IT band flare up

I've been training for Run to the Beat half marathon in september, after recovering from ITBS which stopped me running for a few months (became addicted to the cross trainer then realised that was making it worse!). My training was going really well, in the last week or so I'd managed to break a few of my PBs for 5 and 6k without even pushing myself to, so everything seemed to be happening quite naturally... THEN I had a 9 hour drive up to Scotland on friday and back down again on Sunday which has just aggravated it hugely.

I had a deep tissue massage on monday which has helped a bit but I'm not sure what to do next as I'd really like some advice about it rather than just hanging around waiting for it to go away. There's no point going to my GP as his advice it to take painkillers and rest for any injury. Should I go to a physio, or a proper sports massage, or osteopath? Or go to my GP and try and get a referral? But that would take ages.

 Race is at the end of september which is still a while away so hopefully I'll be ok by then but it's really bringing me down not being able to run even if I wasn't training Scared I'll balloon as well if I have to rest for ages.

My IT band was giving me serious problems and I did alot of looking on the net and finally bought a foam roller to stretch the IT band. I would seriously advise going to a good physio as they gave me more relief after one appointment than the foam roller had in 2 weeks. I must warn you going to the physio is not a pleasant expeience but is well worth it! My physio was of the view that the foam roller is of great benefit when you get the IT band resolve to keep it stretch. You should also look at what the underlying cause is. Running on camber or severe pronation could be a big issue. PS ice the band at the joint as much as you can. Goodluck with it. 

Thank you I have a foam roller which I do every evening for about 20 mins on each leg. How long was your physio appointment? As it's so expensive! I do over pronate but have had gait analysis etc. I think it was definitely the car journey that caused it to flare up again as it niggles me sitting in the car on short journeys so 18 hours in total really buggered it up!

I'll give icing a go though, as I never have before. My thinking was that the cold would tighten it up but if there's inflammation where it rubs at the joint then I guess that would help. How long have you had to take off due to it?

Physio appointment was for 40 mins but I had 2 of them. I thought it was well worth the money to get me back running. I was off for about 8 weeks but the physio and ice seemed to do the trick. Only getting back to the running slowly now. Good to be back!