IT band knee pain

Raffles

Im getting some pain if in the outside of my left knee lately for some reason , its like if I bend my left knee there is a sharp type of pain on the outside (lateral side) of that kneecap. When I ride the bike it doesnt bother me but I obviously want to get it sorted. From googling IT Band pain appears to be something closely linked to lateral side knee pain , who has had it and what steps did you take to sort it ?

Churchill05

Mine went last year after running an ultra. Not had problems previously but this caused me some significant grief for a while but was sorted with a couple of good physio sessions.

Physio used a combination of massage, dry needle release and taping. Difficult to say what of these elements were most effective, but the pain improved overnight. I was given exercises to sort the root cause, in my case it was down to an imbalance in glute strength and tight hip flexor, which ensured it didn't return. Foam roller work helped, but hurt at the time.

I'd get yourself to a good physio, someone that can help identify the cause to aid prevention rather than someone to just sort the here and now.

Two Flat Tyres

One of my best investments (and cheapest) was a foam roller. When upping running distance for an adventure race my I.T. Bands were to causing me grief by rubbing against my knee joint. I have felt a similar pain after upping my cycling distance after winter lay off.

Ten minutes most evenings rolling and stretching the I.T. Has band works wonders and has loosened my bands enough to be no longer a concern on longer distances.

The first roll can be painful, but its somehow satisfyingly painful. I would highly recommend getting one for I.T. Bands and also stretching other tight areas on the legs.

goonz

+1 for the foam roller.

Bought one and its been a revelation for my legs. My IT band was also very painful when rolling out initially so be ready for pain! After a while it gets satisfyingly painful but definitely not at first! :P

£15-20 and you cant go wrong. Loads of videos on how to use it on youtube and off you go.

brettjmcc

Yep, had the samme thing.

Another for a foam roller, you can get one from Argos for a tenner. You also need to stretch more probably. Maybe worth seeing a physio a few times to help.

Anonymous

As above + build quads through out of saddle sprinting (on flats or uphills)

As always, best to consult a physio, but be prepared for a painful massage.

jcondylis01

As others have mentioned a foam roller is worth investing in, but be cautious and don't over use it. Maybe a Yoga class once every couple of weeks would be good, once you've learnt some stretches there you can stop going and do them at home.

Hip and glute strength should come from riding, but only if the position on the bike is correct and you build up the mileage and intensity slowly at first. I had a bike fitting a few months back and the first ride afterwards I noticed a big difference in regards to which muscles were being used, so maybe that is an option too.

sloppyschleckonds

I read somewhere that wearing high quality compression shorts like Rapha, Assos & Castelli can also help with this.

Anonymous

an advert, perhaps?

goonz

coriordan wrote:

an advert, perhaps?

Damn those pesky marketing teams!

hulla the hulla

I had issues with my IT band and it was down to bike set up and cleats, once that was sorted and with a bit of foam roller, careful stretching action and appropriate rest it soon cleared itself

Anonymous

goonz wrote:

coriordan wrote:

an advert, perhaps?

Damn those pesky marketing teams!

"high quality"
Sounds like someone's bought some high quality BS. Im sure most companies compression gear would be adequate. (this is not an assos/rapha diss, btw)

If it is ITB, it'll be due to poor fit (or probably, if its suddenly flaring up now) lack of stretching pre and post ride

sloppyschleckonds

Given the amount of nodder question the OP asks, I assume he's new to cycling and may be needs to give his body time to adapt. (Probably better posting this in Road Beginners)

GGBiker

Acutely - non steroidal anti inflammatory gel.

Solution for me was a week off the bike and daily stretching of the IT band, best exercise involves standing with legs crossed over, google it.

pride4ever

IT band/knee pain syndrome is a real minefield just in purely narrowing down the real cause. Foam rolling and standing cross leg stretches are worth doing. If nothing else if your still having knee pain after a month of stretching the band daily you will know its something else completely. Knees...nightmare.

Grill

As others have said, all you need is a foam roller.

Raffles

SloppySchleckonds wrote:

Given the amount of nodder question the OP asks, I assume he's new to cycling and may be needs to give his body time to adapt. (Probably better posting this in Road Beginners)

What a complete and utter douchebag you truly are..............do you have any friends ?



:roll:

Raffles

pride4ever wrote:

IT band/knee pain syndrome is a real minefield just in purely narrowing down the real cause. Foam rolling and standing cross leg stretches are worth doing. If nothing else if your still having knee pain after a month of stretching the band daily you will know its something else completely. Knees...nightmare.

I got my brand new DHB M1.0 spd shoes after my foray into spd-sl pedals and road shoes which was an absolute disaster. I put my m520 spd pedals back on the caad and put a set of spd cleats on the new shoes and im wondering if the cleat positioning is what is giving me gip.

I put the cleats all the way forward as this puts it directly beneath the ball of my foot, ive read lots of spd users pusing the cleat back a little to help with pains and I wonder if this is what is going on as Ive never had knee pain before.

Grill

You need to move the cleats back as the press should be behind the ball for maximum efficiency and power. You should also look into footbeds (Specialized or Superfeet are fantastic) in order to stop the inevitable pronation that will occur during effort.

The fact that SPD cleats have almost zero platform is detrimental. Why did you give up on the SL?

goonz

Do Speedplays have a large platform? I read somewhere its the cleat platform which is whats required rather than the pedal?

