As you may have see from Twitter and Facebook, the end of my 2014 season has hit a few speed bumps. First a couple of races were either rescheduled or cancelled altogether, the later being my A race for 2014 so am obviously extremely disappointed.

Things went from bad to worse however when I started to get some knee pain. I’ve had this before, especially when coming off the back of a reduced period of running, due to inflexibility in my right ankle. However this time it didn’t calm down or respond to the usual treatment, so off I went to the Physio where a tight ITB was diagnosed.

Luckily this soon settled down after a week of anti-inflammatories, heat and self massage and I was back running before my half marathon. However after a ten mile run off the back of a two hour bike, I struggled to run the next day and after visiting the Physio again, a tight TFL was also diagnosed 🙁

So here I sit, the day before my half marathon not sure whether tomorrow I can race or not. The reason for this post is not to try and wallow in self pity but to point people towards a couple of stretches that may be useful if you’re in a similar situation.

Both the ITB and TFL are tricky little so and so’s to stretch out but I’ve found that the two stretches demonstrated below really hit the spot for me. A heat mat and tennis ball are also great tools to have to hand if you can with injuries such as these.

Obviously if in doubt get some professional advice from your GP or Physio, as they are the experts and can really diagnose the issue. 

Hope you find these treatments and stretches useful? If you know of any other good treatments or stretches let me know in the comments below. 

Enjoy and hope you recover soon!

World’s Best IT Band Stretch by Dr. Geoffrey Alan Gray

Eliminate Hip Pain Using a Gluteus Medius & Minimus Release