Been cycling for years and 10,000’s of miles. Last Sunday, long road ride on one of the tandems. 30 miles in, sharp pain down the outside of my knee. Got progressively worse during the 40mile ride home. Very, very painful dulled by considerable doses of Ibuprofen. Not a particularly hard ride though not very windy or hilly so average speed and cadence were higher than normal.

Nothing has changed on the bike. Seat height and fore/aft position same, cranks same, pedals same, cleats/shoes same (and I don’t think my leg has shrunk).

I’m into R.I.C.E at the moment (might even eat the peas after :-> )but any views on what might have caused my venerable tandem to bite or how I can avoid this in the future?

I can’t help much but I do sympathise.. I’ve had trouble with my IT band after twisting my knee last winter..
very painful indeed.. the physio gave me a particular stretch for the buttock which helps a great deal..

Well bowlox! 2 weeks later and I still can’t ride. Started out yesterday intending our usual ~70 mile tandem road ride. A couple of miles out, it was obvious my knee was still not 100%. So more Ibuprophen, ice and rest this week.

How long does it typically take to get over an IT Band ‘problem’?

well.. I’m on month seven.. and last week was as painful as the first week..

it seems to be improving and then bang.. for no apparent reason I’m back to square one..

I think I had this once from running, can’t be sure as not medically trained! but I found it hard to walk etc due to pain on the outside of the knee. I was told to stand with a slight bend in the knees for several minutes a few times a day. This seemed to help greatly and I was back running within a month, but I was a bit younger then!

Based on the “fun” I had last summer, get yourself to a physio to get it checked out, confirm what the problem is, diagnose the root cause of the problem and then do some appropriate treatment and give you the right advice about longer term prevention.

OK, so it cost me 4 sessions at £33 each, but if I’d spent that when I first had a problem instead of trying to tough it out, I wouldn’t have wasted six months of never quite being able to ride. Priceless.

go to a good physio, do what they say.

shims/footbeds, stretching and a foam roller sorted mine.

Aa above – getting it diagnosed properly would be a good idea.

If it is IT band problems, they won’t just go away with time – you will have to put effort into stretching to get back to full health. I’m suffering with IT band issues at the moment and stretching and foam rolling is doing wonders (even given how painful the rolling is 👿 ). Good luck with the recovery!

So it won’t clear up with a big dose of R.I.C.E.? I’m baffled as to what caused it as my set up on that bike hasn’t changed for years.

Everything I’ve read about IT band says RICE doesn’t help – it’ll just come back 🙁

If nothing’s changed on the bike – have you changed anything non-bike related? Started running / upped your running mileage / changed to a job that includes more physical activity?

As above, get a proper diagnosis but it won’t just go away on its on – get a sports massage and use a foam rollar (and be prepared for a world of pain for both!)

RICE is prevention, it just deals with the aftermath. I’ve got ilio band tenderness when walking downhill. I’ve been given some physio following assessment by a podiatrist. Also advised to use heat and stretch beforehand. Correct assessment/diagnosis is the way forward. Mine cost £45 for about an hour including a follow re-assessment.

tried IT band stretches?

roller is a good option as well – one you put on the floor and roll againts

these worked for me

I was reading something the other day that suggested that ITB stretches don’t do anything due to the size and nature of the band and that it’s the surrounding muscle groups that need to be strengthend and conditioned. Either way, it’s not fun and doesn’t go away on its own. Do something be it a physio, roller or stretches though. The only certainty is that doing nothing isn’t going to help.

I had this chronically when i used to run. Best thing you can do is hammer the hell out of it with a foam roller and stretch it. A foam roller only costs 10 quid, but will cause you a world of pain…….

see a physio! get the stretches shown to you, AND DO THEM! i, too, had been riding for years without problems. i think only resting won’t be enough. in my case it turns out that i have particularly flat feet so I have some prescription innersoles. it took a long while for it to clear up but now i have no problems. also, if you can find somewhere to get your bike fitted then do it. a seat half an inch too high can be enough to overstretch the IT band.

+1 fo finding a good physio

Took a combination of stretching and stengthening to get rid of my problems.

As a start google ITB stretch, basicly involves crossing the ‘bad’ leg behind the good leg and push the bad hip ipt sideways/lean towards the good leg. You’ll know when it’s right as you bend over a lot further, it’s easy to twist a little and not stretch anything, but do it right and you cant bend very far before you fele the stretch just below your pelvis.

Stretching glutes and hip flexors also helped as they were out of ballance so my legs were working theough an unusual range of motoion which was casuing problems.

Combine that with the usual leg stretches.

Foam rollers help, or if your a man, a rolling pin is a more painfull substitute, or for real tough guys, use a tennis ball.

As for strengthening, I had to do a series of weighed exercises and was basicly told to do any sportt hat would require a variety of leg movements rather than anything too repettative. So running, cycling and rowing were out, swimming (vary the strokes), boxercise/body pump/ body combat/yoga/pilates/any other gym class that wasnt spinning were in.

I was advised by the LBS to move the saddle on the Road Bike forward 5mm and the pain had stopped within a week/150miles !

Oh and Roller massages, I couldn’t buy a roller massager so used an old Whey protein cannister

hey, i use a cricket ball to manipulate the tight muscles in my hips and thighs which tend to influence it band pain. just roll on it on the carpet, also my regular pilates classes, core strength work also you can get the hang of better stretching.. ak

OK, thanks everyone. So it won’t go away and I’m wasting my time waiting. I’ll get a referal from the GP to flex those BUPA muscles….

The only thing I can think of that might have brought it on is I had a long hard run (~10 miles) the day before followed by a very high cadence 70 miler. Nothing’s changed on the bike so it must have been that combo.

What are people doing with their cricket/tennis balls and foam rollers?

Have a look on Youtube for ITB roller and you’ll see. Me and the wife went at each other with a rolling pin the other night.

Also, it doesn’t seem to need a cause as such. Just one day it decides to start saying hello.

I’m not sure about cycling, but ITB in runners* is often caused by weak gluteus medius, might be worth looking into? How are your 1 legged squats? A solid course of 1 leg squats, jumping lunges etc nailed my ITB permanently. I found I had a fairly big imbalance in glute med strength from one leg to the other.

*A quick google suggests this is probably the cause in cycling as well.

pyhsio diagnosied mine as medius quads bring weak. strengthening exercises helped.

FWIW when I had high running mileage I get tight ITBs (but not that bad), using foam rollar/massage fixed it. Cycling doesn’t have this effect. I also have weak glute maximus whereas the glute medius are strong so that might back up the above post.

Well 5 weeks later, some physio, some stretching and a bit of glute work, I’ve just been out for a very easy 10 miler on the tourer to see how the knee is.

Knees a bit stiff but no ITB pain so I think I may be up for a bit of an easy reintro to get going again. Physio advised short gentle rides followed by a day off with some stretching and not to over do it.

TFFT! 🙂

Foam roller, custom orthotics to help with my overpronation, 1 leg squats and hamstring stretches helped me with my running ITB pain, never seemed to affect me on the bike though. Hope you get it sorted, its flippin hateful!