IT Band/Hip Injury
I wanted to get in contact with you to discuss your injury. I have been struggling with ITB syndrome and hip problems since March. I wanted to let you know what helped me get over it. I initially thought that stretching would eventually heal my pains. I was wrong. Stretching does play a major part and I will get to that in a few. The thing that really helped me was to strengthen the muscles in my hips. My hip muscles were extremely weak.
To prove this, stand on one leg and try to bend your knee and squat. If your hip muscles are weak, this will be hard to do without falling over or bending forward at the hip to compensate. You should be able to stand straight and go straight down.
Now, what you should be doing. Pool running (deep water without an aqua jogger for 45-an hour; pick ups) is a great way to maintain your fitness, but getting the hips in order is the important part. Get a theraband (if you don’t have one any training room or PT will) there are a few exercises you can do with this that will help strengthen your hips. described below:
1. Stand with your legs together. Tie the theraband tightly around your middle-upper calf (like you are being tied up) Slide your right foot away from the left one, sliding it along the carpet/ground. Your feet will be about a half yard to a yard apart. then you slowly move the left one to meet the right foot that you just slide. you will be essentially sliding across the room with each step. then, you will do the same thing on the way back to work the other hip. Make sure that you keep your legs straight. You will want to bend the knee to help; this isn’t going to strengthen those muscles as well.
2. I have included a link that will be great for you to use for stretches and strengthening. You will really want to concentrate your efforts on the piriformis stretches, IT Band Stretches, and the hip flexor stretches, The piriformis is actually what you are feeling if you have pain deep in your butt. It attaches to the IT Band. It is interesting because even though you can do an IT Band stretch, it is not stretching the IT Band. The IT Band cannot be stretched. The focus is on the muscles surrounding it and other muscles in the legs. You will still want to stretch the hamstrings, calves, etc. Stretching is always good.
http://www.rice.edu/~jenky/stretch.html
The most important part of this link is the stregthening portion with the link "Hip Exercises for Runners" the picture shows the model using a machine. This will strengthen your hips through hip flexion, hip extension, hip abduction and hip adduction.You may even see a machine that will focus on strengthening these muscle at your local gym or athletic weight room. Ifyou have access to one, Use it. It easier than using the theraband. If not, you can achieve the same affect with a theraband and the leg of a chair or couch.(just make sure it is heavy enough to hold the chair/couch in place) you tie the ends of the band together and slide it under the leg. put your foot in the loop and do the exercise pictured...
Do the exercises and the stretches and see what happens. I am confident that this will cease in a few weeks. The main this is that you get those hips strengthened, but DO NOT OVER DO IT. Thoroughly stretch twice-three times a day. You can mix in a few more ITB stretches thorughout the day. Do one strengthening exercise in the AM (the side to side exercise) and the other (hip machine/theraband) in the PM. And see what happens. You may just start out with one of these a day for the first week.. These muscles are rarely isolated in strengthening so it is important to not over work them.
Also, If you know a massage therapist, that wouldnt hurt to have some active release therapy done on it. It hurts like a SOB, but effective for me.
Finally, evaluate your shoes. I would suggest going to a specialty running store and being fitted to see what your foot does as it moves through the gait cycle. If you are over pronating and do not have the medial side stability that you need, it will put un needed stress on your hips and IT. I would recommend Fleet Feet if you have one near you. It is important that you have them look at you while running or walking to determine what you need stability wise in your shoes.
I honestly believe that if you do some of these exercises, you will have a lot of success getting back into running again. I have been there and if I had done these things earlier I would be a lot better off!!
Good Luck