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Comment by bsaul | Hacker News Reader

I'm in the exact same situation as parent. Except i skipped to biking. It seems to me that Foam rollers ( or in my case just stretching on a tennis ball) are good for relieving the pain a bit after you've stopped running. But what do you suggest to stop having the pain in the first place ?

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The magic stretch is the one where you lie, on your side, on the edge of a bed.

Then, you drape the affected leg (the leg that is on top, not the leg you're lying on) behind you, such that your foot ends up below the level of the bed.

You're basically stretching your hip farther than you could stretch it normally, since you can drape it backwards into empty space.

Play with it a bit, with different angles, etc. This is the stretch that can have you go from debilitating pain (I couldn't even walk properly) to completely asymptomatic.

This is a good stretch for everyone, since even if you don't have "IT band issues", most people have much tighter hip joints than they think, and it affects the health of your knees and back.

I've actually got an alternative magic stretch that can be done standing (so you can do it in the middle of a run). It involves crossing your legs and reaching over to the side.

Image here: http://www.runnersworld.com/sites/default/files/rt/images/20...

To avoid pain run less distance at a slower pace. People generally build up way too fast. I had plenty of problems in my late 40's when I tried to run and went at it like when I was a kid. But when I slowed down and built distance up very slowly I had no problems. Now I run marathons and have averaged about 45 miles/week for 2014.

Regarding form, I would say it's not something you need to focus on. Do try to run as straight up as you can, like you're a marionette suspended from strings with your legs moving beneath you (probably same thing said another way as "pretend you're running on thin ice"). But other than that your body will mostly sort form issues out unconsciously as you very slowly ramp up running mileage.

In my experience, stretches and foam roller are both ways to alleviate the discomfort, but they don't fix the underlying problem, which is related to running form and specific muscle weaknesses. When the gluteus medius is weak, or when the lower leg is rotated inwards slightly by the arch flattening, the IT band ends up under excessive tension, trying to keep everything in line. The long-term fix for me was to strengthen my feet to reduce pronation, to do lots of deep squats, and to focus on "firing" the glutes while running.

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