Hello. I'm pretty new to highpointing, but I think it's pretty awesome so I'm throwing myself into it. Anyway, I'm in OK shape so I started to step things up a bit and discovered about a month ago coming down from a steep hike that I think I have an IT band problem.

I've talked with a few runners and gotten advice from them, but I thought I'd see if this community had any advice more specific to hiking / climbing or recovery methods.

Thanks.

Try using trekking poles or ski poles to reduce the stress on the knees. I rarely used them until I started to hike with people older than myself and they all had started to use poles after developing knee problems. I used them from then on as a preventive measure and haven't had any season-ending injuries.

Had that issue about 10 years ago. It's a really uncomfortable pain and I was almost literally crawling back to the trailhead. At the time, the lesser pain choice was to continue moving on down the trail, than to stop and rest and start again. About a week later I had an appointment with a local Ortho Sports and Therapy Doc who diagnosed it as ITB. He suggested doing the classic ITB stretch and take up more crosstraining such as bicycle and swimming. Within 3 months the problem disappeared. Like Steve mentioned, hiking poles can be a good thing and I sometimes use them. Good luck and get it checked out before it becomes worse. As always, Happy Trails and Safe Climbs.
Stony

I'm a highpointer and a marathoner and I highly recommend a yoga stretch called the pigeon for IT and/or knee problems. They are often related -- very much cause and effect. If you google "pigeon stretch" or "pigeon pose" you'll find a variety of videos that can teach you how to do this. It did wonders for me when I recently developed knee problems while training for the Boston Marathon, and the pigeon remains an integral part of my stretching regimen. By the way, I also use trekking poles. They are great for lessening the stress on your knees, especially when wearing a heavy pack, and especially when descending with a heavy pack.

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll get some poles for sure. In the meantime, I've been doing the stationary bike 4x / week, and one 3-4 hr hike on the weekends, but I'm still noticing some pain. I may have to dial it back a bit more.

(I'm not sure when my highpointing goals turned into a fitness obsession, but man it sucks to not be able to run. No doubt I'll be asking everyone I can find at the convention what they do to train.)

I've also got a foam roller, which I've been using for self-massage daily, and holy cow does that thing hurt when I find the knots in my thigh.

I have an appointment with an ortho doc next week, so we'll see what he has to say.

Just ran across a short article in August issue of Runner's World reflecting the differences between ITB Syndrome and Runner's Knee. Might be worth picking up a copy. Hang in there.