No ITB pain

I ran the Portland Marathon last week. While I didn't meet my goal time, I did PR and have absolutely no ITB pain for the effort.

Special thanks to Ozzie and Dot for their recommendations a month ago.

Eric, congrats on the PR but more important on overcoming your ITB challenge. I know from experience what relief you must feel. Enjoy the recovery.

I am new to the group and suffering from ITB pain.

Could you pass along the recommendations that helped you?

JBM

From my own experience overcoming chronic ITB problems:

Stop running for a couple of weeks and use anti-inflammatory medicines if you can tolerate them; give your IT band time to settle down.

Then do as many of the following as you can manage: -regular ITB strengthening exercises such as described at: http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/0168.htm -temporarily reduce weekly mileage and longest runs from wherever they were when the injury struck -change to a different running shoe -avoid running consistently on the same side of slanted surfaces, such as cantered roads -study your training records and consider whether you have increased weekly mileage too rapidly -for the moment, choose softer running surfaces over harder ones (grass/dirt/gravel over concrete/asphalt), but also consult discussions on this newsgroup about how to run more softly in general -learn as much as you can about running form and whether you are over-striding, landing generally on your heels, etc. -finally, and this probably doesn't apply to everyone the way it did to me

In addition to doing everything that Chris suggested in his reply, except changing my shoes, I also stretched more, including two stretches for ITB.

The first stretch is done while sitting. Cross your right leg over your left so your foot is sitting near your left knee, then turn your torso to the right and place your left elbow against the outside of your right knee and apply pressure to the leg with your arm and body. Do the opposite for the other side. ( I had normally done this stretch before, but had skipped it occasionally).

The other stretch I found in the October issue of Runner's World. There is a good article about ITB and hip pain in that issue.

To sum up:

I only ran on dirt roads (this required that I commute to my workout, but the result was worth it).

I alternated my long runs with equivalent miles on my bike, thereby decreasing my miles but maintaining fitness. Cycling did not aggravate my ITBS.

I stretched more and used the specific stretches above after workouts. I tried to avoid stretching if the muscles were not properly warmed up.

During the race, I made sure to run on the flat of the road, wherever that was (usually in the middle).

Best of luck,

Eric

these are all good suggestions, and i'll add one more biggie.... get checked out by someone like a chiropractor or physical therapist to see if perhaps you have a functionally shorter leg or a 'flaring' of the foot (angling out to the side a bit). in my case, i must simply get 'tune ups' now and then to avoid the ITBS that comes with running a lot with these things. you could follow all of the ideas below and still have the ITBS if you suffer from what i described above.

best of luck,

Cam

there are so many variations on the ITB stretch that i'm finding it hard to decide which to do. i mean, why do all of them if several of them target the same area and stretch it the same way? to pick just one, or maybe two, seems like the more time-efficient way to go.

the one you describe is cool... it can be done just while sitting at work. i know a few variations on the one where you stand with the legs crossed, and there is another where you lie down on one side and basically make yourself look like a pretzel. i did that one for a good long time, but it's not always convenient to lie down on the ground before and after runs/races.

i have found that a tight ITB needs some massage too, and i mean more than just hand massage. i bought myself one of those light-duty massager units with attachments. i put on the one with two round-tipped 'thumpers' and let that go on low-speed over the ITB, letting it sit on the tight spots and applying a little more pressure to help loosen up the warmed up ITB. this really allowed the tight band to finally 'let go' and it feels nice and loose now.

First he's posting on his ITB pain, then he's posting on his lack of ITB pain. Is there no pleasing this jogger?

If it's any consolation, I am having trouble with the other calf. It is, however, completely unrelated to the ITB

Eric, This is great to hear - finish, PR, no ITB pain! What more could a person want Congratulations.