Comments on: Running is bad for your health

By: David Schleef

David Schleef — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

It sounds like you need to spend more time stretching your IT band. If it is too tight, it causes the knee to move incorrectly, causing knee pain after 10-15 minutes of running.

Of course, every time you get this pain, you run the risk of damaging your knee, so as soon as the pain starts, *walk* home, put ice on it, and take your favorite ibuprofin-like substance to decrease inflammation. This will allow it to heal faster so you can avoid dropping miles to 0. And, of course, stretch your IT band before and after running running as well as daily when you don’t run.

By: Carl Bolduc

Carl Bolduc — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Hi, I feel sorry for you. I experienced the same thing last summer, I was training for the half-marathon and had to let go after one month of training because of knee pain.

I think that I will shoot for the 10 km next year, since running more than one hour is just too much pain for me.

By: Bo Jordan

Bo Jordan — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I had serious tendonitis problems during my first year or so of running. My muscles and cardiovascular system got stronger much faster than my tendons, and I had a number of painful ankle issues. After slowing down my progress and keeping it up for a few more years, I’m now able to easily train for marathons without causing any significant inflammation.

I haven’t followed your progress, so I don’t know if this is valid advice, but what I usually tell people is that a marathon is an attractive goal, especially if you have the cardiovascular endurance, but starting smaller and running a lot of half marathons and letting your joints strengthen is much more beneficial in the long run.

By: Marko Anastasov

Marko Anastasov — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve been running for four years now and I’ve never had any problems, except that once last year my foot slipped into a little hole and I had my ankle injured for a few weeks.

I guess you should take some detailed examination for whether running is not doing you more harm than good. If not, just stretch a bit more and don’t push too hard. Running marathons is definitely not for everyone (including me).

By: Roland Dreier

Roland Dreier — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve never had really bad ITBS, although I have had minor bouts of it during my really high-volume training periods (over the years I’ve finished 8 marathons, 2 ironman distance triathlons and scores of shorter races — it seems the combination of lots of biking and lots of running for triathlon training is what brings it on for me).

Anyway I second the suggestion to add more ITBS stretching — do some stretches after your warmup, during your workout if you start to feel twinges of pain, and during your cooldown at least. A web search for “itbs stretch” finds lots of suggestions of ways to stretch.

I also know people who have prepared for marathons with lots of pool running (ie running while floating in water). But I’ve never done that myself.

By: J

Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

There’s a special kind of stretch you can do for the ITB, which helped me some. Probably need to ask a qualified person how to do it correctly.

By: Dave Neary

Dave Neary — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

J, David, Roland – any idea what a good stretch is for the ITB? I have found this one, but I’m not sure if I’m doing it right: http://www.rice.edu/~jenky/sports/itband.html

By: G. Crimmins

G. Crimmins — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I had Physical Therapy and they recommended lots of stretching and a foam roller to "massage" the inflammation
from the hip to the knee. Run flat and cross train.

Good Luck!

By: P. Oscar Boykin

P. Oscar Boykin — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I also suffer from ITBS. In my case, it comes from overtraining (running too far and too fast), and insufficient strengthening and stretching. Particularly, my abductors and adductors are weak. It is known that those that suffer from ITBS have weak abductors.

My physical therapy has helped a lot, my running is rapidly getting back to where it was before I had a problem. There are a lot of good resources on the web for strengthening and stretching to do. I recommend doing all of them and keeping your running down to a level that gives you *zero* pain.

Lastly, I recommend Daniel's Running Formula. This is a very highly regarding training book for running. I realized from my reading of this book that I was training much too hard, and that was seriously increasing my risk of injury. Given how often you've been injured, I would speculate that you are in a similar situation.

Make *SURE* you do not try to run through this pain. You will only prolong the recovery time (which will be on the order of several weeks to months).

Good luck!

By: ken

ken — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

While you’re recovering, remember to look on the bright side: it may be rough on the knees, but it’s great for the heart. When I’m old and gray I know which I’d rather have.