Quote:
Originally posted by Pretty Little Flower
Hey, hey, wait a second. This board is a two way street. Give and take. What do you know about IT Band issues? The pain started with what seemed to be a tight hamstring, but now it extends from behind my knee, up the side of my leg to my ass, and now is even bothering my back. I hobble around my office like a cripple. I think of IT Band injuries as a runners' problem, but the only running I do is in soccer, once a week. I am road biking/mountain biking/spinning between 6 and 9 times a week. Maybe it's something else?
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Good question. Maybe I can help:
Iliotibial Band Syndrome (or “ITB syndrome” as those in the know call it) can result from any activity (including cycling-with poor form or soccer) that causes the leg to turn inward repeatedly. This can include wearing poor form in cycling, worn-out shoes, running downhill or on banked surfaces, running too many track workouts in the same direction, or simply running too many miles. Unlike many overuse injuries, however, ITB pain afflicts seasoned cyclists (with poor form) and runners almost as much as beginners.
"Forty percent of the runners et al. we see for ITB syndrome have been running or cycling with poor form 5 or more years," says my long-time friend John Pagliano, D.P.M., a sports-medicine podiatrist in Long Beach, Calif., and a onetime 2:26 marathoner. "That's quite a high number. About 50 percent of them are running or cycling with poor form between 20 and 40 miles a week.
"Also ITB syndrome is much more common in women (hi PLF!)," my good friend Dr. Pagliano notes. "Why? It could be the way some women's hips tilt, which can cause their knees to turn in."
Some experts believe that the incidence of ITB syndrome has increased among all runners and cyclists with poor form in recent years, although the reasons aren't clear.
My good friend Dr. Pagliano describes most runners and poor form cyclists with ITB pain as "Type A's." "They run or cycle with poor form for high mileage," he says. "They're not willing to back off."
How can you tell if you have ITB syndrome? "The best way is to bend your knee at a 45-degree angle. If you have an ITB problem, you'll feel pain on the outside of the knee," says another good friend of mine, Dr. Fu. "Sometimes an MRI can confirm it. An X-ray is usually negative, but an MRI can show a partial thickening of the band -- which results from inflammation."
Prevention
Here are some steps you can take to prevent ITB syndrome
1. Most importantly, always decrease your mileage or take a few days off if you feel pain on the outside of your knee.
2. Warm up slowly
3. Make sure your shoes aren't worn along the outside of the sole. If they are, replace them.
4. Run in the middle of the road where it's flat. (To do this safely, you'll need to find roads with little or no traffic and excellent visibility.)
5. Don't run on concrete surfaces.
6. When running on a track, change directions repeatedly.
7. Schedule an evaluation by a podiatrist to see if you need orthotics.
8. Avoid doing any type of squats.
9. Work on good cycling form: turning round circles and keeping your leg in a single plane.
Remember, YMMV, NPI.
