of 2008. 2009 was my first "real" year of running and shortly before my first half marathon in september '09, my IT band flared up big time. my two week taper turned into me basically not running a step before the race. little less than a mile into any run, the pain would start. same spot as you i believe. i made it through the race but knew i couldn't keep running like that. i'm not a huge fan of doctors so i skipped any of that and started running barefoot and then eventually in vibrams when i couldn't go completely bf. i haven't had any ITB problems since that race and my running has improved 100 fold. BF/Vibram running has been getting a lot of attention lately and looking past all the hype, i sincerely recommend it. taking time off cause of an injury sucks pretty bad so i hope you can get back to running pain free and as naturally as possible. i haven't ran a step in "traditional" shoes since september of last year and i know i could never go back. in these 7 or so months of minimalist running, i've ran further and faster than i've ever dreamed was possible for me.
ReplyDeletebest of luck finding your path back.