Think I have it and just wanted to hear stories of other in or been in the same situation. I can't ride more than 10 mile without some pretty nasty pain it both my knees.

Iliotibial band tract syndrome? Yes 😯

I struggled to walk down the stairs, I couldn't ride up hills. Had some intensive physio, did as I was told and didn't ride. But I didn't have pain in my knees, it was the whole length of one leg.

You need to get it investigated, do not ignore it.

Good luck.

Meant to have said, mine was caused by a fall and I ignored it for several weeks.

Whats the Symptoms Geordie Paul? My doctor thought I did, but my physio diagnosed a mal-tracking patella, or my knee-cap running out of it's grove.

I'm in Sunderland and saw a Physion in Seaham called Steve Stirling, highly recommended.

Well it starts when I ride and goes completey a day or two after.

I get a burning/sharpish pain down the outside of my knee, starts after about 10 or so mile and is exagerated when going up hill. Then it just gets worse, becomes a really sharp stabbing like pain. Walking down stairs is agony, then it just goes until I next get on my bike.

Where is that physio based? It's not the Health and Racquet club in Sunderland? I'm gonna try there as it's aparently the physion from Sunderland Football club. I've rested it for a while but I went out last night to try it and it's back again! 🙁

it's so frustrating!

Is it this one?
http://www.seahamphysio.co.uk/contact.html

Often caused by tight hips/butt muscles pulling the IT band too tight.

I get it when running & have seen about 5 different physios. The last time I had it looked at was by a consultant who was on the medical team for the Beijing olympics so I thought I was in with a good shot of getting it solved.
I had ultrasound, MRIs, gait analysis, physio and it still didn't go away. I have given up running now.

There are some good stretches you can do (google ITB stretches) & regular ice in the area will help. I also bought a foam roller from physiosupplies.com. You roll over it and it is like having a sports massage – it's meant to break down knotted muscles. Seems to work.
Just not enough for mine to sort itself out – the physio did say I seemed to have a really bad case of it.

I developed it after doing SITS solo last year. Turns out it was most likely caused by rolling my ankle in the pits rather that too much riding (or walking as it was).

Get it looked at – i was off the bike from August to end November.

What happened to me was that went tight and sore, which then affected muscles further up in my legs, then into my lower back and took a good bit of physio to sort.

Ice and rest are good though. Also worth looking at your saddle height – the Andy Pruitt bike injury book recommends dropping your saddle a little.

Been down this road myself. My problems followed a hard crash onto my right hip. Since then any ride of reasonable length caused pain mostly down the outside of my knee – almost as if I had banged it on the edge of a table. At the end of the Mary Townley route I had to resort to walking the last uphill. Eventually I found that simple stretches worked wonders as per stumpy01's diagnosis. Now if the pain does start, I get of my bike, do 5 minutes of stretches, and I'm fine (for a bit longer anyway!).

I had the same pain walking down the Fort Bill track at the world cup. Again a couple of minutes of stretches and the pain disappeared. Lots and lots of stretching is my tip.

stumpy01 what were your symptoms? The thought of not being able to cycles again is a bit of a killer!

I've being doing stretches but it doesn't seem to be helping. Taking loads of ibuprofen at the moment, since it's still a but sore from riding last night. I had rested it before that for a few weeks, trouble is it's hard to say when is right to ride again as I have no pain when I'm not cycling….none at all!

Had it and got rid of it through using a blown rubber cylinder and stretching.

Neighbour is a physioterrorist and he gave me a section of that cylinder stuff they have as floats at the swimming pool. Told me to roll on my side (thigh) on it using self weight. I could hardly get on it at first but after a few weeks it was helping and after a couple of months the pain was gone.

geordiepaul, I get it only when running. Didn't really matter what pace, it was always about 22-25 mins into a run – always. Started as a dull ache on the outside of my left knee & within a couple of minutes it was so sore that I would have to stop.
By the time I would walk home, the pain would have gone and walking about on it is fine, but as soon as I start running on it again, it would hurt straight away. If I was a fair way from home, a couple of mins stretching would give me a few mins of running before I'd have to repeat.

I was told it was everything from loose tendons around my knee to weak hamstrings and tight hip/butt muscles.
I think the last one definitely has something to do with it, as I am generally overall very inflexible.
As a test, sit on a chair (like a dining chair) and put the outside of one ankle on top of the opposite knee (as you sit sometimes). Then try the other side. Is one side much more uncomfortable/difficult/tighter than the other? And does your leg on that side sit higher? If so, is that the side that you get the problem? That is how it is with me. I can easily sit my right ankle on my left knee, but it's much more difficult to get my left ankle on my right knee & my thigh won't sit as flat. I think that is all to do with muscle tension.

I think the cylinder that lardybiker recommends is the same as the foam roller I was recommended. It is pretty painful when you start using it (like a proper sports massage) but gradually gets easier as the muscle relaxes.
And look for some stretches & do them at least in the morning & evening. Might be worth holding the stretches for longer than the normal 30secs too.

get itb massaged by sports physio/masseuse.

sorts it easy

I can do the ankle on the knee thing no problem, even with the small amount of pain in my knee at the moment. How about going downstairs, was that painful?

I'm going to get one of those rollers and give it a whirl.

