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Okay, I'm very skeptical over these sorts of things but heres my story.
I suffered ITBS issues throughout my training for the FLM '09 in both left and right legs. Around a month before the marathon on my long run of 16 miles I suffered really bad IT pain in my right knee such that I couldn't complete the training for the remaining 3 weeks . I tried a run of 5 miles and this left me in a huge amount of pain. I then left it until one week before the marathon and did a planned 8 mile run. I got to 4 miles before the IT band was so painful I had to walk home. I swam instead for these 3 weeks, did physio and acupuncture too.
I'd used the Pattstrap a couple of times in training (including a half marathon) before but wasn't convinced it did anything and more often than not I'd take it off mid-run. However on Marathon Day I decided I needed all the help I could get. I also had some pain under the kneecap so I used a Pattstrap above the knee for the IT pain and one underneath for the Patella. I did them both up pretty tight.
Today is the day after the Marathon. I ran 17 miles pain free and then the IT pain came on (but not nearly as sharp as it had been) and I ran /walked the rest of the course - I still managed to run considerably further than I expected. I actually took off the bottom band to try and put it on the left leg (for IT band pain which began flaring up) at mile 17 but then couldn't stand on the knee so I strapped it back on and carried on. Managed to run the last 3 miles of the course - no doubt buoyed up by the adrenalin and crowd but undoubtedly the Pattstrap played an enormous role in getting me round my first (and probably last) Marathon.
At $20 it's too cheap to pass up and I'm convinced it made a huge difference to me. Believe me three weeks ago I thought I'd be walking from about two miles as after three weeks of rest, weight training and physio I still couldn't run very far on it without the strap.
My final time :4:53 which all things considered I'm pretty pleased with.
Rating:  [5 of 5 Stars!] |
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