The Best Ways To Treat IT Band Syndrome and Run With Less Knee Pain
Our Iliotibial Band is a thick piece of fibrous connective tissue that runs down the outside of our leg. When too much strain goes through our IT Band it can lead to pain on the outside of the knee that can limit out ability to be as active as we like. This is common in walkers, hikers, runners, and anyone else who puts a lot of miles on their body.
At the clinic we help adults with IT Band keep active, strong and doing what they love. In this week’s article we look at the best things you can do to treat IT Band pain and run with less knee pain.
1. Glute Med Strengthening
The single best thing you can do to ease IT Band Pain and run with less pain is to improve glute your glute med strength. Weakness in our glute med muscle causes our knee to ‘cave in’ and puts too much force on the IT band insertion which eventually leads to the pain you are experiencing.
Some of out favorite exercises to strengthen our glute med muscle:
2. TFL, Glute, and Quad Lengthening
Stretching and foam rolling shoulder be done to the soft tissues that attach to the IT Band Tightness in your TFL, Glute Complex, and quadricep muscles can help ease tension down at the IT Band insertion.
A reminder that DO NOT NEED to stretch/foam roll the IT Band itself. It is firmly attached to your femur (leg bone) and will not lengthen. Save yourself the agony of foam rolling your IT Band :)
3. Improving Single Leg Balance
Runners spend about 60% of their time in the single leg stance. If our body’s are not strong enough to support the position re rely to much on our passive stabilizers (like our IT Band and knee/hip/back joints) which leads to IT Band Pain
Some of our favorite exercises to improve single leg balance include:
At Evolve Performance Healthcare, we specialize in helping adults aged 40+ keep active, strong, and doing what they love - even when nothing else has worked. If IT Band pain is keeping you from being as active as you would like and are looking for some help…
Choose which option is best for you…