IT Band?

[Catrin]

Finally able to start to raise my mileage base since my neck injury in October and what happens? I think I've a tight IT band on THAT leg (the one with the overuse injuries 2 years ago). It feels a bit cold when I am not on the bike and radiates out from my hip down to the top/center of my thigh and just a bit down the side of the leg. I can also feel it where it connects to the inner/upper side of my knee. The other leg does it a little but not as much. This has been happening for a couple of weeks and I am trying to figure out what I can to to ease the situation. I need to start building my mileage base since my neck can finally handle it, but I don't want an injury from the tight IT band.

I don't really think over did it this week - I did things most days but nothing extreme...

Monday - weight session focusing on lower body (high volume)
Tuesday: rode 12 miles (just an easy spin to stretch the legs after Monday's session)
Wed: upper body weight session + Bosu Class
Thursday: 4 mile mountain bike ride
Friday: ~29 mile commute + workout

I stretch plus foam roll after every ride, and I foam roll before every workout - my instructors at the gym have really stressed the importance of foam rolling before gym sessions - I've been stretching after rides since my over-use injury recovery. I've added a couple of hip stretches to my post-ride stretches.

Is there anything else I can do to loosen the IT band? I know it's not bike fit, my custom bike has been fit to me in every possible way - starting with the design. I am going to swing my bike by the shop and have my fitter check to make certain nothing hasn't changed - perhaps my saddle height has slipped a bit?

A beautiful day for riding today and I am taking a rest/stretch day. MEH!

BTW, I think I am going to drop the high volume lower body weight session to every two weeks - I want to maintain my strength but with my riding increasing...or I am TRYING to increase it!

I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride my bike!

[indysteel]

I have to question your assumption that it's ITBS. That often manifests as pain on the outside, not inside, of the knee. That's where i felt it FWIW. While it can cause hip pain, knee pain is much more common. So the site of your pain, along with the fact that it's radiating down your leg, makes me wonder. Now what kind of injury IS more likely, I don't know. Perhaps Wahine will weigh in.

[OakLeaf]

Didn't you have a sartorius injury before? Is this the same area? That and/or maybe the adductor magnus, if it's bugging you above the medial knee?

I'm guessing just a bit of overuse if you've been increasing mileage lately. Some of those adductor muscles don't see a lot of use off the bike. Easy does it. Day or two off is probably a good idea. Don't neglect the medial thighs with your foam roller. And half moon pose seems to cure everything for me...

[Catrin]

I have to question your assumption that it's ITBS. That often manifests as pain on the outside, not inside, of the knee. That's where i felt it FWIW. While it can cause hip pain, knee pain is much more common. So the site of your pain, along with the fact that it's radiating down your leg, makes me wonder. Now what kind of injury IS more likely, I don't know. Perhaps Wahine will weigh in.

It doesn't radiate far...but Oak's comment got me to thinking

Didn't you have a sartorius injury before? Is this the same area? That and/or maybe the adductor magnus, if it's bugging you above the medial knee?

I'm guessing just a bit of overuse if you've been increasing mileage lately. Some of those adductor muscles don't see a lot of use off the bike. Easy does it. Day or two off is probably a good idea. Don't neglect the medial thighs with your foam roller. And half moon pose seems to cure everything for me...

Oakleaf, I had forgotten about the sartorius injury (the quad and hamstring injuries in that leg were far more memorable - they were at the same time but from different sources) - for some reason I was thinking the IT band crosses the thigh from the hip and winds up at the inner side of the knee but obviously I need an anatomy lesson as THAT is the sartorius I have both foam roller and "stick" and will look up the half-moon pose to see what that is.

I've been trying to remember to use the Helix Lateral trainer at the gym for 15-20 minutes once or twice a week to give the abductors/adductors some work but have been slipping on that.

My fitter did tweak the saddle height just a bit (I've been messing with the post installing the rack) and reminded me it is time to back off on the leg work at the gym - he thinks that it is more related to continuing lower body weights while increasing riding on both road and trail. I think he is right. I will take the weekend off the bike and just go walking in the park to enjoy the weather. I really hadn't gotten far in increasing my mileage - I got 29 miles yesterday but that was split into 2 rides...

[OakLeaf]

will look up the half-moon pose to see what that is.

Yoga Journal gets you into it from Triangle. What my teacher usually does is start from Warrior III, extend the arms laterally to airplane, then first rotate the leg in the air so the toe is pointing outward, then the trunk, and come back out of it the same way. I get hip and low back release from ardha chandrasana that I can't get any other way - plus it's great for the ankle and hip stabilizers. Looking down at the fingers touching the ground will help your balance as you learn the pose, then progress to looking straight out to the side and ultimately upward toward the hand in the air, as pictured.


