Forums >Health and Nutrition>ITBS and road running, is camber the cause?
Mmmmm...beer
I've started having some ITB issues lately and I'm doing everything I can to nip it n the bud, stretching, extra rest, etc. I noticed something today after a great 15.1 mile run without a peep from ITB. If I'm on a treadmill or a trail, like today's run, I have no problems. But on the road, it flares up, less so with the stretching, but it still started to get tight at the end of my 10 miler yesterday. So it hit me after today's run, the problem is only with my right leg, and I always run facing traffic, so my right leg would be most affected by the camber. I do almost all of my running on the road.
-Dave
My running blog
Goals | sub-18 5k | sub-3 marathon 2:56:46!!
levitation specialist
It really sounds like that might be the case.
Road camber was exactly my problem a couple years ago. ITBS on one side just like you. Didn't realize at the time that was the ptoblem. Surprisingly, ran the marathon I was training for... in the 'with traffic' lane and the ITB acted up on theother knee! Now I run bike trails and 'friendly' roads and no problems.
When I have problems related to road camber, I make a point of running on the "wrong" side of a road for a while. Lightly traveled roads only and stay very alert. Sidewalks in commercial districts all seem to slant toward the street.
I try to run at least a few miles every week on opposite camber. It's been working for me.
I was hoping some folks would be able to support my theory. I'll mix it up and see how it goes, while continuing to stretch. Gonna try to run more on dirt trails as well.
I go through spells of the same thing so I make it a point to switch sides of the road whenever feasible. Definitely seems to help.
under a rock
On trail you are also constantly using a different stride. On the road it tends to be the same sized step every time. On the trail with change of terrain and obstacles to dodge your stride is changing constantly and overall one tends to run with a bit shorter stride which helps those that over stride. I wish my ITB problems were the kind caused by the cant of the road because I rarely run on roads, mine is mostly self induce over striding or over use.
Good luck!
A stretch that worked for me was to stand one foot on a phone book and try to touch other foot (heel) onto the floor - without bending the knees. If you feel the stretch in the outer hip/upper thigh of the leg that is up on the book. You can also do this on a step.
Squidward Bike Rider
My one route is on a main road with a crowned surface. Luckily, there's shoulders on both sides, so I set my Garmin to beep every 1/4 mile, and then I switch sides (traffic permitting, of course).
an amazing likeness
Camber is not the cause, but it can really be a cause. I think road camber gets underplayed as a key contributor to ITB issues and other problems. Managing and evening camber wear & tear is worthy of your attention.
This is an older thread with a pretty good discussion on ITBS and various approaches to prevention.
Acceptable at a dance, invaluable in a shipwreck.
Feeling the growl again
Road camber can do all sorts of nasty things to you, including ITBS.
Unfortunately, running on the "wrong side" is a great way to get smacked from your blind side by a car.
I need both hands to count the situations in which I would be dead or seriously injured if I was running on the "wrong side" when a driver was inattentive, staring at the countryside, or texting. Please be careful.
"If you want to be a bad a$s, then do what a bad a$s does. There's your pep talk for today. Go Run." -- Slo_Hand
I am spaniel - Crusher of Treadmills
Thanks for the thread MilkTruck.
I'm incorporating stretching into my morning & evening routines and stretching before and after each run. I really want to make sure that this doesn't get any worse. I've only had it really bad on two runs, on both I just stopped and walked home instead of pushing it, and there have been a few other occasions where it tightened up and I either skipped a run or ran shorter than planned before it got bad. I also picked up new shoes, as my old ones were well worn with over 400 miles on them, that may have been another contributing factor.
I'm hoping that with stretching, new shoes, and being mindful of the camber and mixing in some softer surfaces, that I can keep it from coming back and be able to train hard for my upcoming half.
Spaniel, I am very concerned about running on the wrong side of the road, especially since most of my runs are early in the morning in the dark. I already wear a Xinglet and run very defensively, and I don't run with headphones. I received a headlamp for Christmas, I'm thinking of wearing it facing backwards when I run on the wrong side of the road so that I'm more visible.
Ran 8 miles this morning on the wrong side of the road, not a peep from my ITB. Stretched before and after. Figured out that my headlamp also has a red light on it, so I wore that facing the rear, I think it helped. The few cars that passed me gave me a really wide berth, so I think they saw me. Luckily traffic is pretty light that early in the morning, plus I don't run on any major roads, just in the neighborhood. It felt really weird running on that side of the road, gonna take some getting used to.
The PT I went to thought that camber might be a contributing factor- I've run a few thousand miles facing traffic over the years-now if there isn't traffic I run down the middle and spend some time running with traffic. I have a headlamp and clip a red flasher on the back that makes me visible when running with traffic. I always use a foam roller on IT before a run. The mystery is that what I've read says that the outside leg develops IT problems, with me it was the inside leg. If you spend more time in your recliner that might help.
Just figured I'd report that I've gone 61 issue free miles in the last 7 days, loving it! All runs have been either on dirt (and now snow) or on the other side of the road. With stretching every day, and before/after each run. I'm a very happy camper again.