IT Band fixed after 10 Years

Just though id share this as I have been having this issue for years and could never find a solutions. this may work for someone else but it wont be everyone's solution.

I have suffered from ITB for 10 years. In my hay day i would run sub 20min 5km and 1:30 HM. depending on what I was training for I would run 10 to 80 km a week.

I have had periods where I can run without pain for 20-40km and most recently periods where i cannot complete a 5km. For the past 2 years it has been the latter with extreme pain going down stairs for 2 weeks after trying to run.

I have been to multiple physios and received numerous plans and treatments to no avail.

I have been doing clam shells and leg raises religiously. Squats, deadlifts, cross training. All made no difference. Glutes were not this issue here. I have lived on a foam roller and been to acupuncturists along the way.

Anyway what worked for me finally was gait retraining. I discovered i was an over strider and a heel striker.

I have changed to a midfoot/forefoot strike and increased my cadence to about 180 by using the metronome on my watch. I also purchased a running dynamics enabled chest strap and monitored, by running balance, ground contact time and vertical oscillation. Its all a little technical and probably not necessary but one key takeaway is that i have lowered my vert oscillation by running on my toes. this means im jumping less and some of the info i have been reading says that lowering this number can reduce running related injuries.

When i first tried to run on my midfoot/forefoot I blew out my calves so maybe find a good plan to do this if you are thinking of trying.

Hope this helps someone else.