How to recovery from ITB

So how do you get rid of ITB.

Well first, I am not a medically trained expert, but after having it 3 times and in both knees, I have become expert by personal experience.

ITB starts with pain on the outside and sometimes behind the knee - at least for me it does.

If you catch early, stretching and ice will most likely help keep you going in your workouts.

But if you are like me and push over the edge of common sense, running becomes so painful that just the thought mentally hurts.

This time I pushed so hard in my training that I had swelling around my knee and down my right leg.

At this point, common sense finally did start to kick in and I adjusted my training.

So here is what I did.

I cut my miles way back.

I would run until the knee started to hurt and then stop. I never pushed any further. I also slowed down the pace that I was running. Instead of running 6 min miles, I ran 8 or 9 minutes per mile.

I changed where I run. I avoided any place with concrete because concrete is so much harder than asphalt or dirt. I moved to running in neighborhoods where I can run on the wrong side of the road. Yeah, I know this is bad idea but that is why I ran through quiet little neighborhoods. They have very little traffic. The other thing to do is move off the roads altogether. I started hitting the trails and found that I could run a little longer before the pain reared it ugly head.

Stretching has always been a part of my routine. But with this batch of ITB, I did some searches on UTube for some videos. I found a ton of new hip stretching exercises. A few of which make me look like a pretzel but it seems to be working.

I also continued to use "The Stick" on my legs.

There is one other thing that I did. I bought one of those foam rollers. As I research on UTube, I found this video online about ITB where the guy recommended using a foam roller for ITB. And I thought, let's give it a shot. But one word of warning, the first time that you use the roller, it will put tears in your eyes. It really does hurt if you use it correctly. But as you use it regularly, it does get easier.

Along with these exercises, I have been using ice and heat. After every workout, I put a cold pack on my knee. I do it for 15 minutes on, 10 minutes off. I do this three times. You don't want to leave it on to long as it could freeze the skin. I try to do 3 icings per day. Then, before bed I wrap a heat pad around the out side of my knee and leave it on for 20 minutes.

So far, it has been almost 4 weeks since I started these treatments. My knee has moved from lots of pain to having a stinging feeling to just being numb at the end of my runs.

And, I have been running the entire time. But because I wasn't running as much, I started cross training. I have been riding my mt. bike, using the stair master, the bikes at the Y, and the elliptical machines at the Y. I also started lifting more weight. By this I mean, I added more sets and rather than more weight. I did't do any weights on my legs, however. I felt if it was hurting, let's not put any more pressure on it.

Overall, the cross training doesn't give you the same cardio workout that a run does. But, if you do it right, it will help keep your fitness level from falling off too quickly and that is the whole point. You use the cross training so continue the workouts that push your cardio.

So this is what I have been doing for the last 4 weeks. They say it takes 4-6 weeks to recovery from ITB, I think that I am on pace. Once I get back to full time running, I will still need to build back my running to previous level which will take time. What you do not want to do is jump into heavy training immediately. You can run the risk of reinjuring your knee again.