# Knee, calf, or IT band problem?



## N10S (Sep 27, 2004)

I have been riding for years, and have been on and off again with SS bikes. Its been awhile since I have done any regular SS riding but recently since I only have an SS bike to ride, thats been my only ride. I have had IT band issues for years (since I was in my 20's and now in my 50's) and sometimes if I dont stretch enough that can cause some major pain from my lower back, and right down the side of my leg and across my knee into my calf. I have been riding fairly regularly on a geared bike and have been feeling pretty fit, but the recent SS work has left me with some pain on the upper part of my calf on the outside front right below my knee. Basically feels bruised at that point to the touch. I have been taking ibuprofen and trying to massage the muscle there and it has gotten better, but I am wondering if this is a calf muscle strain, ligament injury, or knee problem. That left knee does pop a little on the outside sometimes after sitting awhile and then standing. I have been doing some IT stretches and its pretty clear that my left IT is way tighter than my right side. I have been doing some searches on calf pain and knee pain, but have not yet found anyone thats had a similar injury so if you have I would be interested to get your feedback. On the preventative side I am re-gearing one of my 2 SS bikes, and for now am not riding until I can get the pain in check a bit.

Thanks for any info that can be provided.


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## clarkenstein (Mar 8, 2006)

1st - i am not a doctor, so put absolutely no trust at all in what i have to say.

i have royal IT band problems too. i have had them for about 10 years now. the pain that is sounds like you feel on your knee, outside, just below the knee cap isn't where your IT band is, so i don't think that is your issue. normally its on the side of the knee, a little to the front. its real hard to actually put your finger on it, unless the IT band is aggrivated. if you massage the IT band where it meets the knee while its aggrivated, you'll get sharp shooting pains, and its usually a very small area - maybe two fingertips in size where you'll get the sharpest pains.

the IT band kinda goes from your hip to the outside of your knee. i do have issues where i feel a strain/weird feeling in my knee pit (just behind the knee), but not where the patella is. 

if you are feeling pain, and you think it might be from you irritating your IT band, a good way to check if its your IT band is try walking downhill. if you are getting pain in your knee going down stairs/hills, you've probably aggrivated your IT band. FWIW - i ditched clipless pedals over a year ago and it was the best thing i could have done for my IT band, i have half the issues i used to.

in my totally worthless opinion, it almost sounds like you are having issues with your sciatic since it is such a large area that gives you issues.


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## N10S (Sep 27, 2004)

Thanks for the feedback. I have had sciatic pain int the past as the result of back trouble and it usually causes pain and discomfort down the back of my leg instead of the side/front and I am having zero discomofrt on the backside of my knee and leg. The area is at the top of the calf where the muscle connects to the top of the tibia. The bruised feeling seemed to originally be from the center point in alingment with my knee cap to the side of my knee in a general bruised feeling. At this point it feels better and the focus of the pain seems to be in the center between the knee cap and the side of the leg at the top of the tibia. I have also had numbness in this same area previously when my IT was flaring up, and this injury is in the general area of where the IT connects to the top of the tibia based on the illustrations I have seen. I am going to continue to work the IT stretches and see if it continues to get better. Oh yeah...and get some gears on one of my bikes!


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## redmr2_man (Jun 10, 2008)

I'm dealing with IT band problems on my left knee as well.

Get a foam roller and lay on it with your hip, then roll your body forward, making the foam roller go down the side of your body to your knee. Do this slowly 4-5 times. It creates micro-tears in the IT band and helps it heal up better. Do it 3x a week.

Or at least, this is what helps me out, and the babble my physical therapist gave me. 

I crashed at a super D race RIGHT onto a sharp rock with my left hip almost 4 months ago, and I'm still dealing with the pain!


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## clarkenstein (Mar 8, 2006)

N10S said:


> At this point it feels better and the focus of the pain seems to be in the center between the knee cap and the side of the leg at the top of the tibia. I have also had numbness in this same area previously when my IT was flaring up,


ahhh. i thought you were talking the center of the knee, below/behind the cap. this totally sounds like where i have my pain to. redmr2_man's idea of the foam works great. there's actually a really nice product out there (i'm totally not connected with it in anyway, but it works great) - call "the stick" which works like that foam idea.

http://www.thestick.com/

its essentially a rolling pin, kinda. you could probably go to the hardware store, buy a dowel, and some PVC pieces and make it for cheap, but i have used it and it works great for rolling out the IT band. when i had PT for my IT (that just sounds funny) i used it at home after my ultrasound/heat/strectching treatments. it definitely helped along with the stretching.


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## Big Virgil (Dec 8, 2008)

redmr2_man said:


> I'm dealing with IT band problems on my left knee as well.
> 
> Get a foam roller and lay on it with your hip, then roll your body forward, making the foam roller go down the side of your body to your knee. Do this slowly 4-5 times. It creates micro-tears in the IT band and helps it heal up better. Do it 3x a week.
> 
> ...


If your IT band(s) are the problem, this is a great way to "massage" it/them, but will hurt like hell probably the first 6 or 8 times you do it. It's a good kind of hurt tho.


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