So, I am in my senior season of track, i am not amazing but i am a decent runner. I really want to give it a good last go round before I call it a career, and there's only 4 weeks or so till conference and 6 if i were to go beyond that.
Anyways, I've had bad Iliotibial band syndrome for years now, and its really bad right now. I've done tons of homework, I know all the threads on here about it - i ice when i don't need to run, i heat when i do, i use a foam roller all the time and I stretch and visit our athletic trainers all the time for therapy. I also limit my mileage, stick to flat surfaces as much as possible, stay off the sides of roads (banked), i do all that stuff.
Basically, I've come to the conclusion that it's going to hurt to run. It may eventually become so bad that I just physically can't run (this happened to me once before for a brief period of time). In years past, taking time off has almost completely fixed the problem (though flexibility in my knee has been permanently hampered).
But I am wondering, if i do decide to push through this, just load up on advil and fight through the pain, will I be causing any permanent damage to my knee, hip, or it band? has anyone done this and regretted it? Once this season is over I don't care if i have to take a month off, or 4 months off or whatever, but I'd really like to get a few more weeks out of it, and know that eventually my body will heal.
Any advice is appreciated.