“When my left leg buckled as I loaded my bike into my truck, I knew it was time to do something about my knee pain.”
I had just completed a 20-mile training ride on my bike.
We rode at a good pace, but otherwise, the ride itself was uneventful.
But afterward…
For the past 4-6 weeks, I’d been experiencing random unexplained knee and hip pain after my workouts and today was no exception.
As soon as I climbed off my bike and walked towards my truck, I could feel everything tightening up.
I dropped the truck tailgate, reached down to lift my bike into the truck bed, and that’s when a stabbing pain shot down my leg from my hip to my knee and then radiating down my shin.
I was able to stop my bike from crashing to the ground, but just barely.
I managed to strap the bike into the rack and gingerly climb into the driver’s seat.
“This has to stop!” I said out loud.
I realized my competitive season was in danger already. Now things were deteriorating to the point where I was risking serious injury.
There was one problem though…
I didn’t know where to turn.
I went to my doctor.
He said I had a “knee strain” and give me a prescription for some ibuprofen and sent me on my way.
But that treatment plan didn’t sit well with me.
There had to be a better explanation.
I needed a specialist.
That’s when another rider mentioned Dr. Scott Gray.
I made an appointment right away.
Quad tightness combined with the repetitive movement of cycling was inflaming my IT band.
But, it turns out, that was just the start of the things I was doing wrong that put me at risk for this injury…
- I was guilty of not doing a proper warm-up or cool down
- I was also pushing too hard in my training and not allowing enough recovery time.
- I had knee arthritis I chose to ignore for too long…this causes some swelling in my knee that made the friction there worse
But Dr. Gray found out something else he felt was my major source of trouble!
Because I put in so many training miles on my bike, I’m constantly leaning forward with my forearms on the handlebars…
I never knew this position put my hip flexors in such a compromised position.
The angle at my hips was so sharp, not only did my hip flexors shorten and get SUPER tight, but they also got really weak.
Little did I know, this combination set up the ideal conditions for IP Band Syndrome!
Now, I had heard of the IT band but didn’t know it could cause this level of debilitating pain.
This type of “task analysis” was exactly what I needed.
A task analysis looks at everything you’re doing in day to day life and examines the long term impact as well as the physical needs required to carry them out safely so you not only remain injury-free, but you set yourself up for success over the long haul.
No one had looked at my situation like that before.
I didn’t realize I was only putting bandaids on my aches and pains and not seeing the full picture.
When I did that, I never saw the whole picture!
Once Dr. Gray went through his testing, the root cause of the problem jumped out…I wondered why I hadn’t seen things clearly before.
Together we created a treatment plan.
We quieted the inflammation around my knee…
We applied advanced flexibility work to my hip flexor…
Then we brought my quadriceps strength level back into balance with the appropriate exercises…
Almost immediately, my pain started to fade.
Within a matter of weeks, I was nearly 100% and competing like my usual self!
- No more waking up with hip and knee pain.
- No more shooting pain running down my leg.
- My knee stopping randomly bucking whenever I tried to lift something from the ground
What a relief!”
Of all the patients we’ve treated for IT Band Syndrome—and there have been hundreds–I’ve never seen a clearer example of both the painful symptoms and consequences of this condition as well as how our process of diving deep into the root cause paid off so quickly!
But you don’t have to wait quite so long to get help if you can recognize the symptoms of IT Band Syndrome.
Here is a list of the major symptoms of IT Band Syndrome:
- Aching, burning, or tenderness on the outside of your knee.
- Feeling a click or pop on the outside of your knee.
- Pain that travels up and down your leg.
- Warmth and redness on the outside of your knee.
I can’t tell you how gratifying it is to our entire staff when we can help someone return to the activities they love without having to deal with constant pain!
In this patient’s case, the repetitive motion of cycling, as well as the unusual position his port put him in, was the ideal prescription for IT Band Syndrome.
There are several other causes of this condition…
You do certainly don’t have to be a competitive cyclist to suffer from it!
Only by looking at all your issues and triggers as a whole can you find the REAL cause of IT Band Syndrome.
