Itb

I am currently still in the process of managing my ITB troubles. I have found some things to be useful though and thought i would share it. Most of it may sound really obvious but if you're like me you might ignore the obvious until you get problems! SO stuff i have found helps:

1) warmup/cooldown and stretching- before and after (heaps of).

2) heat all (heat packs) on the side of the leg when your not on the bike. It seems to help loosen things up.

3) not gear crunching. This is my fav weakness and so i have set myself a limit of going into the big ring a max of 2 times per ride (usually an hour ride) when going downhill or with a tailwind for a very short time (few hundred metres). I found that saying to myself "i have to spin more/ i have to gear crunch less" was not specific enough to make me really change. I am still working out how technical and specific i should get with my gear restrictions.

4) if i had money i would go to an OT or physio and get it all sorted. But currently i have no such luck. I have been to a physio when it was really bad and so i know some stretches from that visit so i just try to keep that up.

5) cleats - make sure they arent internally rotated. Also generally make sure they are in the right position (fore/aft, side to side). Cleat adjustment laterally also plays a big role. If you have ITB problems, try having the cleats position on the inside edge of the shoe. This give greater distance to the other foot which reduces the amount that the ITB is on stretch and may help to align the foot and knee, depending on your anatomy.

I have just changed my old worn out cleats and it feels so much better! I usually ride with LOOK red cleats but am cautiously trialling black cleats just for once. I have actually found them to be better in a way because i found my red cleats seemed to have too much float and thus it was harder to spin. I think (in my case anyway) that uncontrolled movement is worse than restricted movement.

I have custom made orthotics but till recently havent really thought about wearing them in my riding shoes. I thought it was different because you weren't bearing so much weight but after reading about bike fitting and the like i decided to try wearing them in my shoes. Less comfy- they take up a lot of room so you need deep shoes. They limit the movement in the shoe which (may or may not be a bad thing). Feels strange at first but maybe i'll get used to it. Specialised make foot wedges ( and possibly other adjustment devices) for this purpose also. (I dont have specialised shoes ).

Obviously though you would want to make double sure that they are positioned correctly and i am still working that out. Typically with the red cleats my left heel would pivot in at the bottom of a stroke. With the black cleats i had them so that my foot was facing straight forward but this started to hurt the inside of my knee a little. I figured that maybe because i always want to drift in when pedalling, maybe it is a bad thing to try to stop this. Would positioning that cleat so my toes are slightly pointing out be a bad thing? Is it partly that i am not used to it/ have insuffient muscle strength on the inside of my leg?

5) saddle position -fore/aft. Apparently a saddle which is further back puts the ITB on stretch. However i ride with my saddle way back because it suits me in all other ways and after managing other factors, this does not seem to be particularly aggrevating in my case.

So this is the end of my spiel. Take anything i have written here with a grain of salt as this is what i have found in my own experience. Most of the issues i have mentioned seem to be relatively standard risk factors for ITB. Experiment (within reason!) if you want to and see if any of this helps. If anyone has anything to add to this i would be very glad to here it

Sort of gald to hear that i'm not the only one with ITB problems. In saying that i feel very sorry for you because it is very frustrating.

But.......No pain for the last 200km. How....had a professional bike fit costing $100. Found out that the conventional method of setting seat height (inseam x .883 or heal on pedal @ 6 oclock) didn't work for me. He set the seat 5 cm higher than i would usually have it with the above methods. Just make sure your hips don't rock when you pedal. He said that i now pedal with a slight toe down motion at the bottom of the stroke but it gives me more power

-set the fore/ aft saddle postion so bone below the knee cap is directly in line with the pedal axle centre at 3 o'clock pedal stroke (used a plumb bob)

-moved the cleats so the ball of my foot is above the pedal axle and moved tham so my foot is closer to the crank. My feet run paralell to the bike, not toed in or out but my cleats do have a little float in them

Apparently i have a long tibia. But, no more pain and a hell of alot more power. He also found that when pedaling, my good leg was doing about 30 percent more work than my bad one. I've since really concentrated on getting even power through both legs and that has also helped

Hope this little ray of hope helps...Good luck with it

How did you get that problem on a bike?
I got IT-band syndrome when I was running during this and previous autumns which limited my running down to only 3.5 hours/week and the only remedy was cycling. Even when it was a bit painful to walk there was no pain on a bike.

from what i can tell i got the problem from a seat tto low, not stretching enough, lack of strength in the bad leg and a pevis tilted. From there the inflamation just never went down unless i stopped riding altogether