Terrible knee pain, weird name

Last week I was visited with a terrible knee pain, mostly felt on the outside of my left knee.

At first, I thought it was related the MCL problems I had suffered this winter, but this pain was much different and horribly painful.
If it had not been the weekend, I would have seen an orthopedic doctor at once.

Instead, I went on the internet and determined that I was suffering from IT Band friction. No “IT” is not for “information technology” and “IT Band” isn't a metal rock band either. It means “Iliotibial band”, a condition that causes acute lateral knee pain in runners, hikers and bikers.

The iliotibial band is a sort of thick, hybrid muscle that runs from the outside of the pelvis, over the hip and the knee, and anchored just below the knee as it becomes a tendon. This band plays a key role in stabilizing the knee as it moves from behind the femur to the front of the femur during activity.

What causes the knee pain is a continual rubbing of the band over the lower part of the femur coming in contact with the knee, combined with the repeated flexion and extension of that joint when someone runs, bikes or hikes and causes the area to become inflamed, which is exactly what happened to me.

The symptoms were a horrible pain when I went from a sitting to a standing position and began to walk or worse yet, going down the stairs. The remedy is to be patient (so hard!) and let time do the healing as well as doing some physical therapy. Can't wait to get back on my bike...