Injured with Iliotibial Band Syndrome (ITBS)
Well, after last week’s 20 miler where my knee bothered me for over half the run, I cut back my mid-week mileage with the hope of (a) being able to race the Katrina Hurricane Relief Cross Country 5k at Mount Trashmore and (b) being able to get through an 18-20 miler in preparation for the Marine Corps Marathon. I’m pretty gutted to report that I’m almost positive I’m suffering with ITBS (Iliotibial Band Syndrome) and that there’s no sign of it clearing up in the immediate future.
Each of my ‘easy’ mid-week runs started off ok, no discomfort whatsoever. However, just a mile or two into the workout and the pain on the outside of my right knee came shooting back. It’s really quite hard to describe what it feels like and fairly easy to ‘run through’ and make it home. Walking is fine but when my leg is flexed at a certain angle the pain is excruciating, almost like someone scraping a knife blade along an open wound.
Foolishly I attempted the cross country race, and although I made it to the finish in a semi-respectable time (20:06), I felt in the cooldown that the injury was more severe than I first imagined. However, after an afternoon’s rest and a hot bath, things were on the up. Walking felt good again and there was even no pain when I bent my leg at ‘that certain angle’ (which incidentally is about 30°).
Sunday morning arrives and I’m keen to go for my long run. Marine Corps is looming and I need to log more miles after a somewhat light training week. This turns out to be the second act of foolishness for the weekend and I get to walk 2 miles back to my car as reward. Only 4 or 5 miles in and I know I’m in trouble. At 10, I tell my running partner to go ahead and leave me (no point ruining his workout as well). Runners who I normally pass, pass me. They ask what’s wrong and if I’m ok, but can’t really do anything to help. Thanks anyway guys… I finally get back to the Visitor Center at First Landing State Park, stop for a drink and decide to walk back to my car which I’d parked at Final Kick Sports. Yet another mistake. I can barely bend my knee and end up almost dragging it along behind me. It turns out it’s easier to walk sideways and somewhere along the path the pain subsides enough for me to walk almost normally again. At last I reach the car and wait for Allyson (my wife) so she can drive me home.
According to everything I’ve read this past week, ice, Ibuprofen and stretching are the key to a quick recovery. Guess what I’m going to be doing for a while??? (to be continued…)
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
December 13th, 2007 at 2:22 am
I was searching for ‘foot pain relief’ at google and got this your post (’Injured with Iliotibial Band Syndrome (ITBS)’) in search results. Not very relevant result, but still interesting to read