ITBS
Last weekend, which was June 14th, 2008 at the time of this writing, a group of us met up at the Oregon Coast to stay for a couple nights. On the middle day, Saturday, we were also going out for a hike in Ecola park.
Some trivia; several portions of The Goonies were filmed at Ecola park.
The hike was pretty cool. We parked one vehicle at Indian Beach on the Cannon Beach side, and then drove back to Seaside in the other car. We then proceeded to make the hike over Tillamook Head. This is close to six miles long, with roughly an overall 1100 foot elevation change. Most of us were / are novice hikers, which is why we left a car at the far end of the hike in case anyone did not feel up to the return trip. This turned out to be a Good Thing.
About 1.5 miles from the end of the trail, on the downhill side, my left knee started complaining. This was pretty aggravating since I'd done the whole hike prior to this point with no issues. I've been doing a morning kickboxing / fitness / strength class 6 days a week, for 11 weeks now. All the in-class exercise paid off, since there's no way I could have made the hike in the kind of shape I was in before the class! I'm not saying the hike was a breeze, but it was definitely more on the "fun" side than the "oh-my-God-please-shoot-me" side. :)
So on the downhill slope my knee starts complaining. Not terribly at first, and I'm not concerned about making the last little bit. However as we continued to hike down the hill, my knee began hurting progressively more and more. I really had to end up walking very slowly and cautiously.
On account of my knee, and a general consensus from some other folks, we decided to all pile in to the car and drive back rather than attempt the return hike. This was a really good idea for me, since my knee continued to hurt quite a bit anytime I walked for the rest of the day.
We wrapped up the weekend on Sunday and drove back to town for Father's day type stuff in the afternoon. Throughout the day, though, my knee continued to complain bitterly at practically any amount of walking. When Monday rolled around and my knee still hurt, I was actually starting to get a bit alarmed. Even after 12+ years of Amtgard and some chronic weight issues, I have NEVER had knee problems. NEVER. I have always been extremely thankful for this blessing.
I was especially worried that the knee pain might end up causing me to miss out on the fitness classes. In addition to my morning kickboxing classes, The Boy© and I have also been taking Enshin Karate classes in the evenings on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday at the same place. (Shameless plug - Enshinkai Martial Arts and Fitness) Since I've started these classes I have lost weight, put on muscle, had much more energy to DO things (like Hikes), and have just felt better in general.
I finally made an appointment with our doctor. He poked, prodded, twisted and Hmmm'd and finally he says, "You seem to have Iliotibial Band Syndrome". To which I reply, "Ilio-what?!?!!".
Iliotibial Band Syndrome, or ITBS, is caused by an irritation or inflammation of a bundle of connecting tissue which runs along the outside of each leg and down across the outside of the knee. Apparently it is a very common injury for runners to have. I just happened to get lucky and get it while hiking instead. :P
Fortunately (?) this is not a permanent injury! I basically have to follow the old cliché, "Doctor, it hurts when I do this ... Don't do that!". Which means no walking, hiking, or running for at least a month. Plus typical injury treatment type stuff like apply heat or cold, take lots of ibuprofen, wrap with an ace bandage, etc...
What's even better, from my point of view, is the stretches and activities we do in kickboxing and Enshin actually seem to help with the IT band. My knee always feels better after class! There are a few things which I am definitely avoiding until this clears up, jump rope for example, but otherwise I get to keep going. Our instructor has been very understanding of the injury and she's always very careful to monitor what I'm doing to make sure I don't attempt something I shouldn't.
Some trivia; several portions of The Goonies were filmed at Ecola park.
The hike was pretty cool. We parked one vehicle at Indian Beach on the Cannon Beach side, and then drove back to Seaside in the other car. We then proceeded to make the hike over Tillamook Head. This is close to six miles long, with roughly an overall 1100 foot elevation change. Most of us were / are novice hikers, which is why we left a car at the far end of the hike in case anyone did not feel up to the return trip. This turned out to be a Good Thing.
About 1.5 miles from the end of the trail, on the downhill side, my left knee started complaining. This was pretty aggravating since I'd done the whole hike prior to this point with no issues. I've been doing a morning kickboxing / fitness / strength class 6 days a week, for 11 weeks now. All the in-class exercise paid off, since there's no way I could have made the hike in the kind of shape I was in before the class! I'm not saying the hike was a breeze, but it was definitely more on the "fun" side than the "oh-my-God-please-shoot-me" side. :)
So on the downhill slope my knee starts complaining. Not terribly at first, and I'm not concerned about making the last little bit. However as we continued to hike down the hill, my knee began hurting progressively more and more. I really had to end up walking very slowly and cautiously.
On account of my knee, and a general consensus from some other folks, we decided to all pile in to the car and drive back rather than attempt the return hike. This was a really good idea for me, since my knee continued to hurt quite a bit anytime I walked for the rest of the day.
We wrapped up the weekend on Sunday and drove back to town for Father's day type stuff in the afternoon. Throughout the day, though, my knee continued to complain bitterly at practically any amount of walking. When Monday rolled around and my knee still hurt, I was actually starting to get a bit alarmed. Even after 12+ years of Amtgard and some chronic weight issues, I have NEVER had knee problems. NEVER. I have always been extremely thankful for this blessing.
I was especially worried that the knee pain might end up causing me to miss out on the fitness classes. In addition to my morning kickboxing classes, The Boy© and I have also been taking Enshin Karate classes in the evenings on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday at the same place. (Shameless plug - Enshinkai Martial Arts and Fitness) Since I've started these classes I have lost weight, put on muscle, had much more energy to DO things (like Hikes), and have just felt better in general.
I finally made an appointment with our doctor. He poked, prodded, twisted and Hmmm'd and finally he says, "You seem to have Iliotibial Band Syndrome". To which I reply, "Ilio-what?!?!!".
Iliotibial Band Syndrome, or ITBS, is caused by an irritation or inflammation of a bundle of connecting tissue which runs along the outside of each leg and down across the outside of the knee. Apparently it is a very common injury for runners to have. I just happened to get lucky and get it while hiking instead. :P
Fortunately (?) this is not a permanent injury! I basically have to follow the old cliché, "Doctor, it hurts when I do this ... Don't do that!". Which means no walking, hiking, or running for at least a month. Plus typical injury treatment type stuff like apply heat or cold, take lots of ibuprofen, wrap with an ace bandage, etc...
What's even better, from my point of view, is the stretches and activities we do in kickboxing and Enshin actually seem to help with the IT band. My knee always feels better after class! There are a few things which I am definitely avoiding until this clears up, jump rope for example, but otherwise I get to keep going. Our instructor has been very understanding of the injury and she's always very careful to monitor what I'm doing to make sure I don't attempt something I shouldn't.