As I plummet headlong towards the half century mark in my life, I look at aches and pains somewhat differently. Most notably of late has been knee pain as noted in my last post. For the past several years, my right knee develops a "tightness" after heavy exercise which usually eases up over the following days of recovery. This past year I began to experience a new and more specific sharp/stabbing pain on the outer portion of my left knee that came to it's full glory while in the middle of my first marathon in December. After discussing this with my friends in the medical/orthopedic world and online research, all signs were pointing to IT (iliotibial) band friction syndrome. Being a family medicine/ER physician (which means a bad patient) and not sure where I wanted to go for orthopedic evaluation, I set myself up for xrays and MRIs of both knees ($5,000 for both before insurance....ouch! Man that could go towards a REALLY nice tri bike!) I shown below a 2 view xray of one knee (including my own goofy reflection) and one slice of the MRI through the knee.
The REALLY exciting thing about both of these studies is both were essentially normal except for evidence on both knees of IT band syndrome. No bony, cartilage or ligament/tendon destruction! The only thing I can think of better would be no knee pain. I have done a fair amount of research on treatment and prevention of IT band (friction) syndrome that affects so many endurance athletes. I will update with you as I work through these, but the one key piece of information I would like to share for now is this:
***The majority of IT band syndrome treatment and prevention information seems to be fixed on STRETCHING the IT band...which is important. But as one writer put, much of the IT band is like leather and will not stretch that much. Thus, STRENGTHENING the IT band PROPERLY seems to be of even greater importance.***
I have read more lately from and about a young triathlete/coach Ben Greenfield who is among a growing number of athletes and coaches ascribing to higher intensity and shorter duration training methods for endurance sports/competition such as Ironman triathlon. HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) is rapidly growing in popularity and in my opinion is a sound approach to general fitness. More on this later with another post. In my review of Ben's blogs/posts/products, I ran across his discussion of similar knee problems he had in the past. This lead him to research and ultimately package the "best" (in his opinion) methods for treating IT band syndrome AND preventing knee injuries in his product Bulletproof Your Knee. I have purchased Bulletproof Your Knee which is a series of 13 modules/videos outlining exercises/treatment/prevention. As I review this and put it to use, I will give feedback.
In the meantime, train hard and live well!
To follow: 2012 reflections & what will we do with 2013?
HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training)
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