Athletes who have had injuries..

AeroEngineer3141
Thu, 08 Apr 2010 17:20:25 +0000

At the end of my fourth season of track, I was diagnosed with iliotibial band syndrome on both my legs, but which only caused extreme lateral knee pain on my right side.I took three months off and went through physical therapy, which alleviated the pain and relaxed the tissue a bit. When I came back, I spent a week or two easing into the workouts, skipping meets altogether.

I’m halfway through my eighth and probably final season of track, and symptoms sometimes return during difficult workouts. Usually, daily stretching and massaging keeps the pain in check, but sometimes I have to take the day off if it’s unbearable.

To counter the boredom, I put all my spare energy into working out at the gym (minus the legs), which helped a lot in keeping me active. During recovery, I went on walks or easy cycling, nothing too strenuous.