Suffering for the first time with iliotibial pain. Flared up on day one of a long road ride and possibly, stupidly, rode the next two days, a further 180 miles with the pain getting worse.
Its so bad now that i am having proper trouble walking and generally gutted that i have been afflicted.
Its all new to me and have done some research on how to sort it out, booked a proper physio massage, looked at foam rollers etc etc…
but… why did it happen? no changes on my bike and have never even had a twinge before.
Any advice on how to deal with it, or how to prevent it happening again would be very much appreciated.
and i may not want to know this but how long should i stay off the bike?
thanks in advance

Any advice on how to deal with it,

Stretch, stretch, and more stretch. Good physio will give you appropriate stretches. Roller will be VERY painful (but also helps).

Stay off the bike when it’s painful, ride when it isn’t.

I suffered a bit with mine and am quite lucky that my friend does holistic therapy .
She did a massage /treatment on it (which did hurt by the way!) and felt a bit sore the day after but now feeling fine , give it a try. 🙂

Stretch, stretch, and more stretch

this ^ plus a wee ITB support band just to help when it’s at it’s worst

Don’t believe you actually need to rest it though (other than to help with the pain). IIRC Eddie Izzard (or the guy that did even more marathons) suffered badly from it, but obviously it didn’t stop him!

I’ve never had it on the bike, but long downhill walks tend to bring it on. Normally resolves going uphill or on the level. I’m my own worst enemy as i’ve had my gait and footstrike, etc assessed and i’ve been told to physio, but its not bothering me at the moment, so i’ve left it….. Idiot 😳

thanks all, i understand its a pretty common complaint, all the advice is good as i don’t want it getting this bad again. Anyone had any experience of changing bike setup to minimise it flaring up?

Foam roller keeps mine under manners. Should really get some physio but the roller really does do a great job! Start slow and build it up (it’s ok to cry btw- it does **** hurt!!)

Anyone had any experience of changing bike setup to minimise it flaring up?

yes, but it involved buying a new bike so you may/may not want to here that 😉

hooja – could be cleat position, or shoes, or many other things (Sorry!) but if nothing had changed, is it possible the cause isn’t the bike, it just manifested itself on this bike ride then you made it worse on days 2 & 3?

Stretch ‘n Strengthen most important as well as look at bike adjustments.

Mine flared up randomly, so I went to the physio. It was just very tight rather than anything I was doing differently but the pain after my ride was immense. I was unable to walk properly and had to hop up and down stairs with my good leg.
My physio gave me some stretches which I still do every night after my shower, and I got a foam roller to relieve any tightness.

Not sure I’d follow all of the above…

I had a bout of this last year; long hard run followed by a long hard ride next day. At mile 40, felt pain then rode another 40. I think it flared up due to too much/too hard rather than a bike change. Kept off the bike for 3 months plus physio and stretches. My neighbour is a runner and kept going back out each time it felt ‘a bit better’. This kept putting her back to the start of her recovery. I’ve heard the same from another runner too.

I’d be inclined to seek a decent physio, apply large doses of RICE and rest it/stretch it as per your Physio’s advice. This complaint can stop you in your tracks completely if you pi$$ about with it so…. don’t.

The ITB rubs/flicks across an area of the knee at a certain angle. Sometimes referred to as runners knee because the angle is just so that when running your knee spends most of its time at the angle of cross over.

Also if you have bigger quads muscles the ITB needs to stretch more.

Maybe you are spending an increased time at an angle of your knee which causes more stress/wear, the quads are getting bigger or you have an increase in riding or none of the above.

I had an issue running in a half marathon last year, just suddenly became an issue and no known reason why it suddenly flared. I have one of the TP Therapy grids, true that it is indeed painful, but seemed to do the trick. Loads of videos on you tube to the use of TP products.

oh and as hooja said you can get a band to reduce pain.

The effect of a band can be felt by grasping around your quads just above the knee and bending the knee, the pain should be relieved.

IT band releases.

SO PAINFUL.

SO FFFFFF PAINFUL.

Thanks again for all the advice, just back from physio, painful but greatly improved. Theory goes that my hamstrings are ridiculously short at the moment and potentially the cause for it flaring up. Hamstring stretches and get on the roller.
Really want to get out for a ride over the weekend but guess i should be sensible, not my strongest point!

I also had this problem. Started when i did a long walk.. had to cut the mileage down on the walking then eventually stop.. didnt ‘really’ trouble me biking, but recently noticed as my distance is going up im starting to get a niggle.. cant stress enough about stretching and the foam roller has helped but ‘really’ painful!

I have this problem now been of the bike for a month, thought it was getting better, did a little exercise bike work and this mean’t back as it was. Been to physio, got stretches to sort and strengthen, my ITB and Hamstrings very tight.

Should be training to enjoy PDS but I am not.

Need to get to a point where I have a few days of no pain then I can do light bike work.

Have done a two walks this weekend just to get out and about which has been nice.

Miss the bikes, also going to convert my 1×10 back to a 2×10 as I am not going to have the strength early on to ride that bike.

Will look at foam roller.