Grill

As you say Speedplays have a large cleat platform which is just as good as a good. It's the surface area of the pedal/cleat interface that's important, whereas SPDs don't really have any as they depend on the shoe to compensate (which is detrimental as the shoes are generally softer).

foxydan

Grill wrote:

As others have said, all you need is a foam roller.

Not that simple for all I am afriad.

Having been suffering from this for the last 5 weeks and it is a right battle. I had to stop cycling to begin with but now back but not fully sorted. I have been suffering from this for the last 3 years on and off. This time I decided to do something about it considering I have lots of events planned.

I would advise a trying a few things. The reason the ITB hurts is from overuse. It is a mechanical problem with muscles in your legs. Stretching (with a roller or cross legged), building your glutes and hip flexors are the main things you need to do as it is your itb band over working due to these being weak.

My physio has released my band with his elbow (bloody painful) and also with needles. It is slowly improving and am able to ride again although not able to give my all. It is one frustrating injury!

I have also booked a bike fit which will set up everything for four weeks time. It is an idea to do this once strength has been built in your glutes as the bike will then be set up when you are strong.

Hope this helps and good luck in your recovery.

lef

saddle too high? a crap bike fit that raised my saddle by 10cm resulted in ITB issues. It was immediately improved by lowering the saddle, though it niggled for some months afterwards. You could say that raising it by that much is a risk anyway, agreed, but subsequent bike fits have always placed it much lower, about 5-6cm lower.

gracieallen

Hello raffles

Got the knee pain by falling on from bike my knee joint was injured severely at moment bit nothing broken inside. My uncle suggested me to use supplement for knee pain because supplements are doesn't cause any side effects so i used supplement for knee pain i got something better relief with knee pain.... why can't you try any supplement? these are not causes any side effects, because these made are with natural ingredients

cattytown

With good stiff shoes, he size of the cleat/pedal/platform shouldn't matter too much, the shoe should be stiff enough to spread the load.

Personally, I like my speedplays, but that's for float reasons.

There are so many little things that could be slightly out that a decent bike fit and a session with a physio are probably good investments.

Paul.

sloppyschleckonds

See a chiropractor

pride4ever

Ignore and i mean IGNORE anyone on here who says buy a foam roller for ITBS. Your Iliotibial band is connective fascia tissue not a muscle. You could hang a fkin mini off it, it is that strong. You need to stretch and then stretch and then stretch again. Thee best and only real cure for ITBS is doing the clam and stretching your hamstrings, but mainly tons of clams.
How do i know this... because Im a physio who as cured too many cyclists with this problem.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrpySwfxjxA

Herbsman

pride4ever wrote:

Ignore and i mean IGNORE anyone on here who says buy a foam roller for ITBS. Your Iliotibial band is connective fascia tissue not a muscle. You could hang a fkin mini off it, it is that strong. You need to stretch and then stretch and then stretch again. Thee best and only real cure for ITBS is doing the clam and stretching your hamstrings, but mainly tons of clams.
How do i know this... because Im a physio who as cured too many cyclists with this problem.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrpySwfxjxA

I was sceptical about the foam roller, but I bought one anyway out of desperation - when you're threatened with being forced to stop the one thing you live for, you'll try anything. It eased the pain temporarily, but gradually things got worse to the point where I can no longer ride my bike without severe pain.

As has been mentioned by another poster on here, the root cause of ITB syndrome isn't 'not using a foam roller', so although I have been using it out of desperation, I don't believe it will fix the problem. I searched and searched and only found one criticism of the foam rollering craze. Basically saying it's a tough ligament type thing that does not stretch out, so how can rolling it 'loosen' it? And it's supposed to be tight, otherwise it wouldn't be able to do its job - so how wouldn't loosening it cause problems?

From what I've read, there is no single cause, and it's difficult to fix. All I can seem to find as to the possible causes are inward foot rotation when pedaling (and only recently realised that my feet have always been straight forward on the pedals but they naturally point outwards, so relative to their natural position, they're rotated inwards when I'm clipped in), Q-factor being too narrow, and seat position (too high or too far back). If this is down to bike fit then I'm very annoyed that it's happened after paying a well renowned bike fitter for his services.

I've seen an NHS physio and he seemed to think the foam roller was the best thing to do, so I gave up on that route and have been doing the exercises on this page http://beta.active.com/cycling/articles ... now?page=3 apart from the clam because I don't have an elastic band. I didn't realise it would be beneficial to do them without one as per the video you posted. Will give it a go...

If all else fails maybe see a different bike fitter or a private physio...

CleeRider

pride4ever wrote:

Ignore and i mean IGNORE anyone on here who says buy a foam roller for ITBS. Your Iliotibial band is connective fascia tissue not a muscle. You could hang a fkin mini off it, it is that strong. You need to stretch and then stretch and then stretch again. Thee best and only real cure for ITBS is doing the clam and stretching your hamstrings, but mainly tons of clams.
How do i know this... because Im a physio who as cured too many cyclists with this problem.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrpySwfxjxA

How many is 'tons'? How many per day and how soon will things improve?

Herbsman

I reckon you're looking at at least four weeks if it's become so bad that you're out of action. It's been four weeks since my last training ride, after which mine flared up right proper bad, and I'm nowhere near back to being capable of doing anything more than a recovery ride

FatTed

Have a look at Steve Hog's view on cleat position
http://www.stevehoggbikefitting.com/bik ... -position/
and his view on knee pain
http://www.stevehoggbikefitting.com/bik ... knee-pain/