Orthotic Support to Alleviate ITBS (Iliotibial Band Syndrome)
Do you regularly exercise, or happen to be an avid runner in Austin, or elsewhere, who experiences aching or soreness on the outside of your knee and lower thigh? If so, this may not be a minor issue. You may actually be suffering from ITBS- iliotibial band syndrome. Providing Chiropractic care in Austin, Texas gives me a few insights to ITBS, it’s symptoms, and choices of treatment.
Iliotibial band syndrome is actually the number one cause of knee pain in those who regularly run or exercise. In some studies, up to 12 percent of runners who have experienced injury are actually suffering from ITBS. The actual medical cause of ITBS is due to the iliotibial band rubbing over your lateral femoral epicondyle, causing consistent friction. If you are constantly on the move, this friction doesn’t end, which makes it a syndrome that is difficult to recover from. After the problem has started, even just a small amount of running or walking can cause ITBS to act up, casing burning pain in the knee.
Luckily, getting a diagnosis for ITBS is not difficult. Most doctors, chiropractic and medical, throughout Austin and elsewhere, are familiar with this problem and can diagnose you quickly based on the symptoms. Unfortunately, due to the many causes and underlying stresses that cause ITBS to act up, it is sometimes difficult to treat the problem.
If a chiropractic patient wants to return to normal activity and get back to running, they are going to have to take on quite a bit of rest and lifestyle change to get back to normal. Oftentimes, this also has to do with orthotic support and posture, so the patient’s entire lifestyle will have to be examined.
The first thing that the patient will most likely need to do is refrain from strenuous activity to give the problem some time to heal on its own. It takes the body some time to heal itself, so avid walkers and runners are just continuously beating the ITB up rather than giving it plenty of time to heal on its own.
Some chiropractors prescribe approximately one month of refraining from all physical activity from exercise to simple chores as part of their treatment for ITB. The ITB helps to regulate stability in the pelvis, and also controls muscle movement of the thigh as your foot is planted on the ground. It also acts as a stabilizer for the knee. This is why every step you take can aggravate the problem of ITBS. Because walkers and runners are constantly in motion, this repetitive task causes a large amount of friction, in turn, causing pain.
Many patients self diagnose and treat with medications such as steroid injections and NSAID’s, which are not necessarily the best thing for the problem and may actually interfere with your recovery. These anti-inflammatory medications would be great if there were actually an inflammatory problem, but ITBS actually is actually caused by a degeneration of collagen tissues due to overuse, so this doesn’t affect inflammatory cells.
Orthotic support is one of the keys to recovery. In some cases, a flexible, or semi-flexible orthotic, can help give you a slight lift which may help to balance out any leg length issues. A number of documented studies in the treatment of ITBS have seen a decrease in this friction when patients were using orthotics, because the orthotics can shift the knee position and help to take on some of the shock to the joints when your heel strikes the ground. Often, for a long term treatment, chiropractic patients are often counseled to have custom-made orthotics to balance out underlying faults.
Overall, if you think you may be suffering from ITBS, the best thing to do is visit a doctor for a diagnosis. A chiropractic doctor can definitely help diagnose this for you. If you want try reducing the pain on your own, it may be wise to take a few days off from your normal exercise routine to see if eliminating the constant friction causes the symptoms to decrease. In Austin, TX almost every weekend my chiropractic patients have many athletic events in which to participate, and may be tempted to continue exercising despite what their body tells them .
ITBS has many causes, and you can employ a variety of approaches to eliminate the symptoms. Bottomline, a doctor’s diagnosis, and the use of orthotic supports may get you on your way to recovery.
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