Iliotibial Band Issues

I had someone ask about solutions dealing with pain in the IT Band (Iliotibial Band).  This is a ligament that goes from your hip to your knee on the outside of you leg.  There are a number of ways you can aggravate this ligament and it can be quite painful.  There are a number of short term and long term ways you can address this pain.  I'll just go over what I did to help me treat the injury.

What is ITBS (Iliotibial Band Syndrome)?  

It is a pain, sometimes quite severe, in your knee.  You normally feel it on the outside of your knee and in the more minor forms can almost feel like a tightness.  The more severe pain can almost make it impossible to walk and each movement in your knee can be almost unbearable.

Short Term Treatment for ITBS

Two things I did to help treat the pain was get a foam roller and an IT Band Compression Wrap.

The foam roller was purchased at a big box sports store.  Dicks Sporting Goods, Academy, and Sports Authority all should have foam rollers available.  They tend to have these in the same section as Yoga gear.  Your local running store will undoubtedly have these as well given that this is a common injury runners experience.  It is always a good idea to roll your legs after each run and if you have the time, after each workout as it helps prevent injuries and will massage those achy, tired muscles.  I'll see if I can find a decent article or video of some good stretches you can do with a foam roller.

I also got an IT Band Compression Wrap by Pro-Tech.  This is a strap that goes two to three inches above your knee and helps hold the IT Band in place preventing the band from rubbing against the knee.  This allowed me to continue running moderate distances (5 to 7 miles).  I have seen people claim that when suffering from ITBS that when using this product they were able to run full marathons.  Keep in mind to listen to your body and if there is too much pain it is always best to err on the side of caution and stop running/exercising.

Long Term Treatment for ITBS

What ultimately helped me completely eliminate the pain was that I worked at strengthening my hips and legs.  This article does a good job of outlining everything that you should try to do to treat the injury.  Here is another article with a nice video that shows some good exercises you can perform.  It took several months for me to be able to run pain free and without the compression wrap.

I still roll my legs from time to time but now that I am going to logging serious miles every weekend I need to be more consistent on rolling my legs if I am going to try to remain injury free this winter/spring.