Nope going downstairs gives me no particular problems. If I come back from a run & it's flared up, it might feel a little sore coming downstairs for a few hours afterwards, but nothing too bad.

Have just read your original post & it's both knees….

Did it just come on suddenly or been building for a while? Changed anything? Saddle/saddle height/shoes/pedals? I'd have thought that if your saddle is perhaps a bit high, you might be rocking your hips which could cause it?? Just thinking aloud now.

I think that when this occurs in running it is generally one side that gets affected, not both (or to a lot lesser extent in one leg than the other).

I'd definitely get a session at a physio as well as ice/stretching/foam roller etc.

i massage my itb wilst in the bath using the shower handle!

There's a lot of bobbins spouted about IT Band Syndrome. Stretch the muscles that are pulling it tight and you'll be fine.

Yeah it is both knees but one is considerably worse than the other. I had changed my shoes when the problems started and at first I put it down to incorrect cleats but I've gone back to my old shoes now and it's made no difference. As far as my bike goes I've been riding it for a year, I don't have quick release seat clamp so my saddle height has never changed.

It could be the kneecap misalignment thing. My knees get sore due to the effects of too much biking and the resultant muscle imbalance.

Give me 4 years and i'll be able to sort myself out and not need to rely on the wife to do it. 😀 (I'm going back to school)

I was wondering how riding a bike could cause irritable bowel…

stuff the foam rollers, use a cricket ball or roling pin!

pmsl@ foam roller

I've got it very similar to Stumpy. seemed to come on after a crash where I landed on my right hip but only really flares up from running. After 2 years of physio etc I can manage it through stretching and other exercises but if I don't do them for a week it comes back.

Foam roller rolling pin / cricket ball. Whatever works i suppose 🙂

See a good osteopath

It is definitely treatable with a good outcome in most cases

I've booked for some physio tonight so we'll see what happens…..

+1 for the foam roller.

I get terrible IBS, I might fit a saddle.

Geordiepaul, that's the right people. Is that who you are seeing tonight?

For what it's worth here's my experiences. I used to run @10 years ago, back when I were a youngun in durham and I never had any ITBS, then after I starting biking and returning to running, whack I had ITBS. I suffered really badly for one marathon, then two great north runs.

I'm now ok. What's changed? I dropped my saddle, stopped wearing firm riding shoes, ride mostly in flats, moved my saddle further forward, so my knees are further forward. I have been told by several physio it's mostly caused by over development of one glute(sp) over the other. I think I needed to build up the poorer muscle, stretch more, that helped most. It may also mean your gait is slightly out and you will just learn to deal with it. I doubt how much the ice and physio work actually helped in the long run. They seemed very good at taking my cash though. Buy a good stretching book, I work with an ex physio who lends me one. Let me know if you want the title etc…

my physio diagnosed a mal-tracking patella, or my knee-cap running out of it's grove

That's dead common that is. Sharp pain right behind the kneecap that hurts with bending the knee but not with putting pressure on the knee ie standing. That's caused by one muscle in the knee being overdeveloped by cycling.

ITB problems can come and go – i have them on and off depending on what other stuff i do.
Often a too high saddle can start it off as yo stretch to reach the bottom of your stroke. As Trolling Zoo Fighter points out you can;t stretch your ITB (obviously) but you can the muscles it attaches too.
Main things are to stretch your hip flexors out a lot. Use a roller to help with this – it will hurt like an absolute beast at the start but persevere it does help. Then look at your muscle balance around your core, hips and glutes. Most cyclists have crap gluteal strength and compensate witht heir meaty thighs which is ok until they tire and then it all starts to go horribly wrong.
ITB pain can be debilitating – it will go from sore to stop in minutes as its a pretty localised condition. Stretching, ice and rest all help.

I had a similar sharp stabbing pain down the back outside of the knee, moved to flatties and I don;t get it anymore, think its because my foot/knee sits in a more natural position

jsm….That is exactly what happened with me. I used to run loads competitively.
Then got to uni & just ran to keep fit – still quite a lot though.
This kinda fell by the wayside & I got more into riding.
Then when a friend was training for the London Marathon I said I'd get into training & do the odd 10km & half marathon with him. Within weeks I had bad ITB syndrome & it's never really gone.

This thread has kinda got me into trying to sort it out again. Must start some proper stretching regime!

paulosoxo – No I couldn't get through to them so I made an appointment at the health and racquet club.

Had one mutha of a massage on the IT band, he said it was very tight and knotted, it bloomin knacked. It's till sore now! Everything he said made sense. It seemed I had "mild" ITB syndrome (not sure about the mild like)

Been told to ride over the weekend…few miles to begin with and build up. Got a few stretched to do to.

I did get a nice email from the guy you mentioned but I'd already made the appointment, might still go to see him if I don't get any better.

Strangely enough, My knee is fecked after this thread. Been no bother for well over a year.

I don't think it's the same thing, just went twaaang today, hence been up at 2:20! 🙁

I seemed to have developed this. Never been a problem on the bike but I've started running again and that seems to be the cause. I've been doing up to 8 miles off road and it would seem that it's the hills and the uneven ground that is causing it. I'm going to try the stretches, rest it for a week or so and then try going back to running on the road and the flat for a while. I wouldn't describe my problem as pain more discomfort at the very back of the outside of my knee which is definitely worse when running uphill.