Crosstraining With ITBS

and to just elaborate on how I feel - This is not noticeable when I am at rest, although it has been aggravated a few times at rest, but for the most part, it mostly just flares up when I test run on it. I have test ran on it several times and don't know how to get myself out of this cycle of things feeling fine and then reaggravation; it feels never ending.

At this point i've probably lost most/all of my fitness, but to be honest all I care about is running pain free, even if i'm way worse than I was a month ago. Getting really depressed and discouraged, and super confused about all the conflicting information online.

Stick with the foam rolling, TFL work and definitely add in the gluten strengthening. Make sure you let any inflammation go down before you try to run or do anything to irritate it.

Cross training is good but I know anything with bending your knee will likely irritate it.

Seems to be caused by overuse of your hip flexors causing tightness and then rubbing. So you need to stretch and lengthen the TFL but also activate and strengthen your flutes so they do more of the work.

I t can be rough being injured but be patient and consistent with the rehab. If you can find a way to cross train without pain you will stay fit and come back stronger than before.

How much do you weigh and how much weight can you do on Barbell Squats for 10 reps?

Increase your flexibility in the ITB with daily stretching and increase your strength in the squat for now, when you do start running again stick to running at a fast paced 5ks/intervals and avoid the long slow runs for a while.

last note: If everyone did a stretching routine and trained the barbell squat twice a week for 2-3 months before they start their running training all these early injuries that are commonly seen would go right down.. take this break as a restart, focus on heavy leg weight training and increasing your overall flexibility and when you do start running again run fast. This is the best solution IMO.

I've suffered a few times with ITBS over the years, with varying intensities & successful treatments. I know only too well how depressing it can be to set out on a run expecting an injury to flare up at any point.

My most recent bout followed my attempts to re-engage in training following the Amsterdam marathon on October. I couldn't run more than about 2-3 miles without the dreaded dull ache on the side of my knee. I'm now (as far as I can see) completely back to normal, albeit having lost a chunk of fitness! I concentrated on short sessions such as hill sprints, where mileage was low but energy exertion was high, and I never left the house without a session of clamshells/donkey kicks to wake up the glutes. It's actually become vaguely addictive :) and if, as you say, you're spending a lot of time sitting down, waking up (& strengthening) those muscles is absolutely critical.

Not sure what the climate is where you are, but I'm based in UK and usually find that the cold weather doesn't help either.....making a good warm up especially important, not to mention full-length tights!

Other than that just concentrate on completing sessions pain free....even if we're just talking a fast mile. If you get pain, ice the side of the knee right away....don't continue to run on it "just to get home".

Good luck....let us know how you get on.

Thank you! Ok, I think I will definitely implement some glute exercises then. Did you do mostly unweighted activation exercises with bands/bodyweight or weight bearing exercises? I can't really lift a lot of weight with correct form/engaging the right muscle groups. I'm also pretty thin and have a history of knee cap pain in my other leg so I don't like to bend my knees under a lot of weight... but are the non-weighted exercises still effective?

I'll try the cycling to see if it does aggravate it, in which case I obviously won't continue, but if it doesn't then I think I will try to build up some more strength and continue to stretch, even if those two things sometimes come into conflict. I am pretty certain this is ITBS based on how you described it.

needadvicenow wrote:

Thank you! Ok, I think I will definitely implement some glute exercises then. Did you do mostly unweighted activation exercises with bands/bodyweight or weight bearing exercises? I can't really lift a lot of weight with correct form/engaging the right muscle groups. I'm also pretty thin and have a history of knee cap pain in my other leg so I don't like to bend my knees under a lot of weight... but are the non-weighted exercises still effective?

I do my activation exercises non-weight bearing. No reason why you couldn't use a theraband for the clamshells, but personally I just get on all-fours and do 5 minutes of wiggling my legs about pre-run. Also the hill sprints work the glutes anyway.

During my first (and worst) bout of ITBS I took up cycling too. It didn't aggravate the injury at all.....it's a good way to get your kicks whilst out of action for sure.

When I had ITBS it was mostly caused by anterior pelvic tilt. Once I fixed that issue it went away. I did also use a lacrosse ball to get into my TFL but the pelvis was the main culprit. Watch this video to see how to fix it.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TMhv5TThZO0

I am definitely going to go the gym and test on the stationary bike to see if it gets aggravated. If I can cycle without making this worse that would be great.

Sorry for all the questions but - how long did you cycle with ITBS and how frequently?

Thank you, stride issues are definitely something I need to look into. Fixing my stride at this point probably won't make this go away since it comes on so quickly, but in the long run its something to address.

needadvicenow wrote:

Sorry for all the questions but - how long did you cycle with ITBS and how frequently?

Cycling literally caused me no ITB issues whatsoever, so as often and as long as I could find the time for! My rides tend to be pretty high intensity between 15-30miles with plenty of hills (can’t escape them where I live). I was probably doing 3 or 4 sessions/week, weather dependent though ;)