I've now been discharged by physio. Not sure how much good it actually did as I never felt that she properly diagnosed the problem. But at least I'm running a bit now and largely without pain too so it must have done some good. I now feel that it is an IT band injury principally because my symptoms are exactly as described on this website. Interestingly the IT band was never mentioned by the physio but I suppose the IT could be symptomatic of a general weakness in the upper thigh area, as diagnosed by the physio.
Anyway, I managed three days in a row last week which contributed to a massive weekly total of 22.70 miles over 4 days. Almost my total mileage for April!! I tried these runs without my orthotics to test a theory posed following one one my previous posts. It seemed to be working until yesterday....
My three-in-row runs were on Wed, Thurs and Friday. I took Sat, Sun and Mon off. So I was fully rested for yesterday's run. Again without orthotics but as if by clockwork the outside of my right knee became sore at the 2 mile mark. Conclusion - my current condition is unaffected by the use or otherwise of my orthotics. So I put them back in today and went for a 'planned' easy run at lunchtime.
This is the summary of my runs over the past week or so...
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Despite having nearly a month off I'm finding that anything around 7:30min/mile is a bit pedestrian so I figure that I may have not lost too much fitness.Looking at the mile by mile splits there is an apparent trend.... I don't know how to run slowly!!
I felt very good today (almost like a runner again!!) so by mile 2 the 'easy' plan was forgotten. All was going well until my knee (ITB) started to get sore at the 2.5 mile mark. I kept the pace going and it appeared to clear up, well at least the pain became more bearable, as the run progressed. Maybe that's why I tend to accelerate - just to get to the end quicker!! :)
Unfortunately I'll miss a few nice races but the plan now is not to do anything too tough, i.e. fast, for the next few weeks just to build mileage and strength. Lots of stretching too. Hopefully, that together with some ice will keep me on the right road to recovery....
Unfortunately I'll miss a few nice races but the plan now is not to do anything too tough, i.e. fast, for the next few weeks just to build mileage and strength. Lots of stretching too. Hopefully, that together with some ice will keep me on the right road to recovery....
5 comments:
Glad you're on track! Good speed. Best wishes you continue to improve.
Are you doing specific strengthening and/or stretching exercises for the ITB?
I found that a hard foam roller (the blue one) can really help w/ ITBS.
Also, if the problem is close to the attachment at the knee, using the heel of your hand to put pressure on the band just above the knee (meaning pushing straight down into the band - hold for a few seconds and then move about a half inch and repeat) dramatically helps loosen that area. This keeps the band from rubbing close to the knee which is what really aggravates the condition.
My ITBS caused me to miss a couple months of running, but since using the roller and the heel of the hand trick (what my CMT would do as part of my treatment) it's never come back.
Good luck - nice to see you out there running again.
Thanks guys. It feels good to be getting out running again (if only very cautiously). It's amazing how used you get to getting some daily exercise and how much you miss it when you can't!!
Thomas, the specific exercises I'm doing essentially revolve around stretching my thigh in a number of different ways (as perscribed by my physio). I'm also working doing some calf exercises to strengthen and loosen my achilles and calf - both of which are quite stiff at the moment.
Mike, thanks for that. Yes, the sore point is at the attachment at the knee. I've noticed that a bit of direct pressure on this area, while being a bit painful, tends loosen it. I'll try the technique you suggest it sounds a bit more scientific than my adhoc approach!! :) Hopefully with being sensible about my runs I'll be able to keep running without doing further damage.
Really appreciate the tips.
Good to see your making progress, one thing I would recommend is to watch this video, Its about how to increase your energy return when running, the great thing I found when using D-FLEX is it takes all the stress off your calf muscles, I've had no bad side efforts, but if you try it maybe try just 5-10 mins the first time then increase.
hope this might help you;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpebcJzLJHA
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