I recently met up with one of my best friends from college and learned about his summer at UC Berkeley doing biochemical research. A runner, he told me of how, by running 5 miles during the 10 week project, he regained his 6-pack only to recently lose it due to knee pain. This immediately triggered my interest and I pressed him for further details.
"Does it hurt here specifically?" I asked, pointing to the tiny bump of bone that sits just below and outside of the knee.
"Exactly" he replied.
"Is it fine when you walk or ride a bike, only hurting a short distance into running?"
"Right again."
These two characteristics of ITB inflammation were the exact symptoms I experienced during the two prior years. I spent the Spring Break of my Sophomore year of College as any collegiate triathlete would- putting in a week of epic training. I'd just come off a winter of 60-80 miles a week of running, so I thought I would be safe doing a week of insane mileage. I was quite wrong.
10 miles into a 14 mile run on the day following a 50-mile bike/5 mile run brick workout, my knee hurt. Not my knee, exactly, but the tiny bump of bone just outside and below it. I resorted to limping my way home and promptly took a week of rest. Now back at school, I decided to capitalize on the pleasant spring weather with a quick 4 mile run. About 1.5miles in, my knee started to hurt. I stopped, stretched my leg in different ways, and resumed running. 100 yards later, it began hurting to the point where I couldn't run. It never recovered, and I ended up limping the 2 miles home on one leg. In learning that I had ITB Syndrome, I began a 2 year battle of which I've only just emerged triumphant.
The Iliotibial Band (ITB) is a tendon that runs along the outside of your thigh and essentially connects the hip to the knee. When it becomes tight, it can become inflamed by rubbing over either the hip or the knee, and this rubbing causes the characteristic pain of ITB syndrome.
Check out this article, The ITB Conundrum, by Jordan D. Metzl, M.D., for Triathlete Magazine.
