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November 23, 2004
Iliotibial Band Syndrome Treatment
I'm a fairly active runner, who seems to succumb to a bi-yearly injury. Since I was healthy all last year, this was the year to go down. To make a long story short, I was (over)training for the Portland Marathon that was on 10/3/2004. I never made it.
Somewhere along the way, a few of us decided to pump up our weekend training mileage. (We had done Phoenix Rock n Roll in January and wanted to do 3 20-milers instead of 2). The 16 week schedule had us ramping up fairly quickly, which I thought would be ok. At the end of Week 6, I did a 18 mile run at Crystal Springs and felt fantastic. I remember telling my wife, "I've never felt better". Probably jinxed myself...
Anyway, after our first 20 mile run, I was tired, but more than able to complete the run. Later that evening, I felt an odd pain on the outside of my knee when going down some stairs. Not thinking much about it, I attempted my next run (18 miles) and was unable to go past mile 3. Ice and Advil seemed to help, but I was not able to do anything. After a trip to Tahoe for the week, I sought some professional help.
A friend recommended the newly renamed Stanford Medical Institute. An initial consult found that indeed I had a major case of ITBS. I immediately began a twice-a-week course of therapy, combined with twice-a-day therapy at home. The therapy was very very painful at the beginning, as my glutes/quads/Tensor Fasciae Latae were a trainwreck.
If this sounds like something you are suffering from, I highly recommend pursuing at least the foam roller treatment documented in this PDF It looks a little strange, but is very effective.
Twelve weeks later, I am doing a "long run" of 3 miles. The ITBS has lessened quite a bit, but hasn't left me just yet.
Update: Fixed broken link to the .pdf
Posted by davehod at November 23, 2004 07:45 PM
Comments
Thanks for the info - the links were great!
Posted by: Steve at June 6, 2005 02:20 PM
I was interested in your article about ibs and the use of a roller,unfortunately I couldnt get onto the link you gave, could you send me info on the roller please.
Regards Diane
Posted by: diane at November 4, 2006 07:39 AM
Good post, you may also want to consider Active Release Techniques for this condition in conjunction with exercise and activities of daily living modifications. These are some of our YouTube Video’s on running conditions .
Plantar Fasciitis http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3KaOdd87fA
ITBS http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sz73i3O01d8
Shin Splints http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQZvmAXvQrA
All the best Dr. Brian Abelson
www.drabelson.com
Posted by: Dr. Brian Abelson at July 9, 2009 08:18 PM