ETA: I know I'm spending too much time here if I remember your injuries better than you do.

[Catrin]

[URL="http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/784"]...
ETA: I know I'm spending too much time here if I remember your injuries better than you do.

LOL - that is funny It WAS an unusual set of injuries to have all at once in the same leg. Leave it to me!

[Catrin]

*$%^#@&$()#&$%_#*$%# *$&%(#&$(@!&$($#& it!

I just went for a walk - just had to get outside even if I am taking 2 days off the bike...and by the time I got home my hamstring in the same leg was complaining (up where it connects with my glutes and also the back of the knee). It seems that I managed to tweak both the old satrorius and hamstring injury this week somehow

Off to the foam roller and stretching, this is not going to be fun. I don't think it is serious...at least the old quad injury appears to not be acting up. Wish I knew how...I thought I was easing back into things properly. No lower body weights for awhile, I suspect that I over-did things Monday without knowing it.

[indysteel]

My hamstring injury from last year was tendinitis at the insertion point to my glute. The foam roller kind of helped, but what helped even more was a small massage ball or tennis ball. I more or less sat on the ball on the floor and rolled over the ball at the most tender spots. It hurts a lot as as do it, so be forewarned. Stretching also helps so long as I hold the stretch for at least a minute. My favorite is to lay on the floor with the injured leg extended straight up in the air and the other leg flat on the ground. Grab behind the thigh and hold or use a yoga strap around your flexed foot.

[Catrin]

Thanks for the tip Indy, I will see if I've something that will serve the purpose. I couldn't quite get to the sore area with the foam roller, it's too large and has the wrong shape. If nothing else my bathrobe strap will help me hold the leg up. I did have tendinitis in the hamstring (in the same place you did) at the same time that I pulled it and the quad, so this makes perfect sense. I wonder if the hamstring caused the sartorius to flare? That is probably over-thinking...

[ny biker]

My trainer recommends using a lacrosse ball when a foam roller is too big. I need to go buy one.

I strained my back at the gym a few months ago (aggravated a chronic problem with my sacroiliac on the right side) and managed to make it worse while stretching. I think it was due to bad form during an IT band stretch that messed me up. I had pain alternating in my back and on the outside of my calf. The main thing that healed it was time (with very careful stretching and avoiding the weight training exercises that aggravate the SI joint).

I'm still having some back/hip pain at night, but I'm hoping that stepping up the foam roller routine with help with that.

[OakLeaf]

Ugh. Hope it feels better soon.

Lacrosse ball sounds good. A darning egg would work to just sit on, but it wouldn't roll evenly since it isn't spherical. I have a 7" foam ball that works pretty well too (plus it's nice for travel because it's big enough to get into some of the areas that I'd normally use the roller on).

[indysteel]

When my hamstring injury flares, the pain refers down the side of my leg and that's actually what bothers me the most. It almost mimics sciatica in that sense. The massage ball I use is from a company called Trigger Point Therapy, but any hard ball will do. I keep a tennis ball in my car and at my office. I hadn't thought of a lacrosse ball.

I've been living with this for some time, and have kept it pretty well under control with some massage after my initial round of PT. I do a lot of exercises to strengthen the hamstring, too. Bridges are one of the most effective, along with some balance poses. My PT warned me that it could take a very long time to heal and that it might long bother me. So I would suggest that you incorporate some massage on a regular basis, even if it stops hurting.

[Catrin]

I will pick up a tennis ball or two, they can't be expensive. Massage just won't fit into my budget for a time, but it does make sense. There is also a new device for myofacial release...one of the trainers at my gym showed it to me the other day. It has some odd tool-like name.

It is a square stick with 4 balls of different sizes, 2 on either side of both ends. The balls can come off to be used by themselves or you can leave them on to roll up your spine; it is quite the multi-purpose tool. Very interesting and I wish I could remember the name of it. The trainer will send me a link to a site where it can be purchased with a discount that she can provide me. I suspect I can't afford it either but that will eventually change.

Part of my problem is that I never get sore like the average person. For some reason, even after the hardest of workouts, I am never sore the next day (unless it is a deadlift that I've not done for some time). This makes it easier for me to over-do things without realizing it.

[indysteel]

When I said massage, I meant self massage with the ball. Sorry I wasn't clear.

[Catrin]

When I said massage, I meant self massage with the ball. Sorry I wasn't clear.

I just misread it. I do appreciate the tips!