iliotibial band

mine hurts....like hell.  ('scuse the french) I was up all night last night in pain.  I took at bath at like 2 am, nearly drowning as I was falling asleep there, I iced it, I massaged it, I used icy hot, I stretched, I rolled around on my nalgene bottle.   I cried.  its been painful all day today too.  I called my doc & asked for either a muscle relaxer or a referral for physical therapy.  she has yet to get back to me. what can I do to get relief/help?  thanks for any help.

Wow, I wish I had some advice but I don't ... I just hope you feel better SOON!!!  Well, maybe you could go get a daquiri or something!  Haha! --Deanna  :)

I did.  kind of....  I had a little beer hoping it would help me sleep & forget the pain.   but I'm trying not to drink beer anymore too!  (lost almost 5 lbs by cutting it out,.....yay!) Its so frustrating.   I have probs sleeping as is & have to take meds to help me & the pain woke me up through that!! crazy.   sooooo, meetcha at the pub on the corner?  I get out of work at 9. 

Kelle,  these are some of the things I do when mine is bothering me.  I'm a bad toad and take Aleve or ibuprofen because most of the pain is from inflammation.  I know a lot of folks won't take NSAIDS and that's fine.  I doubt that a muscle relaxer will help, but PT would be good especially for other good stretches.  The stretches are good and also necessary.  Sometimes IT band injuries can be solved simply from stretching.  A lot of the time I can do some stretches and then a short easy run and that will help it feel better because the joint lubrication increases.  Alternating ice and heat is good for inflammation of any kind because it increases the circulation to the area to speed healing.  When all else fails, I have needed to rest it.  After my marathon in January I also had a very painful IT band partially because I started running too much too soon.  I ended up needing to rest it for about 5 days.  Walking will most likely make it more painful because of where it rubs, so go easy on the walking even though I know you have to take care of the dog.  That's the best I can do.  I think Scott might be able to direct you to some good IT band stretches because I think he's mentioned it to someone else before.      Linn

thanks! btw:  thought of you last week when I was running cause of when you said you think of nemo & dorie (dora?) saying "just keep swimming....just keep swimming"   It helped :-) then I had to watch the movie again.  

http://www.rice.edu/~jenky/sports/itband.html http://www.rice.edu/~jenky/sports/itband_str.html http://www.physsportsmed.com/issues/2000/02_00/fredericson.h tm Here is some info that I have found.  I usually do the first stretch when things get tight but I have never been in that much pain.  More just uncomfortable.

I think it was enhanced because I didnt have enough water sunday.   my doc said to stop running for awhile....? she also referred me to get physical therapy...yay.