Recovery Attempts from ITBS (Part 2)

It’s been more than 7 months since my last race, which was the 21km race of the New Balance Power Run last November 29, 2009. After one particular long run in December that year, I felt a pain on the side of my right knee so I decided to rest and ice my knee. But then, every time I would try to run again, I would feel the same pain whenever I would reach around 2km into my run. I remember researching my condition, which a check up with a Orthopedic Surgeon confirmed to be Iliotibial Band Syndrome.

Aside from the frustration of not being able to run, one side effect of my injury was a fear that if I were to try and run again, the pain would come back and I would realize that all my treatments were in vain. But that visit to the doctor gave me hope because although at first he was a bit discouraging, he gave me practical advice. And so I began to train again, albeit at a much, much slower pace with the help of a Cho Pat ITB Strap, an LP patella strap, some prescription muscle relaxants, new shoes (neutral cushioning), foam roller massages and a lot of stretching.

I occasionally test my knee sometimes when I go up and down steps to see if I feel anything. So far, the knee seems to be fine. I hope this continues on until I can get back to the 21km race distances that give me so much sense of fulfillment. But for now, it’ll probably be by increments of 5 minutes weekly.

I started out with a 5 minute run three times a week. With no signs of pain, I moved it up to 10 minutes on the second week. On my third week, I moved up again to 15 minutes. This was my plan: to increase my running time by 5 minutes every week. So far, it’s been working. I’ve been able to build my time up to around 35 minutes with no sign of the pain I used to feel.