ITB Ouch!!! Help
jameshillery
Posts: 69
in General Chat
Since the London tri I have had a bad case of ITB, Been doing the usual RICE ( rest, ice, compression,elevation) but still in a lot of pain , of to the doc's tomorrow.
Any one out there had ITB and have any good stretching tips and or general tips to prevent its return.
If i sit on the train for 30 mins now with my knee bent it freezes up and I am in agony.
Cheers
James
Any one out there had ITB and have any good stretching tips and or general tips to prevent its return.
If i sit on the train for 30 mins now with my knee bent it freezes up and I am in agony.
Cheers
James
0
Comments
[ul][*]stopped running completely and stuck with cycling, gym, swim while working on it
[*]got partner to robustly massage the ITB all the way from its origination at the pelvis down to its insertion - technique used was thumb and ball of the palm rubbed methodically down and back up the ITB, interspersed with small circular movements with the thumb. All very painful but I think it helped. Also get a hard ball - tennis/spikey one etc and roll that up and down the ITB when on the train (yup people will think you're mad) or at your desk at work.
[*]I hate stretching and do it sporadically but definitely ITB stretches helped I think. So, for example, stand sideways from a wall, arm out steadying your body, cross your feet with straight legs and lean away from your injured leg, pelvis pushes away from the wall and head bends into wall (if you can visualise this!!) so that you feel stretch on the outside of your thigh..... hmm, not very well described. Sorry if you find that difficult. There are others - see the web for stretches or ask your fitness people at the gym if you go to one.
[*]I also bought MTB trainers which I call my therapy shoes. I wear them when I have any of the many injuries you can get and I think they help over time to realign the body - that's what they are sold to do...... they are expensive though. I have even done triathlons in them when running in any normal trainer didn't work and made my ITB worse. When I thought I could I tested normal trainers, and when I thought there was little or no discomfort I went back to running on the normal ones. But without these MTBs I wouldn't have been able to get back into triathlon - that's just my story, as they may not be effective for others.
[*]ITB is an alignment issue so seeing a physio specialising in sports injuries may help longterm. Your posture / pronation / supination when standing, walking and running will all make a difference to whether you suffer ITB as you are no doubt aware - and it's very important to find exercises to strengthen the inner part of the Quads to counteract for the sometimes unbalanced strengthening that occurs when cycle training alot.
[*]Also, I invested in an ultrasound pen which you buy from LLoyds pharmacy for £100 (about 3 x physio sessions I reckoned) and I use that on any soft tissue injuries and think that it also adds to the general rehab process.[/ul]
Hope I've given you some ideas, or areas for debate at least... . I'm only going by my personal experience of course. As I say the shoes rehab'd me, but they are an expensive experiment if they don't work for you. Good luck!
WHAT IS ITB?
WHAT IS MTB SHOES?
WHAT IS FLM?
OMFG!
Get yerself a foam roller asap. Rolling up and down it:
- definitely works by stretching the IB
- hurts like hell
- looks a little kinky, particularly if you then use it on the front of the leg as well.
It has been one of the things I have used regularly in marathon training - and is half the price of a single physio session. They're incredibly good.
Seeing a consultant next week to check if it is itb.
Thks
jAMES
Jimbo