Originally Posted by
zephr
Ooooh, advice on how long to stop running for... how long is a piece of string.
The issue is, whatever your hip/leg is doing on a day to day basis, 24hrs a day, 168 hours a week, it is following a sub-optimal movement pattern, and hence is causing you pain. What you can do with the foam roller, and exercises is strengthen muscles which are meant to be working, and loosen off others which are not meant to be so tight and restore balance to the hip area both in rest and in movement. As it get stronger it will mean that the hip/leg will become less sub-optimal, and more efficient in its movement pattern, and at that point you will be (theoretically) running pain free.
however, if a runner was to just keep running on a leg with a disrupted movement pattern, its just going to continue getting worse- the issue is already there, and the more you run on it, the more the incorrect movement pattern will be re-inforced into your neurones and also the fascia, and pain will result. Generally speaking it appears to be an issue that you can't just run through, rest helps immensely, but beware of going back to the same old patterns (hence why when some people have had ITBS, despite rest, it keeps coming back) but strengthening the Glutes and deep rotators (butt muscles), along with a bit of intelligent rest from LONG runs should see you back on the hill in just a few weeks.
(again, theoretically, but then, as I mentioned, how long is a piece of string, every body is different)
Hope that helps...