Has anyone ever strained their I.T. band? Got any good stretches to share? How long were you off your knee?

Last Sunday, I went trail running with some friends and ran 5 miles. I have been run/walking for a while and felt up to it but definitely not at their levels. I knew that they were willing to wait on me and walk as much as I needed to walk but I guess the adrenaline in me took over and I barely walked that 5 miles at all. Then, on Tues morning I ran 2.5 miles in my neighborhood. By the time I got home my knee was killing me. Doc said it is my I.T band, showed me some stretches and said to take ibuprophen. hmmmm.

Not sure about straining my IT band, but I have had very tight IT bands, and it HURTS. A tight IT band, was, for me, fortunately easy to remedy. I invested in a foam roller and did these exercises:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJLxruO3su0

It will hurt when you first do this. Quite a lot, but it gets easier as you stick with it. I haven't had this problem in a while (touch wood). Also, I'd advise you to strengthen the muscles around your knees with lunges and squats. These will help protect your knee joints. Make sure you have good form (don't let your knee go over your toes when you do this - it can strain the patellar ligament)

Oh, and good job with the running! Remember, slow build-up to miles, and rest. I've found Aspercreme and the homeopathic Arnicare (Arnica gel) massaged into sore areas can help, too, but don't overdo the Aspercreme.

Good luck!

Thanks VB! A friend of mine was telling me about the yoga roller. Im going to have to get one of those for sure. I was very painful the first and second day but now it is just a little sore.

You would do yourself preventive wonders by dramatically increasing the time spent on your knees giving blow jobs. It's a well known medical fact that frequent dick sucking cures ailments of all kinds.

The first time it happened to me, one of my boxing instructors had me do those exercises on the roller. HOLY HELL! I was temporarily VERY unhappy with him. Yowtch!

Having the roller is also good for general massage of tight areas. You can use it for your back and butt, too. Tennis balls are other things that work well.

I did in boot camp. Hurt like hell. Sharp pains. I thought something was really wrong. Went to the corpsman and he showed me the stretches and told me to take Ibuprofen.

I did stretch #2 ( in the link below) every evening for as long as I could hold it.

And stretch #3 before runs.

It worked. Was feeling better within a week.

http://runningtimes.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=6099

Veebs is the expert, however. Either way, stretching will do the trick believe it or not.

Holy Hell. sonofabitch that hurts!

I rolled a towel up in my yoga mat and used that for now. Ill need to invest in one of the roller thingys but based on the level of pain I just experienced, this works too. I can tell its good pain though and not the "something is about to snap" pain.

oooh that's a good article (and with pics, too). Ill try those as well. Thanks!

(Although, that girl's orange shirt is clashing with her peach walls and weird 1983 Palm Beach artwork.)

I had the stretches backwards. I did #3 at night for as long as I could hold it and #2 before a run.

Anyway, they work surprisingly well. And I never had the problem again even after I stopped doing the evening stretch. I always did the pre-run stretch, though.