Run-Down Forums

[rob in rhode island]

I'm new to these forums, and I'll start off with a question about an injury that's dogged me since an October marathon.

I'm in PT twice a week (ultrasound and stretching) for ITBFS, and am very discouraged by my lack of progress in recovery. Halfway through the marathon, my ITB started to hurt and I popped 4 ibuprofin which were given to me by a friend on a bike at about 16 miles. I ran the rest of the race and didn't feel much pain, but had a rough time afterwards. Ever since, the pain has not been severe enough to be noticed when walking or even running very short distances, but when I try to go beyond three miles it still begins to chafe and grind, after weeks of therapy and about 8 ultrasound treatments. I am also on an anti-inflammatory and have been stretching twice daily to lengthen the tissue and reduce friction on the band. I didn't run for a 14 days and then started again slowly, only to have the damn thing stop me again. I'm caught in a cycle of laying off and then running to see if it has improved, but it is incredibly slow to heal.

Which brings me to my question. What's the longest any of you who have had this problem had to lay off before a full recovery was reached?

Thanks a lot in adance for your input.

Rob

[Dan]

In my experience, some good deep tissue (massage) work is the only truly effective way to go. Not only can it have you up and running in no time, but typical rehab programs can go on indefinitely with no real effect on IT problems.

Dan

[rob in rhode island]

[quote="Dan"]In my experience, some good deep tissue (massage) work is the only truly effective way to go. Not only can it have you up and running in no time, but typical rehab programs can go on indefinitely with no real effect on IT problems.

Thanks Dan. My PT did a little massage the other day and I'll treat myself at home in the interim. I have a little concern that, since it is a friction problem, massage could exacerbate things. But who knows?

The massage issue has been confounding, since my sports med doctor mentioned that the deep tissue massage I received a few days prior to the marathon may have screwed things up a bit, somehow bringing on the friction that caused the pain in the first place. I was ultra tight (the massage therapist said I was "hyper tonal") and she really worked me over hard.

[Distance_Guru]

IT band syndrom is a strange problem. It can be as mild as making a knee ache for a day or so to ending a runners career. And the recovery is equally varied. Last year I had an athlete that came down with it and was out for 10 weeks using convetional treatment (stretching, ultra sound) she even got a cortizone shot. None of that did a thing. Finally the training staff gave her electro stem treatment. She was running within 4 days. I've also seen and had deep tissue massage work very well on problem causing IT bands. For some reason doctors tend not to like message treatments. (I think it's that non-conventional treatments usually aren't popular with doctors.) From what I understand on of the big sources of IT band problems is that the band and the underlying muscle quit sliding past each other smoothly and stick together. Which resluts in tension and irritation of the band. Deep tissue massage can help the muscle and the IT band slide past each other more easily.
_________________
Time is the fire in which we burn

[Dan]

There's also good and bad massage work...

Dan

[rob in rhode island]

thanks fellas. looking for books on treatment right now.

Rob