IT Band injury. Any runners out there with advice?

[Wiifitmama]

Long story short....two weeks ago sudden massive knee pain. Physio appointments, consultants appointments and MRI. Now know it is IT Band injury. Had steroid injection two days ago which has helped massively. Will continue physio and have a personal tinkerer booked for this week to design a stretching/mobility programme for me to stretch everything out.

So all sounds good except.....I have a place in the Olympic 5 mile run n the 31st of March. I was running 5 miles once or twice a week before all this happened but have now not run for 2 weeks and am unlikely to run for two more weeks. I will then have 3 weeks before the big day.

Has anyone else had an IT band injury? How long did it take to recover? Am I crazy to think I can do this run?

check the advice here on runners world

Hi thanks. The article was somewhat brief! I Would love to hear of anyone's experience of this.

Depends. Is this a once-in-a-lifetime event? If so, go for it but know that you could risk a chronic injury. If you are passionate about running and want to do it for as long as you possibly can, rest up and take it easy until it feels 110% better. You can't speed up recovery with tinkering, unfortunately.

Yes it is a once in a lifetime event. That is the problem. Otherwise I could just wait it out :(

I had a tight IT and could barely drive with the knee pain. Great physio at work gave me exercises (squatting on one leg and side leg lifts) to try and straighten out my over pronating knock knees! He told me to keep on running though, and I'm still running and haven't had problem over 12 months. Have you asked your physio about the run?

Yes I have asked her and also the consultant. They were both fairly non-committal. There was no way I could have run before the steroid injection. I fact, I could barely walk the pain was so bad. Now I can walk around with only a little Niggle. I haven't tried running yet as I thought I should start the stretching and mobility stuff first.

That's a toughie . I ran through an injury that turned into a stress-fracture and now, 2 years later, can not go more than 5K if I want to be limp-free in the evenings (used to do 10 or 12K on a regular basis).

I think, on balance, I'd probably do it as it is once-in-a-lifetime but just listen to your body and don't try to run through any pain. What does your tinkerer say?

5 miles isn't very far - I would take complete rest for 10 days and then restart, it's not like you have to build up to a long distance. I would anticipate you could still run 5 miles straight off after a break. If on first run back there is severe pain - review

Thanks. It has been two weeks of rest so far but only a few days since I had the injection. My plan was no running for another week then restart.

Sounds sensible - I am sure you have covered this but have you had your trainers checked?

I haven't. When I bought them though I went to Runners Need and had my gait analysed. They said I did not pronate. But maybe I do?

I would say you will be fine to wait - it's only 5 miles and you were running that already. Maybe look at cross training? I was able to do bikes at gym when hurt my calf but don't know about ib. Ask physio - swimming maybe?