A Running Injury

I love running. It is my favorite pastime, and you learn so much about life from participating in this de-stressing activity. Recently, however, I have been suffering from an injury. The iliotibial band (IT band) is a structure that starts at your hip and connects to the top of your shin right by your knee. The IT band helps you to stabilize yourself while running and performing other athletic activities. While on a long run nearly a month ago, I irritated it. What happens is that it moves right near your knee and when lacking strength in the IT band, it begins to rub on the knee and becomes irritated. Once irritated, it REALLY hurts. I was forced to stop running for a few weeks. After a few weeks, I figured that I would be good to go. I discovered that after two-days of running, the problem still existed. I began to do research on the internet and I discovered something that changed how I view not only injury recovery but life. Most specialists agreed that to treat IT band issues, it is not enough to just rest, ice, or stretch. You have to change your exercise routines to strengthen your IT band. The problem started because it was weak. To fix it, you have to make your IT band strong. After starting to do exercises for my IT band, I feel so much better.


Life is so much the same. We often think that by taking a break, or taking the easy route, that it will eventually work out. However, we are often in the pickle we are in because of a weakness, and we have to make that weakness strong. We need to exercise and strengthen ourselves to overcome life's many challenges. My new goal is to focus on strengthening and not just flying by.