Help, racing with ITBS

Sorry to hear about your injury. I have had ITBS before. Sucks.
I am surprised that Graston has not been effective.....its what worked for me.

Have you tried getting Kinesio taped? Perhaps that would help get you through the race?

Best of luck to you. 

Run till it hurts and then start walking. If you try to run through it, your recovery time will be much much longer. Find another half in 4-6 weeks, treat your knee, and then kick .

I dropped out of IMMOO because of ITBS. I was supposed to race with 20 other club members. It sucked, but my back up race is next week. (B2B)

I'm so sorry you are dealing with this right now - you are already doing some very good things with foam roller and ART.  I would suggest getting a Patt strap for ITBS you can find them online but also in running stores specifically for ITBS and kinesio tape too - get taped up from someone who knows what they are doing or at least get some tape and watch some you tube videos on how to apply for ITBS.
Best wishes to you and hope the race goes well.

This was me for my first marathon in June 2004.  I had ongoing ITBS issues that I was working with a PT on, stretching & foam roller, but there was no way I was going to make the full distance without serious problems.   I started that marathon with a "walking the plank" atittude, knowing somewhere between mile 14 and 17 my right leg was going to go bad.  And right on cue, at mile 15 my knee was starting to hurt.  Mile 17 I started having real problems.  Mile 18-20 I was stopping to stretch a lot but it wasn't really helping.  Mile 21+ I gave up on bending my right knee and started running with this peg leg style, swing my right leg as fast as possible without actually bending the knee.  Worked pretty well, actually, all things considering.  I recall the first half split was around 2:10 and I finished in 5:08. 

I tried the elastic IT bands and all that during training, and they made not one whit of a difference so I didn't try on race day.

My advice:

Stop running today.  Your race is in a week.  Save it for race day.

See your ART practitioner (they work wonders) and follow their advice regarding stretching and rolling at home.

If your goal is to finish as fast as possible, hit it hard from starting gun.  It's not like taking it easy will prevent your IT band from flaring up.  It is going to hurt, and that's that. 

Question: why could you "not even finish 3 miles" today?

I have had some ITB issues off and on this season. I always find that running on a track is the worst. I have one of the straps - and it's quite effective. Taking time off also helps - you have the base run training - take off the time until the race.

I've also heard that ITBS is actually helped by running fast - so I'd leave T2 at a brisk pace and hold that as long as possible. Take a few advil before the race and maybe pop another one or two at T1 to ease the impending pain a bit.

Edited by natethomas2000 2010-11-06 1:38 PM

I've had off and on problems with ITBS, mostly related to poor form.  I had a very mild achilles issue a few weeks ago which I was able to clear up in just two weeks with the help of my awesome chiropractor.  She advised me to slow down and take it easy on my runs to avoid more achilles issues.  Following her advice, I ran slower and immediately had my ITBS flare up.  If I pick it up to my "normal" pace I have no pain.

My guess is that running slower than what feels natural causes a breakdown in form which leads to more issues.  Also, when the knee starts hurting you may be changing your stride in an attempt to compensate which could just be making it worse. 

OP, good luck in your race.  It sounds like you're doing everything you can.  I second whoever said to stay off it for the rest of the week.  The hay is in the barn already so the best thing you can do is leave it alone so it doesn't fall apart on race day.

This user's post has been ignored.

Oh, you could also try ultrasound and see if that helps any.  The combination of us and graston is what my chiro used on my ankle and was incredibly effective.

I was in your same position early this year......14wks with no running sucks! I tried everything that you say you have, My wife is a massage therapist that works for a chiropractor that is big into soft tissue work and ART. Stretching, icing, rest, art, massage....blah blah...nothing was working. Had my feet looked at by a podiatrist and saw an ortho to make sure nothing was really screwed. An MRI confirmed ITBS. Saw the PT and we decided my only other option was a cortisone shot. Had the shot on Wednesday and ran on Friday with no pain. I have had no pain since and I am back up to 30 miles a week. I am a bit on the cautious side now. 300 miles and shoes are replaced, and I make sure I stretch after every run and I ice regularly. Not saying its the right thing to do but it saved me and I feel great. Hope it helps! Best of luck to you!!!

E 

This user's post has been ignored.

I think if you do the shot once and are NOT at risk for a more serious issue you should consider it.  It is the repeated use of it that is risky, or the masking of pain that could lead to a more serious issue.  It sure seems like you tried everything else in the book.  Get this race out of the way, take some serious time off, except many for anything your PT tells you do, and then go back at it with a fresh start.

I have read all your posts on your struggles and I feel you all!!  I have some serious IT band problems also.  Though I wish it was my knee, mine is in my hip.  At times I can walk fine, run etc but all of the sudden my hip just gives out and I feel like I am going to fall down, actually a few weeks ago it was so bad I could hardly walk.  I worked out on an elyptical machine and it works, tried doing the hot chocolate 15k today and made it about a half mile and I felt that familiar pop and out I went.  But on the good side I did get my fondue and hot chocolate!

Unfortunately, stretching and foam rolling will only help if you also rest and ice the inflammation. This means, you simply can't run at all for at least a week (and probably 2).

Do you have any issues when you bike? If you do, then you seriously need to see a bike fitter to get that taken care of as well.

Sorry to hear about your injury, but just take a couple of weeks where you concentrate on getting back to normal (stretch, foam roll, ice, rest, repeat!)

Sorry, I missed the "T" in the post. I have experience racing with IBS issues. I'll save that for the proper thread.

I had almost the exact same thing happen to me one week before my ten miler.  To get through it (and before I went to PT), I ended up using KT Tape and buying a compression sleeve with a patella hole. Had to do a run-walk for the first 5. At the mile 5 aid station, I was ready to drop out but instead stopped for 10 minutes to retape with regular athletic tape so tight I almost couldn't bend my knee. Put the compression sleeve over it and was able to finish the race - very sore, but still running. I wish I would have taken a bunch of Alleve before the race - think it would have helped.

Like you, I've started seeing a PT (an MRI confirmed ITBS) and we're doing lots of foam rolling... just started graston... I've been "recovering" now for a month and still am a work in progress. Encouraging to see so many on this forum that are back at it and have recovered strong! 

Not sure if you've already completed your race but good luck! 

LOL! YES! That is the exact way I was walking after my ten-miler! Love the peg-leg, hip-swing!  

I think it also helps to run up and down moderate hills / varied terrain as opposed to a constant flat long run.  The repetitive motion is what really flares it up.