Three lessons in sports therapy, learnt the hard way. Part 3

Lesson 3: Iliotibial Band Syndrome is bad (but hopefully not really bad?)

Remember that knee I was telling you about?

During my next 7 mile run, it was fine for the first 5 miles. During the 4 mile run after that, it was fine for the first two miles.
Recognising this was heading in the wrong direction, I held back. I didn't do any running that weekend, and went to a physio the Monday after.

Turns out I've got something quite common called iliotibial band syndrome (ITBS).

There's a band of tissue running down the outside of the leg, from hip to knee joint, that's key in keeping your knees straight when running. On the left side, it's rubbing against the knee, causing inflamation. In my case, it's caused by excess tension in my glutial muscles (I am, quite literally, a tight-arse), meaning they can't do their job properly.

The upshot is I'm basically fine, until quite a way into a run (about 6 miles, currently), when it starts hurting, and if I ran through it, it starts hurting a lot. So I don't :)

Good new is that it's nothing difficult to fix- the inflamation should go down with rest & ibuprofen, and I've got a foam roller & some exercises I'm doing everyday to release tension in the thigh.

I've decided there's nothing to be gained a this point by trying to do long runs, so I've just got to try to keep as fit as poss over the next few weeks without exhasperating it. I went for a swim last weekend, which was good (well, I hate front crawl, so not that good, but still). I did a couple of hours on cross-trainers at the gym this week, which I seem to be able to use without feeling hit, which is very good news.

It's frustrating, cos it doesn't hurt at all when I'm just walking about, and the rest of me is hankering to do some really long runs, but gonna resist.

I've got a mini dress rehearsal next weekend, with the Manchester 10km. My brother's coming up to run it, and my folks are coming down to watch. I'm gonna do it, though I'm not going for a PB.

If I get serious issues on that one, I might have to reconsider, but for the moment I'm still gonna at least give edinburgh a shot.


W.